Clayton County Jail Inmate Allegedly Beats Cellmate to Death in ‘Racially Motivated’ Murder

The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that it is investigating a “racially motivated” murder that occurred on Sunday at the Clayton County Jail in Jonesboro, Georgia, where an inmate allegedly beat his cellmate to death “because of the color of his skin.”

Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen said in a press release Monday that inmate Jaquez Jackson “brutally beat his cell mate with his bare hands, viciously punching, kicking and slamming his head on the toilet, murdering him simply because of the color of his skin.”

Jaquez Jackson

The name of the cellmate has not been released.

“During the investigation, Inmate Jaquez Jackson stated several times to investigators that he does not like Mexican/Hispanics and wanted to kill them,” Allen said.

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Jackson was charged with murder, malice murder, aggravated assault and starting a penal riot, according to the sheriff’s office. He had been in the Clayton County Jail on a probation violation related to misdemeanor charges, including simple battery, simple assault, criminal trespass, making terroristic threats and obstruction of an officer.

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Jackson was sentenced to five years on April 20, 2022, with 12 months in jail and four on probation, but his probation was revoked on Aug. 11, according to the sheriff’s press release.

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The murder comes after U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, called for a federal civil rights investigation into “alleged mistreatment and abuse of inmates” in the Clayton County Jail, where he pointed to reports of “troubling conditions” following the deaths of several inmates.

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