Richmond County inmate stabbed in face in latest jail assault

Klaimon Bradford, left, was stabbed late Sunday in the jail. Charged in the stabbing was Tor’jae Tanksley, middle, and Trayon Adams Sr., right.

Date: July 14, 2023

An inmate was stabbed in the face and body this week in the latest violence inside the Charles B. Webster Detention Center.

Klaimon Bradford, 31, was stabbed late Sunday in G-pod by two inmates, including one awaiting trial for murder. Bradford suffered six stab wounds, including injuries to his face, back, shoulder and hand. He was transported to Piedmont Hospital for treatment. The weapon was not found.

Authorities have filed charges against Tor’jae Marvin Tanksley and Trayon Adams Sr. in the stabbing.

Tanksley, 19, is awaiting trial on charges of murder for his alleged involvement in the 2020 killing of 27-year-old Donnell Graham, who was killed behind a Pizza Hut on Wrightsboro Road. A responding deputy found Graham in the driver-side seat of a 1994 Grand Marquise. The suspect was 16 at the time.

Adams, 33, is being held on charges of child cruelty from September 2022 when he allegedly grabbing his 9-year-old son by the face while punishing him for urinating on the floor. The incident left a red mark on his face. Jail records show he is also being held for probation and parole.

For his part, Bradford has been in jail since this February for shooting a man in both legs following a fight outside the Walmart on Windsor Spring Road in Hephzibah.

Sunday’s jail stabbing continues a series of violent incidents at the Richmond County jail involving shanks. In April, seven inmates were wounded with shanks in a bloody fight, leading to new charges against nine men, authorities said.

In a radio interview last week, RCSO Chief Deputy Pat Clayton said inmates are getting shanks from the decaying jail.

“The jail is just coming apart. They will take parts of the jail, and they will just make shanks. Those are not being brought in,” Chief Clayton said. “Some of the stuff, they get out of their cell.”

   The agency’s Crime Suppression Team is in the jail at least once or twice a week doing searches and shakedowns, he said. Informants are also giving officers intelligence on cell phones.

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The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

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