Lawyers call for Camden jailers to be fired

Nov. 17—A lawyer representing a Camden County jail inmate captured on video in a violent altercation with five jailers is calling for criminal charges and the immediate firing of the jailers involved in the incident.

Harry M. Daniels, an Atlanta-area civil rights lawyer, said if his client, Jarrett Hobbs, would have been an animal, the people assaulting him would have been criminally charged with animal cruelty.

"We have the videos, transparency of what happened to Mr. Hobbs," he said. "There is already probable cause to make an arrest."

A video of the incident was released after lawyers representing Hobbs asked for proof their client initiated the incident in which he faced additional criminal charges. He was initially arrested Sept. 3 on speeding, suspended license and drug possession charges. The video shows the guards filing into Hobbs' cell, punching and kneeing him before dragging him from his cell. Daniels said one of Hobbs' dreadlocks was ripped out during the struggle.

Regardless of what Hobbs said or how much noise he made in his cell to attract the attention of jailers, Daniels said "there is no way in hell any person should be beaten the way he was."

Daniels said Hobbs was denied medical treatment after the incident and was held in solitary confinement for two weeks until his physical injuries healed.

Daniels alleged it's not the first time inmates have been beaten by jailers inside the jail.

"This is the first time they got caught on camera," he said. "They purposely covered up the other beatings."

Timothy Bessent Sr., president of the Camden County NAACP, expressed exasperation over the incident.

"We are here again because of misconduct by this jail," he said. "Enough is enough. You have been exposed. There will be other people coming forward."

Bessent said the Camden sheriff's office has had a "custom of violence against Black people that is a heritage over decades."

North Carolina lawyer Bakari Sellers with Strom Law Firm said the one consolation in this incident is "at least he's still alive." Sellers described the Camden sheriff's office as a "rogue department, out of control" and lacking leadership.

He said the U.S. Department of Justice has been asked to investigate the entire Camden County Sheriff's Department.

"The sheriff has failed this community," Sellers said. "This county, Camden County, is out of control."

He said there was a "level of premeditation" that had to happen before the jailers entered the cell.

"It doesn't matter what he did or why he was beat," Sellers said. "There was no legal justification to pummel him. What they did to him is a criminal act."

Brunswick lawyer Mario Pacella with Strom Law Firm said it took more than 10 weeks from the time of the incident until Camden Sheriff Jim Proctor announced an internal investigation. After the announcement, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to conduct its own investigation at the request of Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins.

"Why did it take so long for this investigation?" Pacella asked. "If it was the video, there's a bigger problem."

A man claiming to be a former Camden jail inmate said jailers beat him on two different occasions. He claimed it's been happening for decades.

"The sheriff is in on it," he said. "He said he'd stand behind his officers."

Daniels said a new video has been released showing jailers involved in the incident slapping high fives after the incident ended. He said Hobbs struggles every day with the thought of what happened to him. He expressed disappointment that Proctor has not responded to requests for a meeting.

"He knew about it the whole time," he said. "This is not a bad apple, this is a bad apple orchard."

Sellers said the state will take its time in investigating the incident, and he does not have high expectations.

"I have no faith the right thing will happen," he said. "I'm not going to bet on that."

Proctor has declined to identify the jailers involved, but Sellers said he knows they are still on the job because their identities are known in the community. He said it might take persistent, time-consuming community pressure for the right thing to happen.

"To be Black in Camden County is exhausting," Sellers said. "We have faith and we have hope."