'Inhuman' Oklahoma jail punished inmates with Baby Shark song on repeat

Three former staff members at an Oklahoma County jail have been charged with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy after forcing inmates to listen to the children’s song ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat at loud volume.

According to the charge sheet, at least four prisoners were subject to the “inhuman” discipline in November and December of 2019. They were locked in the attorney visitation room for several hours at a time, forced to stand with their hands cuffed to the wall and listen to the tune on repeat.

Two inmates were reportedly woken in the middle of the night and subjected to the ‘discipline’. One was pulled in at 3am while another was hauled out of bed at 2am.

Former detention officers Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles, both 21, as well as their former supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50, have all been charged.

“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” District Attorney David Prater said. “I would have preferred filing a felony on this behavior.”

Mr Butler and Mr Miles stand accused of implementing “rogue discipline” while Mr Hendershott reportedly knew about their behaviour but did nothing to stop it.

The two detention officers were subject to an internal investigation this summer when accusations first surfaced. They resigned during the course of that investigation. Their supervisor has also left his role after retiring.

According to written affidavits, Mr Miles said that he and Mr Butler “systematically worked together and used the ... attorney booth as a means to discipline inmates and teach them a lesson because they felt that disciplinary action within the Detention Center was not working in correcting the behavior of the inmates.”

“Mr Butler also confirmed that he used the booth as a means of punishment. The playing of the music was said to be a joke between Mr Miles and Mr Butler.”

The treatment of the prisoners placed them under “undue emotional stress on the inmates who were most likely already suffering from physical stressors,” wrote investigators.

Mr Headershott reportedly learned of his subordinates behaviour on November 23 last year, but did nothing about it. The District attorney said he “failed to properly supervise and discipline.”

None of the defendants have commented on the case so far.

The extremely repetitive children's song ‘Baby Shark’ has become a phenomenon since its release two years ago. The video in which it first appeared has been viewed online more than 6.5 billion times and peaked at number 6 in the UK charts.