Families grapple with Georgia prison extortion, seek answers

JACKSON, Ga. - More families say they’ve also been extorted by inmates at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GDCP) in Jackson.

They say inmates texted or called threatening to hurt their family member who was incarcerated there.

FOX 5 first reported about this type of extortion from inside prison walls a week and a half ago.

Lori and Franklyn are one of those families. Their son was sent to prison for habitual DUI.

They got the alleged extortion call the first night he was at GDCP.

"He wasn't even there 12 hours when this happened," Lori said.

The family members request their last name not be used in this story out of safety concerns.

"I answered, and it was our son who sounded petrified. He's like, ‘Just do what they're asking: send the money to the Cash App that they texted you. And 10 minutes later we got another call. And instead of $100, it was now $200…he was pleading with me, ‘Please, just give them the money,’" Lori said.

However, the couple wasn’t familiar with how to use the cash App.

They called their local police department as well as the prison.

"The published number is only monitored Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., is what the recording says. So, there was no way of getting in touch with the GDC directly," Lori said.

Eventually, they got in touch with someone at Butts County 911, who was able to contact the prison directly.

They said prison guards were able to relocate their son to a different part of the prison.

Thankfully, they didn’t end up having to pay the extortion demands.

However, at least two other families who contacted FOX 5 said they did pay out of fear for their loved one, after getting similar threats from inmates. These families paid as much as $500 to meet the demands.

FOX 5 reported about Kim Industrious who got threatening pictures of her son and a call from inmates demanding they pay up, or they would continue to hurt him.

Despite her family paying their demands, her son had to be taken to the hospital and was later released.

After Lori and Franklyn found out their son was okay a few days later, Franklyn offered to provide a Jackson prison employee, whom he spoke with on the phone, the Cash App handle and numbers for the contraband cell phones so they could investigate further. 

"He said, ‘Oh, I don't really want it,’" Franklyn said. "So, after that, I went to the GDC phone line, and they said that’s the only way to do it, was to go in through their system on the web page," 

But the couple said it wasn’t clear to them how to do that properly.

In a statement, the Georgia Department of Corrections wrote:

"We have channels and protocols in place for addressing these types of issues. Not doing so delays our ability to get ahead of the situation and address it quickly and appropriately."

However, Lori and Franklyn say they tried to report the extortion through the proper channels but found it very confusing.

"Very disappointed in the process," Franklyn said.

GDOC officials say there was no one available to respond to the multiple requests for interviews and previous requests to interview leadership about the extortion allegations have met similar responses.

Officials also did not respond to a list of questions submitted by FOX 5 in response to this story by the publication deadline. 

"There is no response…you've got no recourse," Lori said.

Officials previously wrote in a statement:

"Contraband cell phones represent a serious challenge within all correctional systems, and this illegal tool has unfortunately provided a way for criminal activity to be carried out from behind the walls. We are continuously seeking ways to render cell phones inoperable in our facilities."

GDOC teams do sweeps to find and confiscate contraband cell phones that inmates use for these schemes.

However, Lori wonders about the effectiveness of these sweeps after she says two weeks after the alleged extortion, she got another text from the inmates’ number.

"We had been in phone contact with our son, and I knew not to answer now," Lori said.

GDOC encourages anyone experiencing issues like this to contact their Family Services Coordinator, Ms. Beverley Crawford at Beverley.crawford@gdc.ga.gov or 478-258-7454.