Hinds sheriff: Two inmates attacked at Raymond jail; video not from facility

Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones told Mississippi Today that two men were assaulted while in custody at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond, but he said a cellphone video shared with the news outlet does not show the attack inside the jail.

Jones said 26-year-old Isaac Gibson and 22-year-old Quandarius Beasley were injured in the same housing unit in the early morning hours of April 23 and were taken to the jail’s medical bay after a “detainee-on-detainee” attack. He told Mississippi Today the incident is under investigation and the attackers have not been identified.

Nicole Gibson, Isaac Gibson’s aunt, told Mississippi Today she was told her nephew was stabbed inside the jail and that Beasley was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center because of the extent of his injuries. Jones declined to confirm the nature of the injuries or whether Beasley was taken to the medical center, saying he could not release private medical information.

Mississippi Today reviewed a 24-second cellphone clip that shows men in green uniforms beating another inmate as he flailed on the floor. Jones said the clip was not filmed inside the Raymond facility and noted inmates there wear jumpsuits rather than two-piece uniforms, a point he said indicates the video did not depict the incident at the detention center.

Jones said he was notified of the attack last week in an email containing a “rapid notification” file from Wendell France, the court-appointed federal receiver running the jail. Mississippi Today reported the Raymond Detention Center was taken over by France last fall as part of efforts tied to a 2016 consent decree; France is barred from making public statements about his work, Mississippi Today reported. Jones also said family notifications depend on who an inmate instructs staff to contact or what is listed in the inmate’s file and that the jail does not notify family members of every incident.

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