at the chatham county detention center in savannah, georgia, garrett billiter was only a few days away from graduating from the jail s substance abuse program when he received his third idr or inmate disciplinary report. this time for refusing to follow the program s rules to wake up at 5:30 a.m. at the risk of receiving a longer disciplinary sentence, billiter has decided to challenge the idr at a hearing. if he s given any sentence longer than 14 days, he will be sent to disciplinary segregation which will force his removal from the substance abuse program. you worried? no well, maybe. okay. my name s sergeant hooper. i m with the idr compliance board. i m here to conduct your idr. if i find you guilty, i can sentence you up to 34 days
i could send you to the hole for 34 days. can you just keep me on the program? i mean, that s a big that s you graduate next week? i don t go home. if i get kicked out of the program, i don t go home. that s right. you won t go home. you graduate next week? yes, ma am. wednesday, as a matter of fact. are you court ordered? yes, ma am. although billiter joined the substance abuse program voluntary, he lies to sergeant hooper and tells her he s been court-ordered to take the program. billiter hopes claiming to have an order from the judge will convince the sergeant to let him remain in the program. let me tell you something. i m going to give you 14 days. you will attend your graduation and then you will be moved out of the unit to complete your time somewhere else. but if you get another write-up, i don t want to hear no crying sad story. do i make myself clear? yes, ma am. have a nice day. she sort of gave me a little
made it through. today i got my certificate of completion for the substance male substance abuse program and the first quarter of anger management. i go to court tomorrow so i ll be able to bring this to court and show the lawyer and show the judge. and hopefully that might help me out a little bit. garrett billiter was nearly kicked out of the program with only three days remaining. only a lenient sentence on a disciplinary report allowed him to continue. are you court-ordered? yes, ma am. billiter believes he helped his case by lying to sergeant cooper, telling her his enrollment in the substance abuse program was court-ordered instead of voluntary. now sergeant hooper has discovered the lie but says it won t change her decision. they checked the paperwork and no, it s not court-ordered. is it the first time i ve been lied to? no. is it the last time i ll be lied to? no. they always are going to lie to get what they want. his lying did not get him to stay in the program.
succeed. if you fail, you fail because of you, not because of me. i dealt with mr. billiter i think for about four or five years. garrett played the same game. you have to let garrett think he win every once in a while. i know how to get in trouble but i know how to make people feel bad a little bit. like, come on, man, i m just been playing around with you, that s all. i really didn t mean it. and they ll be like, well, dammit, billiter, you re always doing stuff but i ll let you get away with it. i appreciate it. it always works. works out for the better. while billiter feels he was able to influence sergeant hooper s decision, norman smart s fate was recently decided by a jury when he was convicted on all charges for beating his wife to death. he awaits transfer to prison to begin the sentence of life without parole. smart continues to proclaim his innocence and disputes evidence
at the chatham county detention center in savannah, georgia, garrett was only a few days away from graduating from the jail s substance abuse program when he received his third idr or inmate disciplinary report. this time for refusing to follow the program s rules to wake up at 5:30 a.m. at the risk of receiving a longer disciplinary sentence, bill iter has decided to challenge the idr at a hearing. if he s given any sentence longer than 14 days, he will be sent to disciplinary segregation forcing his removal from the substance abuse program. you worried? no well, maybe. my name is sergeant hooper. i m with the idr compliance board. i m here to conduct your idr. if i find you guilty, i can sentence you up to 34 days lockdown and 28 days loss of