Former Jail Workers Accused of Cruelty for Forcing Inmates to Listen to ‘Baby Shark’ on Repeat

Two former Oklahoma jail workers and their supervisor are accused of cruelty for forcing inmates to listen to “Baby Shark” on repeat.

Five inmates were handcuffed to a wall and forced to listen to the children’s song on repeat at a loud volume for hours, the Oklahoman reported.

Court records obtained by the New York Times show that the alleged incidents occurred on at least five occasions in November and December, where each inmate would be placed into an empty attorney visitation room while handcuffed to the wall and forced to stand for as long as two hours.

“Baby Shark” was then played through a computer on an endless loop, and inmates were forced to listen to the song.

Now, former Oklahoma County jail employees Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., 21,  and Christian Charles Miles, 21, along with their supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50, are facing misdemeanor cruelty charges in connection with the alleged incidents, the Associated Press reported.

“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said. “I would have preferred filing a felony on this behavior.”

Miles and Butler are accused of carrying out the act while Hendershott is accused of knowing about the behavior and doing nothing to stop it.

The “Baby Shark” song gained its claim to fame several years ago after the company Pinkfong released its first online video. Since then, the video has been viewed more than 6.5 billion times.