An inmate at the Greene County Jail has been charged with battery resulting in bodily injury for allegedly punching another inmate in the face numerous times and throwing the other inmate down on a concrete floor then using his knee to hit the other inmate in the face again.

James Irwin Roberts, 31, Jasonville, who is currently an inmate in the Greene County Jail, appeared in Greene Superior Court yesterday, Wednesday, September 28, for his initial hearing when he was formally charged with battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor.

Deputy Logan Milligan of the Greene County Sheriff's Department, the investigating officer, reported that a jailer requested a deputy at 9:30 PM last Thursday, September 22, because a fight had occurred in H Pod between Roberts and another inmate.

The altercation was caught on the video surveillance system. Deputy Milligan reported the video showed that Roberts threw the first punch with a closed fist directly to the other inmates nose then continued to punch the other inmate in the face repeatedly using a closed fist. Roberts then threw the other inmate into the main entrance door to the pod then picked him up by the collar of his shirt and threw him down to the concrete floor and shoved down on the backside of his head. The video then showed Roberts used his left knee to directly hit the other inmate in the face while he was on the ground. Once he was back up, the other inmate was knocked to the floor again, this time landing on top of a mop bucket. At that point Roberts walked away.

During her investigation, Deputy Milligan talked to Roberts and the other inmate as well as a third inmate who was a witness to the altercation.

When asked what happened that led to the fight, Roberts allegedly said he was having a difficult day and was upset because $15 had been taken out of his money for a medical bill for seeing a doctor while he was incarcerated. Roberts also said the other inmate had been running his mouth and while the other inmate was mopping the floor, he made threats of hitting Roberts with the mop stick. Roberts alleged that the other inmate is disrespectful to others in the pod and makes loud noises at night to keep everyone awake. He said he tried to walk away from the altercation but the other inmate kept egging it on and then the other inmate spit in his face while talking and that is when Roberts threw the first punch.

The third inmate who was a witness also said the other inmate is disrespectful to everyone in the pod and he said he heard the other inmate make threats to Roberts about breaking his back and hitting him with the mop stick.

The other inmate who was punched allegedly said he was assaulted and did not fight back. He said he did not threaten Roberts in any way before the fight.

Deputy Milligan noted that the other inmate had noticeable injuries to his left eye which was swollen and purple, had dark purple bruising with long swollen scratch marks on his left shoulder blade, had swollen knots on the back of his head and the inside of his upper lip was split open and bruised.

Following the investigation, the new criminal case against Roberts was filed on Tuesday.