Mom Demetria Harris has say she wants an assurance from the department that he will be able to pay his debt to society, without being killed

Department of Corrections is investigating and believe the incident was gang-related

Berry told family members he was jumped by ten other inmates and guards didn't check on him until six hours after the incident

A concerned mother is calling for immediate action after a photo showing her badly beaten son with a leash around his neck taken at a Georgia correctional facility appeared on Facebook.

Cortez Berry, 18, is currently serving time at the Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Georgia, for his role in a 2011 carjacking and robbery.

In the disturbing photo which was uploaded to Facebook on Friday, Berry can be seen hunched down with a swollen eye in front of two shirtless young men, one who is holding the leash.

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In the disturbing photo which was uploaded to Facebook on Friday, Cortez Berry can be seen hunched down with a swollen eye in front of two shirtless young men, one who is holding the leash

Demetria Harris is calling for immediate action after a photo showing her badly beaten son with a leash around his neck taken at a Georgia correctional facility appeared on Facebook

'I was like oh my God! What happened? How'd it happen? It's a terrifying picture to see,' Berry's mother, Demetria Harris, told WRDW.

Berry was visited by his aunt on Saturday and he told her that he had been jumped by ten people who beat him and 'choked him to sleep.'

'Pretty much they left him there for dead,' said Shavondria Wright.

The incident happened at 3:15 p.m. but he was left unchecked by the guards until 9:45 p.m. that night, she said.

'No one deserves this,' said Harris. 'They're not being protected. I don't care what they're there for, they still need to be protected.'

The attack also appears to be gang related.

The caption of the photo posted on Facebook reads: 'When you disrespect the Nation, it brings nothing but pain and suffering.'

That is understood to be a reference to the gang, G.D. Nation, short for 'gangsta disciples.'

Video courtesy of CBS46.com

Berry told visiters on Saturday that he had been jumped by ten people who beat him and 'choked him to sleep'

The Department of Corrections is carrying out an investigation into the incident and has the area of the center where the photo was taken under lockdown.

Inmates are not supposed to have access to cellphones.

Berry is serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for aggravated battery, robbery and theft of a motorvehicle.

He was transfered to the medium security detention center last year after violating his probation.

His family say they want an assurance from the department that he will be able to pay his debt to society, without being killed.

'We could've lost him. He could've been dead. Especially when they hung the belt around his neck. He could've just been gone,' said Wright.