Two inmates at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center set fire to their mattresses in their cells earlier this month, adding riot and arson charges to their criminal record, according to authorities.
The fire on Oct. 5 caused more damage to the deteriorating facility, and it came just one day after Sheriff Richard Roundtree gave Augusta commissioners and reporters a tour of the jail. That’s when the sheriff and his command staff showed off shocking conditions at the overcrowded detention center.
Repeat offenders Kendrick Green, 18, and Dashawn Berrien, 18, are accused of setting fire to bed mattresses inside the F-Pod, setting off the sprinklers and causing damage, according to authorities.
A deputy jailer was told by another inmate about the fire and called for help at 3:41 p.m. Oct. 5, authorities said. Officers found the room on fire and evacuated the affected inmates. They observed a sheet stuffed with miscellaneous items on fire along with an orange jump suit in flames. After it was extinguished, authorities tried to talk to inmates, but none wanted to cooperate.
Investigators reviewed video footage and saw Berrien walking out of his cell. He was seen taking sleeping mats out of one cell and sliding it under the door of another prior to the fire being set.
Who are they? Both Green and Berrien have previously been charged with violence in the jail as they awaited trial for other offenses.
Green was just 15 when he was charged with participating in the 2020 murder of 27-year-old Donnell Graham behind a Pizza Hut on Wrightsboro Road.
Last summer, Green told Deputy Jailer Aaron Mitchell that he felt unsafe on A-block where he was housed. So two jailers took him into a multi-purpose room and asked Green to fill out a protective custody form.
“Green then stated that he did not want to go to Protective Custody, and wanted to go to another block,” a report says. “We informed Green that he could not pick what block he goes to and then attempted to take Green back to A block, but he grabbed the handle to the yard door and the handle to GS2 and refused to move.”
Suddenly, Green hit Deputy Mitchell in the face, injuring the officer’s lower lip. During a struggle, Deputy Mitchell issued a drive stun with his Taser but it was ineffective. Green then took Deputy Mitchell’s Taser from him but during the struggle and deployed the Taser’s probes, striking himself in the left hand and the right thigh.
A week later, Green participated in a massive stabbing that sent four inmates to the hospital. Authorities say Green stabbed inmate Antonio Bryant with a home-made shank.
For his part, Berrien was originally jailed in 2020 for a hold from Superior Court, but his violence in the jail has only added to his problems. Five months ago, inmate Marquez Warney, was stabbed several times to his leg and neck area by three inmates, including Berrien. That led to charges against Berrien for aggravated assault and two weapons offenses.
With the fire, Green and Berrien face additional charges of arson, riot violence in confinement, interference with government facility.
