Rutherford inmate hospitalized after being ‘shackled and chained to the floor,’ mom says

By Kimberly King

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    RUTHERFORDTON, North Carolina (WLOS) — Rutherford County inmate Robert Gene Sisk, 34, was transported to Rutherford Regional Health System on Thursday with open wounds and sepsis his mother, Michelle Taylor, said. She said her son got sick after his deteriorating health and open wounds were ignored for days by staff at the Rutherford County Detention Center.

“He was shackled and chained to the floor and the wall ’til it cut through his skin to the bone,” Taylor said.

Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg, who’s pledged transparency in his elected post, welcomed Sisk’s mother to meet with him. In a released statement, Ellenburg said the investigation conducted by the SBI will determine if any policy rules were broken by jail staff.

Taylor video-taped her meeting with the sheriff, who visited her son in the hospital.

“They held him for over 10 days until his whole body turned septic and he went out of his mind,” Taylor said. “I had to leave my dying father from Richmond, Virginia, to get down here to my son. My son is a far cry from an angel, but he is a human being.”

Court records show Sisk was being held on pending charges that include misdemeanor breaking and entering into a car and felony interfering with the jail fire system.

Taylor said hospital staff expected to release Sisk on Monday after he was treated with antibiotics.

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