Former jail employees face charges for playing ‘Baby Shark’ on loop to inmates

Three former employees of an Oklahoma jail are facing misdemeanor cruelty charges after they allegedly forced inmates to stand for hours in handcuffs while listening to the children’s song “Baby Shark,” according to multiple reports.

Christian Miles and Gregory Butler, former Oklahoma County Jail detention officers, and their former supervisor, Christopher Hendershott, were all charged on Monday with cruelty to prisoners, as well as corporal punishment and conspiracy charges. 

At least four inmates were allegedly secured to a wall with their hands cuffed as the song played on a loud volume on loop for as long as two hours, according to The Oklahoman. The incidents occurred in an attorney visitation room in November and December.

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

Butler and Miles are accused of imposing the discipline, according to the outlet. Hendershott is accused of knowing about the action and not stopping it.

One of the inmates involved in the incident was pulled into the booth at 3 a.m., and another was subjected to the treatment at 2 a.m., The New York Times reported.

Sheriff P.D. Taylor was in charge of jail operations at the time of the incident, and he told the Oklahoman that Butler and Miles were suspended from contact with inmates “as soon as I knew about it.”

The two men resigned during an investigation, and Hendershott retired.

An investigator wrote in affidavits filed in the case that Miles and 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,” the Oklahoman noted.