Staff Writer
Four more inmates have been found with cell phones while incarcerated in Richmond County, according to authorities.
Nehemiah Davis and Maurice Banks, inmates at Augusta State Medical Prison on Gordon Highway, were booked Jan. 2, according to jail records. On Tuesday, two inmates of the Richmond County Correctional Institution -- Jerome Solomon and Kareem Jovan Franklin -- were charged with felony inmate in possession of a cell phone.
Ten inmates at the medical prison were charged with possessing a cell phone Nov. 13. Maj. Gene Johnson, who oversees the Richmond County jail, said state inmates are transferred to his jail in such cases. A call to the medical prison was referred to the Georgia Department of Corrections' public affairs office.
"Since the cases are under investigation, the warden isn't able to comment," department spokeswoman Kristen Stancil said in an e-mail last week.
Mr. Davis is serving a life sentence for murder in a 2004 Chatham County case, and Mr. Banks was convicted of a 2000 armed robbery in DeKalb County, according to the Department of Corrections' Web site. Mr. Solomon is serving time for burglary, and Mr. Franklin was being held on possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, according to the site.
In December, the medical prison's warden, Victor Walker, said cell phone use in prisons was getting worse. Inmates can use the phones to call their victims or people involved in illegal activities on the outside. In the November cases, it appeared inmates were using cell phones to contact family. Mr. Walker said then that authorities suspected a former employee might have supplied the phones but there wasn't enough proof to bring charges.
