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.
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Absolutely rediculous! Many years ago and as the victim of a crime for which someone was jailed and then allowed to use prepaid "jail" minutes to further harass me by telephone I am absolutely disgusted that nearly two decades later authorities have not done more to prevent this. The revolving jails doors greatly discourage victims of personal crimes like domestic violence, stalking and rape from reporting incidents. When one gets the courage to do so, the last thing they should have to fear is being harassed telephonically from within the jail walls.
Bring back the chain gang. Support www.hongkongaugustaga.org
"Four in Richmond County jails found with phones". The title of this article is deceiving. It should say "4 inmates in area prisons caught with cell phones". This title makes it sound as though the inmates were caught in 401 or Phinizy with phones. Great work AC! Prisons are Prisons, Jails are Jails. There is a difference.
hong kong augusta-keep our neighborhood from becoming a ghetto????? You are living in the "ghetto" don't like move to NA or CC like everyone else who is scared of augusta
the only people who go in and out of these gates daily are the officers.prohibit them from bringing any phones in with them,period.randomly shake them down and you will find more than phones,they bring everything but the kitchen sink.
SARGENTMIDTOWN...YOUR COMMENTS ON BRINGING THE CHAIN GANG BACK. Is that suppose to be a racial statement, if so then this what i'll say to you, it won't be black only. So how you going to feel when you see your white brothers and relatives on it.
I am only 24 and what the he** is a chain gang.
"You are living in the "ghetto" don't like move to NA or CC like everyone else who is scared of augusta" ------ By all accounts he's making sure to turn his neighborhood into a ghetto. Ghettos are also made by segregation, no different than what's done with housing projects and prisons. So it's no stretch of the imagination he would advocate the same for his own neighborhood. BTW, sarge, why is it hongkongaugustaga? This isn't Hong Kong, and history showed what happened to Hong Kong, too (you're advocating the same "return"), let alone the same barbarity that the Chinese practiced -- like the death by a thousand cuts (let alone the guillotine device that halved people, that even sicken them to stop it) . If you're of that mindset, please don't reform, get out of Augusta itself.
I used to live in Evans. There are ghettos in columbia county. And there are definitely ghettos in aiken county. Since that county is huge in land area has alot of rural parts.