MACON, Ga. — A Macon murder suspect set fire to the Bibb County jail twice in one day and "endangered the lives of all 79 inmates" assigned to his cellblock, according to an incident report from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.
It happened at around 8:40 a.m. in the D400 block of the Bibb County jail.
Raheem Smith, charged in the murder of 15-year-old Ozias Gore, is accused of setting his jail-issued blankets ablaze on Sunday, Nov. 17, creating "heavy smoke and flames" in the hallway outside his cell, the report reveals.
During a routine inspection of the facility, Lt. Santel Smith noticed a strong smoke odor leading straight to Smith's cell, D409.
The report says surveillance footage "clearly depicts inmate Raheem Smith removing multiple blankets from his cell and placing them outside in the hallway before igniting them," but the report does not say how Smith managed to set fire to the blankets.
But after the first fire was put out, only 20 minutes later, Smith started a second fire that produced "thick, heavy smoke," the incident report said.
That second fire was put out, and Smith was then taken to a "solid door disciplinary cell" to prevent him from causing further damage to the jail.
The incident report recommends that Smith be charged with Arson in the First Degree.
Back in February, four inmates — Tajiri Antwaun Harris, Gregory White, Devon Stapleton and Shondricos Ingram — were indicted for setting a fire in the B300 cellblock. It happened back on Nov. 8, 2023.
In that case, the three inmates "were passing bed-matting materials" to Harris, who used an electrical wire in his jail cell to set the fire.
