After the death of an inmate in Mobile, the charge against a fellow inmate is upgraded to murder

MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) – Following the death of an inmate on Monday, charges against a fellow inmate were upgraded from assault to murder.

Justin Gentry Miles, 44, was charged with assault last month for allegedly attacking fellow inmate Harry McClure at the Mobile County Metro Jail. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said McClure was seriously injured. He died after life support was removed, the sheriff said.

“We had an inmate in prison who was attacked for no reason, as shown not only by the investigation but also by the video,” he said.

Burch said surveillance video shows Miles kicking and stomping on McClure's head.

Burch said it is difficult to prevent violence in prison.

“There's not much we can do,” he said. “There's really not much we can do. We're completely overcrowded.”

Miles was in jail for criminal damage. The victim was arrested for violating probation on a domestic violence charge.

Burch said the prison population as of Tuesday was about 1,530 inmates in a facility designed to hold 1,187. Several hundred of those inmates have been convicted of murder or are awaiting trial for murder.

“We do everything we can to protect them, but you can't stop bad guys from being bad guys,” he said. “They have as much conflict in prison as they do on the street. Those who want to voice criticism should take over that job for a while.”

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