Six Georgia inmates have been granted reduced sentences for saving a sheriff's deputy who collapsed during a work detail.
The prisoners at Polk County jail got their sentences cut by 25 percent after saving an officer who passed out on June 12, CNN reported Thursday. The deputy suffers suffered from a chronic medical condition that became agitated by the heat outside.
The deputy was on detail supervising the inmates perform lawn maintenance at a cemetery when he collapsed.
The six inmates sprang into action, instead of fleeing, after the officer began hyperventilating before passing out.
"When he started breathing, it was just real heavy and real fast," inmate Greg Williams said.
One inmate used the deputy's phone to call 911 and another removed his bulletproof vest and gun belt so he could breath easier.
"When that happened, in my opinion, it wasn't about who is in jail and who wasn’t," Williams said. "It was about a man going down and we had to help him."
Due to the inmates' quick response, the medics arrived at the scene shortly after to take over.
"They really stepped up in a time of crisis and show that they care about my officers," Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats said. "That really speaks a lot about my officers too, how they treat these inmates. They treat them like people. Like family."
The deputy has since recovered and returned to work.
None of the prisoners are violent offenders and charges against them range from probation violations to minor drug crimes. In addition to reduced sentences, the six inmates who saved the deputy received a celebratory lunch and dessert in the park prepared by the deputy's family.
"They could have taken the gun, got the work van and gone," Moats told TIME. "They could have done anything they wanted. They were out there by themselves with this one officer. If they would have left him there, it could have been hours before anyone came across him."
The sheriff's office wrote in a Facebook post after the incident that the situation could have turned violent like another story about Georgia inmates. Two prisoners suspected of killing two corrections officers during their escape from a prisoner bus last week were later captured in Tennessee.
"As we watched the horrific man hunt this week of the two inmates that killed two correctional officers and were captured last night, we all know that Monday could have ended differently for our officer," the sheriff's office said.