Ex-Oklahoma jail guards get probation, fines for forcing inmates to listen to ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat
A pair of former Oklahoma jail guards have been sentenced to probation and fines for forcing inmates to listen to “Baby Shark” repeatedly as a form of punishment.
The Oklahoman reported on Tuesday that Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles were each fined $200 and placed on probation for two years after an investigation found that they mistreated a group of inmates by making them listen to children’s music, including the song “Baby Shark,” on a loop.
The two men, who resigned amid the investigation, are also now banned from working in law enforcement, need to pay $300 in victims’ compensation and must complete 40 hours of community service, according to The Oklahoman.
A group of inmates filed a lawsuit last year against the Oklahoma County Jail for alleged torture involving “Baby Shark.” The group of inmates alleged that they were pulled from their cells in 2019, handcuffed and forced to listen to the children’s song, sometimes for hours at a time.
One of the inmates involved in the lawsuit, John Basco, died in an Oklahoma jail last year shortly after being arrested.
It’s not the first time government officials have used “Baby Shark,” the No. 1 video on YouTube with more than 12.5 billion views, punitively.
West Palm Beach, Fla., officials used children’s songs including both “Baby Shark” and “Raining Tacos” in 2019 to drive away homeless people from sleeping at a government-owned facility. Critics at the time called the method a “cruel and unusual” punishment.
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