A Henry County detention officer has been arrested by his own department on four felony charges following an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct. Kwamir Jamal Duncan, who worked inside the Henry County Jail, now faces two counts of first-degree improper sexual contact by an employee and two counts of violation of oath of office.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the Henry County Sheriff's Office made the arrest after investigating allegations of misconduct against Duncan, who was employed by the same agency that took him into custody. Investigators have not released specific details about the timeline of events or the circumstances surrounding the allegations, and authorities say they are withholding additional information to protect the ongoing investigative process. Henry County Sheriff's Office communications specialist S. Kaye Gibson provided the details in a press release, the station reports.
What Georgia Law Says About the Charges
The felony charges Duncan faces carry significant weight under Georgia statute. First-degree improper sexual contact by an employee is classified as a major felony when committed by personnel holding custodial or supervisory authority, and a conviction under O.C.G.A. § 16-6-5.1 carries a prison sentence ranging from 1 to 25 years along with potential fines up to $100,000, according to J. Ryan Brown Law. Notably, the same statute explicitly states that a victim's consent is not a valid legal defense in these cases, since Georgia law presumes an inherent power imbalance exists in institutional settings like detention facilities, per the Criminal Defense Lawyer resource on the statute.
A conviction would also trigger consequences well beyond prison time. Under Georgia's Sex Offender Registration Law as revised in 2021, a felony conviction for first-degree improper sexual contact by an employee mandates lifetime registration on the state's sex offender registry, categorizing the offense alongside other dangerous sexual crimes subject to permanent monitoring, according to the Criminal Defense Lawyer overview of the law. Separately, the two oath-of-office counts carry their own exposure: under O.C.G.A. § 16-10-1, a public officer convicted of violating their oath of office faces a mandatory felony penalty of 1 to 5 years in prison per count, according to the Criminal Attorney in Georgia.
A Jail Already Under Strain
Duncan's arrest lands amid a broader reckoning over conditions inside the Henry County Jail. Just weeks ago, Sheriff Reginald Scandrett filed a 47-page lawsuit against the Henry County government alleging the facility operated with only 16 detention officers per shift when 24 were required, Hoodline reported on the sheriff's lawsuit. That petition noted the facility housed an average of 930 inmates in July 2026 against a designed capacity of 875 beds.
Duncan's arrest is not the first time the sheriff's office has had to police its own ranks. In October 2025, the agency arrested and terminated detention officer Miles J. Moxie following an internal criminal investigation into contraband discovered inside the jail, with Sheriff Scandrett announcing the arrest after staff found suspected contraband during routine checks, FOX 5 Atlanta reported at the time. The jail has also faced scrutiny over inmate safety more broadly; in April 2024, public records and local media reports confirmed four inmate deaths within a 106-day span, with Scandrett publicly acknowledging the deaths while citing mental health and staffing challenges, according to 11Alive.
How Internal Investigations Unfold
The Henry County Sheriff's Office maintains dedicated Special Victims Units and internal affairs investigators tasked with conducting initial criminal probes into institutional crime, domestic violence, and officer misconduct, according to Henry County Government, though agency protocol restricts public disclosures during active probes. That structure mirrors how Georgia agencies have handled other supervisory misconduct cases. In June 2026, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents arrested a former probation officer in neighboring Rockdale County on three counts of first-degree improper sexual contact by an employee, a case Hoodline previously covered in detail, illustrating how internal agency referrals routinely trigger criminal charges when authority is abused.
Oath-of-office prosecutions also have precedent in Henry County. In April 2022, a grand jury indicted a former regional drug task force commander on 15 counts of violation of oath of office alongside theft charges following a state investigation handled by the Georgia Attorney General's Office after a GBI probe. As with Duncan's case, investigators in that matter relied on internal referrals before charges were filed. No further details about Duncan's case have been released, and it remains unclear when he is expected to appear in court.
