A federal lawsuit was filed recently after alleged abuse inside the Oklahoma County Jail, KFOR reported on Friday.
“In October of 2020, two former Oklahoma County detention officers and their supervisor were charged with four counts of cruelty to prisoners, corporal punishment to an inmate, and conspiracy,” the outlet said.
Court documents said former detention officers Christian Miles and Gregory Butler were accused of taking approximately five inmates from their cells, handcuffing them with their arms behind their backs inside an attorney booth, and forcing them to stand.
“In some cases, the inmates were forced to listen to ‘Baby Shark’ for up to four hours at a time,” the report continued.
The documents alleged the former officers used the booth to discipline inmates “and teach them a lesson because they felt that disciplinary action within the Detention Center was not working in correcting the behavior of the inmates.”
The papers also said Miles told investigators “the inmates often ‘pissed off’ Butler which evidence suggests led to those inmates being taken out of their cells/pods and mistreated.”
Supervisor Christopher Hendershott reportedly learned of the mistreatment but did nothing for the inmates or discipline the officers.
“He allegedly ignored 20 hand written inmate complaints as well. His alleged inaction allegedly resulted in ‘the Officers continuing to mistreat inmates where at least an additional six (6) inmates were physically victimized,'” the outlet said.
The lawsuit filed in the case includes several former inmates who are suing the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, the former officers, and the Board of County Commissioners.
“This history of mistreatment was well known to supervisors at the Jail, but no action was taken to stop the conduct and no reasonable measures were taken to alleviate the risk of harm to detainees like Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit read.
The plaintiffs are seeking $75,000 regarding the lawsuit, the KFOR report stated.
The “Baby Shark” song became famous several years ago when the company, Pinkfong, released its initial online video, Breitbart News reported in October 2020.
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