By C1 Staff
ATLANTA, Ga. — Google recently rejected a request from the Georgia Department of Corrections to remove a YouTube video allegedly showing inmate abuse.
Decaturish reports that a video uploaded to YouTube by a prisoner rights advocate allegedly shows officers beating an inmate with a hammer at Smith State Prison in Glenville, Ga. The incident allegedly occurred in 2010.
The video matches a transparency report from Google detailing the video removal.
“We received a request from the Georgia Department of Corrections to remove a YouTube video depicting alleged abuse of inmates,” the report reads. “The department requested the video be removed due to its violent nature.
“We did not remove content in response to this request as the video did not violate YouTube Community Guidelines.”
The video, which runs less than a minute and a half long, depicts a shaky camera moving about the interior of a facility. A woman’s voice tells others to get down as more shouting appears in the background. The woman’s voice continues, shouting “Look over there at what he’s got in his hands – a damn hammer!”
The video then slows down and centers on an upper walkway, where several officers surround an inmate on the floor. Someone near the inmate can be seen to be striking the inmate repeatedly. Then officers are seen escorting the inmate away in handcuffs.
The video closes with several up close shots of the inmate’s injuries.
Attorney Sarah Geraghty with the Southern Center for Human Rights told WABE that Google made the right decision.
“Unless the video presented a true security threat, I think the request was inappropriate. Prisons are public institutions and the public has an interest in knowing about abuses that happen behind prison walls.”
The Georgia DOC declined a request for comment.