Forsyth, Georgia (WGCL) – Images of a beaten, bruised and humiliated teen went viral on social media this past week.
The teen's family says the photos were taken inside a Georgia prison by alleged gang members after the beating.
One photo shows the 18-year-old on his knees with a leash around his neck.
While his family admits Cortez Berry is no angel, both his mother and aunt tell Georgia news station CBS46 that he did not deserve the beatdown he got inside prison walls, nor did he deserve to have it posted on social media.
Some experts said there exists a growing trend of using technology as a way of spreading prison violence.
"Blood was everywhere. My nephew tells me blood was everywhere," claimed Shavondria Wright when speaking of Berry's attack. "Ten people jumped on him and they just kept beating and beating him and they choked him to sleep. Pretty much they left him there for dead."
But the 18-year-old didn't die. He survived the brutal beating at the Burress Correctional facility only to find out photos of the attack made it out of the prison and were posted on Facebook for everyone, including his family, to see.
"I was like oh my God! What happened? How did it happen?" said Berry's mother, Demetria Harris.
Sara Totonchi of the Southern Center for Human Rights says this violence and the abundance of cellphones behind prison walls is overwhelming in Georgia.
"People who are incarcerated have at some point or another had access to a cellphone," claimed Totonchi. "There have been hits ordered through illegal cellphones inside the prisons."
Although we don't know if that is the case in Berry's situation, the teen says his attack came after he refused to join a prison gang.
"They're not being protected," claimed his mother. "I don't care what they're there for, he still need to be protected."
And that protection needs to extend beyond the prison walls, says Totonchi.
According to Cortez's family, the teen is recovering but still very concerned about his safety behind bars.
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