Inmates sue for being ‘tortured’ with Baby Shark song

A group of former inmates has sued Oklahoma jail for playing The Baby Shark song as a “torture” tactic against them.

The lawsuit comes after two jail officials and their supervisor were criminally charged last year over the alleged conduct, the Associated Press reported.

As many as three former inmates – Daniel Hedrick, Joseph “Joey” Mitchell and John Basco – filed a civil lawsuit in Oklahoma City federal court on Tuesday against Oklahoma County commissioners, Sheriff Tommie Johnson III, the jail trust and two former jailers.

The former inmates allege that the tactics used by the above-mentioned individuals were “torture events.” 

In a civil rights suit, as reported by The Washington Post, four people formerly incarcerated at the Oklahoma City jail said that they were subject to “torture tactics” that included verbal and physical assault as well as standing for hours at a time while being forced to listen to the children’s song Baby Shark.

In 2020, an internal investigation found that at least four inmates were apprehended to a wall with their hands cuffed behind them while the song played continuously at a loud volume for hours in two separate incidents in November and December 2019, according to the Associated Press.