'60 Days In': Wildcard Tony threatens an inmate, strips him over ramen. Is he 'losing himself' in prison?
Is wildcard Tony losing it? Chief Peek and Sheriff Horton's star candidate on '60nDays In' is showing off major entrepreneurial skills inside Etowah County Jail where he gets as much contraband as he can in order to solve the problem. Tony, who is a Corrections officer from Fulton County behaves just like the inmates and intimidates them. However, this week, he takes it too far.
Since last week, Tony has set up a system of buying contraband in exchange for commissary. A shank for ten packs of soup, 20 candy bars for some drugs, you get the drill. He's even given Justin, the white inmate who got beaten up last week, responsibilities to be his bookie. He keeps track of their exchanges.
As it turns out Tony also helped an inmate in need, named Anthony, who borrowed ramen from him. This week, when it was payback time, he said he didn't have anything to give him.
Furious, Tony, who frankly does not need that food back threatens to beat Anthony forcing the inmate to stay inside his cell. Tony escalates it to a point where he demands that Anthony give him his clothes and his blankets, leaving him butt naked and without anything to cover himself with. Anthony is so terrified he seeks protective custody.
Protective custody can be requested by an inmate to protect themselves from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Prisoners have the opportunity to request protective custody if they get the impression that the environment they are living in is harmful to their well being.
Tony is maniacal when he hears Anthony is leaving and can't stop bragging about it to the production team and other inmates. The crew also asks if he thinks that he's losing himself inside the jail but he retorts, "I'm doing what an inmate would do."
While his behavior doesn't solve any issues and neither does it get information, it does keep his cover intact. But should he have scared another inmate so much? Let us know in the comments below.
Catch the season finale of '60 Days In' on Thursday on A&E.