CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News looked into reports of a Clayton County jail detainee who says he was stabbed 18 times and broke two legs trying to escape.
We have been reporting for months about attacks inside the jail.
Investigative reporter Mark Winne was in Clayton County where the stabbing may have started, partly because of food.
Monica Johnson, the detainee’s girlfriend, told Winne she’s a registered nurse, but one doesn’t need professional medical expertise to be horrified.
“It’s like, if I wake up, will I get the news that he’s dead being in that jail,” Johnson asked.
Johnson said she’s horrified by the injuries she says her boyfriend, Ralph Renard Perry told her he sustained in an attack by other inmates in the Clayton County jail. She said he had 18 stab wounds and broke both legs trying to get away from his attackers.
“He also said he hurt his back when he had to jump from the top floor from trying to get away from the stabbing,” Johnson said.
A City of Lovejoy official says Perry had been sentenced to 180 days in jail for a misdemeanor shoplifting charge.
“What did he tell you about why he was stabbed? What did he tell you about why he was attacked,” Johnson asked.
Johnson said he was sitting in his cell and he was he had food around him that he had bought from the commissary. He said they wanted to take his food.
Johnson says perry told her in a call from jail Sunday evening, he had been in a local hospital a few days where his fever reached 105 and his blood pressure was also dangerously high. As a nurse, she wonders why he’s not still in an outside hospital.
This is far from the first stabbing we’ve heard of recently in the Clayton County Jail.
Last month, Robert Welch said in December he was stabbed and beaten while in the Clayton County Jail after he violated the conditions of his bond for aggravated stalking in a domestic situation.
Welch’s attorney Byron Morgan said he hasn’t seen the jail as bad as it’s been lately in more than 30 years of practicing law in Clayton County.
In another incident, the mother of the victim said video showed five jail inmates attacking her 21-year-old son.
In a statement to Channel 2 Action News, Sheriff Levon Allen said, “He became aware of the assault on Jan. 4, and that he said in all, five inmates were identified and charged with attempted murder.”
Clayton County Commission Chair Jeff Turner said in February, the commission approved on an emergency basis more than $3 million at the request of the sheriff’s office to fix locks, broken windows, inoperable toilets, and other issues contributing to deplorable conditions in the jail.
Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley has said she is aware of widespread violence in the Clayton County jail and has been working on a lengthy indictment against dozens of people involving allegations of aggravated assault, extortion, illegal contraband, and more.
She says the sheriff’s office is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.