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Inmates dash out of their cells to help deputy having a medical emergency
When the inmates realized something was wrong with Deputy Hobbs - they didn't just sit quietly.
Guido Gonzalez
07.22.21

People often think of prisons as these harsh, oppressive institutions with brutal guards, violent offenders, and gangs ready to tears each other’s throats out at a moment’s notice.

But the truth is more complicated than that. As much as we’d like to imagine inmates as irredeemable monsters incapable of bettering themselves, that isn’t always the case.

YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Inmates are humans at the end of the day, whatever their crimes might be. They are capable of committing crimes as well as heroic deeds.

Sherrif’s deputy, Warren Hobbs, was asleep on duty in Georgia’s Gwinnett County Jail. Inmate, Mitchell Smalls, noticed the odd sounds the deputy made while snoring before falling unconscious onto the concrete floor, splitting his head open, bleeding profusely.

It turns out that deputy Hobbs was suffering from cardiac problems.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Hobbs is known for treating the inmates he supervises with due dignity and respect.

And the feeling was mutual on the inmates’ part. When Hobbs collapsed onto the floor, many of the inmates clamored against their doors in a desperate effort to wake him up and alert the authorities.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Smalls was the first to notice, fearing for Hobbs’ life, banged his cell door, which alerted the other inmates. Soon, 60 inmates were clamoring for help.

The collective noise of concerned inmates showed how much they cared for the deputy, as they hoped he’d regain consciousness.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Smalls was the only inmate to see that Hobbs was in trouble.

The inmate banged against his door, screaming and hollering to wake up the other inmates. Soon, 60 inmates were making noise in the prison unit. The noise was thankfully loud enough to bring back Hobbs from unconsiousness.

“I couldn’t just watch the man die,” Smalls said in an interview with USA Today.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Hobbs managed to unlock the cell doors of inmates Terry Lovelace and Walter Whitehead.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Security footage shows Lovelace and Whitehead racing from their cells down the stairs and to Hobbs. Lovelace used Hobbs’ radio while Whitehead used the phone to call for help.

Soon after, help arrived, and they gave Hobbs the medical attention he needed before sending him to the hospital.


YouTube - USA Today
Source:
YouTube - USA Today

Gwinnett’s Sheriff’s Office expressed their admiration and gratitude for their inmates’ quick thinking and selflessness on their social media.

“This story beautifully illustrates that anyone is capable of greatness,” said Deputy Shannon Vokodav. “And it is also a great reminder that it’s not the uniform that makes the hero, it’s the person wearing the uniform.”

It’s easy to paint both sides of the law as bad. But this story shows that we are all human at the end of the day, and we best thrive when we remain decent, respectful, and cooperative.

Prisons are more than just a means of locking away those deemed unfit for society; those places can allow those incarcerated to reflect on their choices and take the opportunity to actually better themselves.

Pixabay - ErikaWittlieb
Source:
Pixabay - ErikaWittlieb

Watch the uplifting and heroic story unfold in the video below!

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