Inmate stabbed in the head after complaining about bed bugs inside Clayton County Jail, mother says
A mother says her son could have died after several inmates attacked him at a local jail.
Daytwanna Hardeman believes it was retaliation for complaining about bed bugs at the Clayton County Jail. She told Channel 2′s Tom Jones her son had red marks from being bitten constantly.
“And the bugs was crawling all on him. They was eating him, biting his skin and lice,” she described.
Hardeman says the bed bug problem at the jail is so bad jail staff had to treat her son, 31-year-old Darrence Morgan. A recently released detainee said the bed bugs were out of control inside the lockup.
“Last night, we fighting bed bugs,” he said.
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Hardeman believes her complaints about the bed bugs almost got her son killed.
“They went in there to kill my son,” the mother of three said.
Hardeman says she emailed Sheriff Levon Allen about the bed bugs her son told her about. She shared an email the sheriff sent back where he said plans were put in place to address her concerns.
She says she mentioned to the sheriff in her email she didn’t want anything to happen to her son because she spoke out.
“Nineteen days later after I sent that email, he had been stabbed in the head,” she said.
Hardeman says five inmates went into her son’s cell and stabbed him. She says that happened after a correctional officer said something to her son about him filing a complaint about the bed bugs.
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Jones asked if she thought it was retaliation.
“Yes I do. I know it is,” she responded.
Sheriff Allen told Channel 2 Action News that there was no retaliation in the jail.
The sheriff added that the main issue in the jail is lice, not bed bugs. He says the county has spent $80,000 to clean up the jail following an outbreak, but with inmates coming in and leaving, the problem resurfaces.
Hardeman says medical staff eventually treated her son for the bed bug bites.
“And they gave him some cream to put all over his body,” she said, adding he also got shampoo for lice.
Hardeman is still concerned about her son’s safety.
“I do not want my son to die in jail because of people’s stupidity,” she explained.
Hardeman says her son has been moved to another pod for his safety.
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