Sarah Scully, Anchor/Reporter
This footage may be disturbing. It shows an officer pepper spraying a juvenile inmate.
In this Madison County Sheriff’s Office footage, three detention officers push a partially restrained juvenile inmate face down on the floor with a restraint chair weighing an estimated 80 to 150 pounds lying on top of him. Then, after he is subdued, an officer pepper sprays him.
A former MCSO detention officer who worked at the now closed Juvenile Detention Center, the JDC, recorded this January 2024 footage on their phone, afraid that Sheriff Buddy Harwood, who oversaw the JDC, would order the record deleted.
This reliable source has been granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Upon receiving this footage, I sent it to Harwood’s office for comment and did not receive a reply.
I also sent it to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. There is an ongoing SBI investigation filed in May 2024 of a juvenile inmate reporting a physical assault by two of Harwood’s detention officers.
Multiple state agencies found evidence of children being pepper sprayed, tased and held in a “detox” cell where they only had a hole in the floor to urinate and defecate following a surprise December 2024 inspection, as outlined in this February 2026 Disability Rights of North Carolina report.
https://disabilityrightsnc.org/.../no-place-for-kids-the.../
The NC Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention falls under the NC Department of Public Safety, and the DPS removed the kids from Harwood’s oversight and closed down the JDC in January 2025, said DPS Communications Officer Matt Debnam.
Harwood said otherwise in a phone call with influencer Chad Nesbitt, “The state of North Carolina didn’t make the decision to get rid of all the juveniles. I made the decision that I was not going to continue the path we were going by housing juveniles.”
After receiving this footage, the sheriff also told “The News-Record & Sentinel” newspaper that quote “We gave them respect, they gave us respect, and occasionally, yes, you would have to taser or pepper spray.”
Debnam said, “DJJDP does not utilize tasers or pepper spray in state-operated facilities. Use of force is strictly prohibited as a form of punishment or retribution.”
I sent those interviews where Harwood noted violating DPS DJJDP policies against pepper spraying and tasing juvenile inmates to Debnam who said the agency, “has nothing to add to the previous statements.”
I also sent the interviews to the NC Director of Sheriff’s Standards and Training Division Maj. William Mitchell for comment this morning and have not heard back by press time.
I have covered the child’s face to protect his identity. This is the video in its entirety as sent to me.
Note: 5 award-winning WNC journalists read this script and helped with some editing. Thank you very much.
Full interview of Harwood by Chad Nesbitt: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FKPZkNUKS/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Newspaper article: https://www.citizen-times.com/.../sbi.../91566306007/
Original JDC story: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19XwWckPzw/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Story on open SBI investigation: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EM2BWPjm5/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Story on any charges: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1A1FG4Ntkt/?mibextid=wwXIfr
How to report complaints on deputies/sheriffs: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18V6nLezye/?mibextid=wwXIfr
