Two former jail workers and their superior have been charged with cruelty after forcing inmates to listen to the Baby Shark song for hours.
The bizarre punishment occurred at Oklahoma County jail where at least four inmates were tortured by being forced to listen to the popular children’s song repeatedly.
According to The Oklahoman, the cruelty occurred in the facility’s visitation room where inmates were handcuffed to a wall before being forced to listen to Baby Shark which was playing in a loop on high volume.
Following the unusual discipline, 21-year-old Christian Charles Miles and 21-year-old Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. have been charged with misdemeanor cruelty along with their supervisor, 50-year-old Christopher Raymond Hendershott.
“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario. I would have preferred filing a felony on this behavior,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater expressed after the trio was charged.
As Miles admitted according to an affidavit, he had resorted to the punishment together with Butler in order to “teach [inmates] a lesson because they felt that disciplinary action within the Detention Center was not working.”
While the song was reportedly used as a part of a joke between the two jail workers, the investigators have claimed that the inmates exposed to the “inhuman” discipline had suffered “undue emotional stress.”
Meanwhile, the employees’ supervisor, Hendershott, has been accused of failing to act after learning of his workers’ unconventional punishment technique.
As Sheriff P.D. Taylor confirmed after the incident had come to light, Miles and Butler resigned whereas Hendershott has retired.
Replaced!