Clayton County sheriff takes Channel 2 on tour of jail; blames county leaders for lack of funds

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Clayton County Levon Allen is asking the Clayton County Board of Commissioners to provide additional funding for the jail due to safety issues.

Allen invited Channel 2 Action News to tour the Clayton County Jail on Saturday to showcase the conditions inmates live in.

Channel 2 cameras captured multiple beds next to each other in one room, beds in the common area, leaks in the ceiling and mold.

“I got four to 500 inmates that are sleeping on the floor daily, and that’s a problem,” Allen said. “If the jail and the sheriff’s office do not have proper funding, lives are at risk every day.”

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The request comes six weeks after inmate Abdul Woodward beat his cellmate, Jonathan Pettigrew, to death. At the time, Allen said the incident happened because of overcrowding.

“When one inmate uses the toilet and the other inmate’s head is down by the toilet, you will have fights, and when you are in a room where everything in the room is steel, metal, or concrete, it becomes a deadly cage match,” Allen said at the time of Pettigrew’s death.

According to the sheriff’s office, the jail has a capacity of 1,536 beds, enough to fit two inmates in a cell. Due to the jail having 1,900 inmates, officials have begun to place inmates on the floor to hold three inmates in one cell.

Allen said that out of the $20 million he has asked the board of commissioners for, he has only received $3 million. He claims this is because of politics.

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“If it’s anything I ask for, they just want to be again it,” he said. “You don’t hold back the money just because you don’t like who is in place and your person didn’t get selected; we need to move forward with the business of the sheriff’s office.”

Allen was elected in April 2023 after serving as interim sheriff. He is the godson of former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill, who is serving time in federal prison for violating the human rights of some detainees.

“I’m not attached to the previous administration; I’m a new person; I would like you to start me at 100 and take away if I do something.

Channel 2 Action News reached out to the Clayton County Board of Commissioners for comment but has not recieved a response.

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