MACON, Ga. — The Bibb County Sheriff's Office says they're seeing a rise in assaults in the jail. Many of them are stabbings.
Major Eric Woodford says there were at least six aggravated assaults in the jail in the last month. Last July, they only had two.
"His aunt called crying. I'm like, I didn't think nothing of it. And she told me that my son was stabbed," said Latonya Lewis, whose son is in jail right now.
But her experience of having a family member suffer from a stab in the Bibb County Jail is not unique.
"Beat up, been stabbed, looked like several times," said Priscilla Smith, whose son had a similar experience.
Both mothers are begging for answers, and they say they struggled to get information after deputies confirmed their sons were beaten and stabbed inside the jail.
"I'm questioning everybody on that shift. I'm questioning the guards. I'm questioning the one that was just standing back looking. Why are you letting this happen at LEC?" Smith asked.
Major Woodford says their cases are some of the latest in a string of assaults in the jail.
"The tempers, the attitudes. What's on the outside tends to spill over to the inside," Woodford said.
He says anything could cause a jail fight, and they do their best to stop them. Woodford says deputies make rounds at least every hour-and-a-half, and someone is constantly watching security camera feeds.
Sometimes, it all happens too quick.
"It only takes an offender minutes, seconds, to get into an altercation," Woodford said.
Smith sent us a Snapchat video that appears to show someone trying to stab her son, Christopher. She says he's now in his own space as he recovers, but the experience left her and her family shaken.
"I'm praying every day that, when he went in there, he was alive. I'm praying to God that when he is out, he is alive," Smith said.
She told us she plans legal action and just wants something done. Smith is calling for a full inspection of the jail and its procedures.
Woodford says in these situations they give medical attention to the injured inmates, and discipline those who start fights. He says each case goes through an investigation, which may lead to more charges.
Major Woodford says many of the cases we asked about involved superficial wounds, but some inmates were taken to the hospital to get checked out.