Officials mum about Arrendale prison riot

   In a year where Lee Arrendale State Prison has struggled with controversies, another has arisen amid news emerging of a prison riot that took place April 17.

   The riot involved seven guards and four inmates, and it was described as hand-to-hand fighting with no weapons on a brief incident report supplied by the Georgia Department of Corrections a week after it was requested by The Northeast Georgian.

   Under the category “Did the incident result in serious injury?” the report says simply “Yes.” GDC officials declined comment on who was injured, how that happened, or any other details of the incident.

   Habersham County Sheriff’s Office provided warrants issued for Armani Marie Shockley, who was booked by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 31 on charges of obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers, battery, riot in a penal institution and violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act.

   Also on Aug. 31, Mina Christine Ellery was booked on charges of obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers and riot in a penal institution.

   Those arrests came more than four months after the alleged incident, details of which were not provided by the GDC. Both Shockley and Ellery were listed on the brief GDC incident report as being involved in the riot, along with Janay Marques and Lisheena Kinanna Cantrell.

   The brief report said all seven guards used “hands-on” force, and it claims none of the inmates were
injured, implying the “serious injury” involved a guard.

   Yet the warrant for Shockley regarding the riot alleges she “was the aggressor in an inmate-on-inmate fight, resisted detainment and encouraged other inmates to participate, which resulted in the injuries to an inmate as well as a Peace officer.”

   The battery and gang-related charged for Shockley allegedly involved a Dec. 2016 incident where she caused “visible bodily harm” to another inmate as part of a gang initiation, including “kicking, punching, scratching and stomping of the victim’s head.”

   McCall Trammell, assistant general counsel for the GDC, provided the report but would not supply any additional details about the incident, citing privacy statutes.

   “The supplemental incident report and any additional document regarding this incident, including arrest warrants, are part of an investigative file,” Trammell said via email. “Investigation reports and intelligence data prepared by the Department’s Office of Professional Standards are classified as confidential state secrets and privileged under law. O.C.G.A. § 42-5-36 (b). Therefore, they are not subject to release under the Open Records Act.”

   Lee Arrendale Prison has had four sex assault arrests by guards and other staff this year alone, and allegations of abuse were made by former and current inmates in an investigative report in the June 26 edition of The Northeast Georgian.