An Augusta woman who works as a surgical technician at the Augusta State Medical Prison was caught Friday having sex with an inmate, authorities said.
Faatimah Maddox, 30, confessed to having sex multiple times with inmate Joshua Demery, who is serving a life sentence for a violent armed robbery. The prison staffer revealed that she was three or four months pregnant and said Demery may be the father.
After her shocking confession, Maddox was arrested for sexual assault by a person with supervisory or disciplinary authority, a felony that carries a possible 25-year prison sentence. Under state law, a prison guard can be charged with sexual assault even if the prisoner consents.
Maddox was transferred to the Charles B. Webster Detention Center, where she was being held Saturday without bond.
According to authorities, prison officials were doing a head count Friday at the Grovetown facility and the inmate was not there. Guards searched the prison and found Maddox alone with the inmate in an operating room that had not been active in two years, authorities said. Security staff also found soiled sheets with a mixture of bodily fluids and hair.
That’s when Maddox confessed to not only have sex with Demery on multiple occasions but also getting pregnant. According to LinkedIn, Maddox has worked for several companies over the years as a surgical technician.
Demery, 36, is serving life in prison for shooting a Glynn County woman in the face in 2012, stealing marijuana and fleeing police. The crime was committed with his father, according to reports from The Brunswick News.
Demery’s father was driving during a high-speed chase that ended when he ran off U.S. 17 and rolled the Jeep several times. Demery was found hiding in a marsh after a five-hour manhunt. Police searched the Jeep and found the victim’s purse and cell phone, a 32-inch flat screen television and a fire safe.
Sexual assaults involving prison officials and inmates are not uncommon in Georgia. According to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last summer, nine prison employees were arrested for sexual assault between January 2020 and June 2022, including four assaults of prisoners at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto, Georgia’s largest women’s prison.
The same report said that nearly 200 Georgia state prison employees were arrested during that time period for job-related crimes since the beginning of 2020, according to a list obtained by the Atlanta newspaper.
