Alex Thomas
The news cycle is filled with horror stories from inside prisons — fights, rampant drug use and murders. But on June 12th, a group of six inmates at a Georgia prison proved that it’s wrong to assume the worst of people, even if they’re convicted criminals. The men were on work duty at a cemetery in Polk County, when the guard who was watching them collapsed from the heat.
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Immediately, the group jumped into action — but not the way you might have expected. A few of them removed the guard’s bulletproof vest and gun belt so they could perform CPR while another man used the guard’s phone to dial 911.
WXIA spoke to one of the inmates, identified as Greg Williams, who estimated that the guard was unconscious for a minute and said, “When he started breathing, it was just real heavy and real fast.”
In a admirable moment of benevolence, Williams observed, “when that happened, it wasn’t about who was in jail and who wasn’t […] it was about a man going down and we had to help him.”
EMS quickly arrived to the scene to take over the rescue efforts and the guard brought back to a healthy state. The guard’s family members expressed their gratitude to the the inmates by buying them a round of pizzas. And the men will enjoy some extra freedom for their decision, Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moates said that he will take about one-fourth of the time off each inmates’ sentence.
