CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — Just days since video from inside the Camden County Jail shows a group of correctional officers punching inmate Jarrett Hobbs in a jail cell, more complaints against the Sheriff's Office for other instances of use of force are surfacing.
Several complaints filed by inmates and one former correctional officer allege serious injuries because of force used by officers and a lack of medical attention inside the jail. Camden County's NAACP branch is investigating the complaints.
"When officers do things within this department, we want there to be accountability," Camden County's NAACP President Timothy Bessent said.
Bessent says the organization is investigating decades of complaints against Sheriff Jim Proctor and officers in numerous divisions.
"There are some bad individuals that's within our local sheriff's department that need to be removed," he said.
Last year, former Camden County Staff Sergeant Jennie Sikes filed a complaint alleging Sheriff Jim Proctor and her supervisors violated facility rules to cover up excessive force used by multiple officers on inmate Adam Drummond.
Sikes says during her investigation, she determined the three officers involved did not have reasonable or probable cause to conduct a strip search of Drummond and conducted it outside the camera's view.
In her complaint, she wrote:
"When they all emerged from the strip search room, Mr. Drummond's face was completely bloodied, he was trying to cover himself, and the strip search area was covered in blood," Jennie Sikes said.
Sikes says she took the findings to her supervisors who refused to punish the officers. Sikes says she disagreed with this decision and says she was later fired.
"That's very alarming to us when we can show a video to the department where there's clearly excessive force taking place with the officers," said Bessent. "Then, you have other officers saying that they don't see anything wrong with the video. That is very alarming to us.".
Bessent says the NAACP is working closely with the complainants and Sheriff Jim Proctor to come up with solutions to curb violence inside the jail.
"I think the solution needs to be that the jail administrator who's responsible for what goes on in the jail, I think he needs to be removed," Bessent said.
Bessent says the NAACP wants to restore the trust between law enforcement and the community and is asking the sheriff's office for more transparency and to hold offending officers accountable for the force used against inmates.
First Coast News reached out to the Camden County Sheriff's Office and Sikes' attorney but did not get a response.