Family members and lawyers describe assaults of teens in prison

Wayne Boatwright Sr. couldn't hold back tears as he told legislators about the death of his 18-year-old son, Wayne Boatwright Jr. He was strangled to death in February at Lee Arrendale State Prison, where children between the ages of 13 and 17 found guilty of one of seven violent felonies are sent. Once there, they often are preyed upon by the prison's older population, documents show.

Speaking into a microphone, his back to the standing-room only crowd and facing the five lawmakers who attended the Aug. 4 public hearing, the elder Boatwright recounted the events of his son's last days. He described how the teenager, who's been in prison since he was 16, sought protective custody after receiving a letter from an inmate stating, "I'm crazy about you. I want to fuck you." He recalled a four-page letter his son sent to his grandmother, begging her to help stop his transfer from protective custody to the prison's violent B-Unit. "These folks are not hearing my cry," the letter states. "Nana I truly need you too [sic] call. That's the only way they'll listen too [sic] me. It's uncalled for how they do you here." And he recounted the numerous phone calls family members made to the prison, asking for Wayne to be kept safe.

Then he described his son's death.

According to Wayne Boatwright Sr. and state Department of Corrections documents obtained by the Southern Center for Human Rights, three inmates lured the teenager into a cell around 2 a.m. on Feb. 22 and asked, "Are you a homosexual?" Boatwright punched one in the face. The three immediately pounced on him, likely tried to rape him, and crushed his windpipe. Two hours later, correctional officers came around, tried to perform CPR, and pronounced the young man dead. Inmate Travis McLeod has been charged with his murder.

It wasn't until the following morning that the elder Boatwright received a phone call from the warden, informing him that his son had been killed.

"I could've been at the hospital with my son, even if he was dead," Boatwright testified. "They had already transferred him to the coroner when I got the call."

Attorney Bill Hoffman says he's filing suit on behalf of the family against the Department of Corrections for negligence in Boatwright's death.

The teenager's story was among many told at the hearing, which was held to discuss lax oversight and abuse of teenage inmates at Arrendale State Prison.

Since Boatwright's death earlier this year, 30 more incidents of rapes and assaults have been documented at the prison, according to the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit group that investigates prison and jail conditions. One of the victims was Jason Hembree, 19, a victim of three sexual attacks in 10 months. Hembree, who suffers from bipolar disorder, reports that he tries to sleep with one eye open for fear of being raped in his bed.

Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, called family members with children at Arrendale and lawyers who represent them to learn details of the alleged rapes and assaults. "My bottom line is to find out what's going on at Arrendale," Fort said. "If young people at Arrendale are being assaulted and brutalized, the public ought to know."

Fort has been the most vocal lawmaker in the state Legislature to oppose a 9-year-old state law that sends teenagers who commit one of "seven deadly sins" -- murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery or armed robbery -- to adult pens for a minimum of 10 years without parole.

"The Department [of Corrections] says this is just the way boys are, almost like this is normal," said Stephen Bright, a Yale Law School visiting lecturer who heads the Southern Center for Human Rights. "But there needs to be a zero-tolerance policy for rape of our children in prison."

Two representatives from the Department of Corrections were on hand to listen to the testimony and bring information back to the department's commissioner. They did not answer specific questions about teenagers being assaulted and raped.

Lawyers and legislators claimed at the hearing that the state needs to adopt major changes in prison monitoring. Among the changes: more timely repairs of cell locks, which often go unfixed for weeks and leave an inmate vulnerable; an increase in the number of corrections officers at Arrendale; and more frequent officer rounds.

"We're headed for a train wreck of massive proportions," Rep. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, said at the hearing. "We're creating people who come out monstrously worse than when they went in. It's damaging for our state and society."

Although the attacks at Arrendale concerned the lawmakers at the hearing, convincing all but the most liberal lawmakers to go soft on crime will be a tough task. Finding a majority will be especially difficult in the state Senate, where Republicans hold the majority of seats. Many prison reform advocates say their best hope is to rework the law that sends teenagers to adult prisons, rather than try to revoke it.

"There needs to be a better system," said Dan Boles, father of 18-year-old Arrendale inmate and assault victim Michael Boles. "I want to know what's being done to protect these young men. It seems like no one cares."