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CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. () — A Chatham County man will be serving more time behind bars after a photo surfaced on social media showing him abusing another inmate at a federal correctional facility.
The shocking image posted to social media shows an unidentified prisoner on all fours with a belt around his neck and a large amount of cash on top of his head.
“It was pretty shocking, it was pretty appalling that that could take place in a Georgia prison,” Deputy Chatham County District Attorney (DA) Brian Deblasiis, said.
The social media image is what prompted the Chatham County DA’s office to petition for Trayvon Nelson Martin to lose part of his probation and serve more time in prison.
Martin posted the image to Instagram from a cell phone that was smuggled into a correctional facility.
In the post, he bragged about putting the prisoner in this position over an alleged $100 debt.
“He made several other posts. He was moved from one prison to another, and he continued to use his phone that he wasn’t supposed to have to essentially mock his disciplinary proceedings,” Deblasiis said.
The DA’s office moved to have a portion of Martin’s probation revoked for false imprisonment and smuggling contraband.
“We weren’t able to prosecute him for false imprisonment because that didn’t take place in the confines of Chatham County,” Deblasiis said. “We were able to revoke his probation because he committed a new offense, whether he was arrested for it or not.”
Martin was originally sentenced to 15 years for felony narcotics possession and felony drug trafficking, five years to be served behind bars and ten on probation.
However, he was ordered to serve another six years of his sentence behind bars.
“Just because they are in prison and they may be a criminal, that does not mean they shouldn’t be safe,” Deblasiis said of the inmate who was abused.
Based on Martin’s most recent social media posts, he was out of prison for 2 months before the motion to revoke his probation was filed and he was taken back into custody.
“To believe someone could possess those stacks of money in one of our prison facilities, it raises all kinds of concerning questions,” Deblasiis said. “How did they get it? What’s it from? Why is it on this person’s head? It’s just very, very concerning.”
The DA’s office was unable to identify the prisoner being abused in the photo because no one came forward.
is working to identify where this incident happened.
Contraband is an ongoing concern throughout the state, though.
There have been 46 incidents related to smuggling into Georgia state facilities within the last year according to reports from the Department of Corrections, some leading to multiple arrests.