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Baby Shark not a hit in Oklahoma


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https://www.newsweek.com/oklahoma-inmate-forced-listen-baby-shark-loop-found-dead-1742089

An inmate who had accused his jailers of "torture" by alleging they forced him to listen to the repetitive Baby Shark song playing on a loop has been found dead.

John Basco was found unresponsive in his cell in the early hours of Sunday at the Oklahoma County Detention Center, according to a press release.

Officers tried to save the 48-year-old's life and worked on him until emergency responders arrived and continued efforts to resuscitate him, jail officials said in the statement, but he was pronounced dead shortly after 4:05 a.m.

Basco, who had been booked into the jail on Thursday over a drug trafficking complaint, made headlines around the world in 2021 after he and three other inmates sued Oklahoma County commissioners, Sheriff Tommie Johnson III, the jail trust and two former jailers following a previous stint at the facility back in 2019.

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This image shows John Basco, who was found dead in his jail cell on Monday. Basco, who had accused his jailers of "torture" by alleging they forced him to listen to the repetitive "Baby Shark" pop song playing on a loop.OKLAHOMA COUNTY JAIL

They accused former detention officers Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles of forcing them to listen to Baby Shark blaring out on repeat, occasionally for hours, while they stood handcuffed to the wall of a visitation room.

Former Lieutenant Christopher Raymond Hendershott was also accused of knowing about the practice and doing nothing to stop it at the jail in Oklahoma City.

A 2020 investigation reportedly confirmed the inmates had been disciplined in this way, and the two detention officers were fired and charged with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy.

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Hendershott had already retired.

Lawyers representing the detainees have described the incidents as "torture events" and the case is ongoing.

It is not yet clear how Basco died and the state's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will investigate to determine the cause of death.

Mark Opgrande, director of communications for the jail, told The Oklahoman newspaper: "One of the possibilities being investigated is that it was a drug overdose."

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https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/03/31/oklahoma-county-inmates-baby-shark-jailers-plead-misdemeanor-cruelty/70066868007/

Two former Oklahoma County jailers have pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor cruelty charge for forcing inmates to listen to "Baby Shark" as punishment.

Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles were put on probation for two years and fined $200.

They also were ordered to pay $300 in victims' compensation and complete 40 hours of community service. They were banned from working in law enforcement.

Both were charged after an investigation determined handcuffed inmates were forced to stand for long periods chained to a wall in the attorney visitation booth as discipline in 2019.

The two guards further mistreated inmates by playing children's music loudly on a loop, investigators reported. Both resigned after coming under investigation.

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