Two Georgia correction officers have
resigned after a photo of a beaten teenage inmate with a leash around
his neck was posted on Facebook, apparently with a contraband cellphone,
officials said Monday.
Authorities also said
two prisoners involved in the March 27 incident were transferred out of
the Al Burruss Correctional Training Center and the victim, Cortez
Berry, is now in protective custody at another state prison.
The Department of Corrections did not disclose the officers' names or say whether they faced discipline before resigning.
Berry's family told NBC
News last week that when they saw the disturbing pictures posted on
Facebook and went to the prison to investigate, the guards were unaware
that he had been beaten.
The relatives were
horrified that Berry was initially transferred to Smith State Prison, a
notoriously violent lockup. Correction officials portrayed that as an
emergency stopgap measure.
Berry is now within
protective custody at Macon State Prison, the agency said in a
statement. "In our continued efforts for the safety of our inmates, the
Department transferred the other two inmates involved to other
facilities. Additionally, both supervising officers involved in the
incident have resigned."
The incident is still under investigation, the statement said.
Berry was imprisoned at Burruss for violating probation on charges of juvenile aggravated assault, robbery and car theft.
He told his aunt that
the day before his 18th birthday, a group of fellow inmates tried to get
him to join a gang called the Gangster Disciples, and when he refused
they attacked him and took the photo.
"No guard was there to help him," the aunt, Shavonda Wright, told NBC News.
The case highlighted
both violence in Georgia prisons and the growing use of smuggled
cellphones by inmates, sometimes to commit crimes.
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