Oklahoma inmate tortured to death by jailers played Baby Shark song on repeat for HOURS found dead

An Oklahoma County inmate found dead in his jail cell over the weekend was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county alleging that in 2019, he and other inmates were tortured by jail employees who forced them to repeatedly listen to the children’s song Baby Shark for hours on end.

John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell early on Sunday morning, Oklahoma County Detention Center officials said. 

He was pronounced dead after jail workers began lifesaving efforts, they explained.

Basco’s death is the 14th this year at the jail, which has faced criticism over inmate deaths, escapes and other incidents.

John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell early on Sunday morning. He was part of a lawsuit against the jail 

Jail spokesman Mark Opgrande said there were no obvious signs of foul play and that investigators will look into the possibility of a drug overdose.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death.

Basco, who was booked into the jail on Thursday on a drug trafficking complaint, was among a group of inmates suing the county in federal court for allegedly being handcuffed to a wall and forced to listen to the song Baby Shark on repeat for hours during separate incidents in 2019.

A jail lieutenant retired and two detention officers were fired in connection with the incidents, and all three face misdemeanor charges.

The popular children’s song went viral in 2019 with the video having been viewed more than 11 billion times 

Basco’s attorney, Cameron Spradling, told The Oklahoman that he found the circumstances surrounding Basco’s death ‘disturbing’ and called for the preservation of all evidence as the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation probe of it unfolds.

‘I’m really bothered by this,’ Spradling said. ‘One of the Baby Shark victims is conveniently dead within three days of his arrival at the jail. How does that happen? District Attorney David Prater just lost one of his witnesses for the upcoming criminal trial. For me, this one does not pass the smell test.’

Oklahoma prison records show Basco had a long history of criminal convictions in Oklahoma County dating back to the mid 1990s, mostly for drug, property and firearms crimes. 

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a second-degree murder conviction in 2000 and was released in 2007, records show.

Former inmates at the Oklahoma County Detention Center (pictured) have filed a civil rights lawsuit against county officials and former officers

Former inmates at the Oklahoma County Detention Center (pictured) have filed a civil rights lawsuit against county officials and former officers 

In the Baby Shark lawsuit, Daniel Hendrick, Joseph Mitchell and John Basco alleged how they were taken from their cells at the Oklahoma County Detention Center by two officers, put in a ‘standing stress position’ with their arms handcuffed behind their backs, and were then forced to listen to the popular children’s song on a loop for hours.

The suit called the conduct ‘tantamount to torture,’ and said the two police officers involved, Christian Charles Miles and Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., were ‘wanton, depraved and sadistic.’

It compared the conduct to the heavy metal music played at Guantanamo Bay ‘as an “enhanced interrogation” technique to weaken Iraqi captives’ resolve, and cited academic studies as to why the Baby Shark song by Pinkfong, which went viral in 2019, is particularly irritating. 

In the lawsuit, lawyers for the since-released inmates claimed that they ‘posed no threat to the officers or anyone else,’ were ‘compliant,’ and were ‘not actively resisting any lawful command’ when they were forced to listen to the music in November and December 2019.

They claim they were taken from their cells, forced to stand with their arms handcuffed behind their back, as the song Baby Shark played on a loop for hours

They claim they were taken from their cells, forced to stand with their arms handcuffed behind their back, as the song Baby Shark played on a loop for hours

The lawyers argue that the ‘prolonged restraint … under the conditions described herein, is tantamount to torture, was excessive and not rationally related to any legitimate governmental or penological purpose.’

The suit further claims: ‘This history of mistreatment was well known to supervisors at the Jail, but no action was taken to stop the conduct and no reasonable measures were taken to alleviate the risk of harm to detainees like Plaintiffs.’

It claims these actions were ‘open, obvious and repeated. Yet, no one from’ Oklahoma County, the sheriff’s office and the criminal justice authority ‘stepped into take remedial action.

‘This exemplifies a systemic and deep-seated failure to train and supervise, with respect to the most basic aspects of correctional operations and constitutional conditions of confinement.’

Not addressing those issues, they added, made them ‘deliberately indifferent to citizens’ health and safety.’ 

The former detainees were each seeking $75,000 in retribution.

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