Leilani Simon moans about tough life in jail ahead of trial for killing infant son, dumping him in trash
A Georgia mother accused of killing her one-year-old son then dumping him in the trash has moaned about not getting enough TV time and going to bed hungry in jail — as her murder trial looms.
“There is no privacy even in our cells [because there is a] camera, there is no clock, the lights are on 24/7, and they took away the color pencils,” Leilani Simon, 24, whined to The Post in an exclusive interview via her prison email.
“We are only allowed [TV and recreational time] for a total of 2 hours a week. This didn’t solve the fact that we have nothing to do in our cells beyond reading and tablet use, which can cost money.
“And since they feed us dinner at 3-4 p.m we go to bed hungry every night when we have snacks in another unit.”
Simon has been in custody since her arrest in November 2022 related to the death of her son, Quinton Simon. She faces a litany of charges including murder, concealing a death, falsely reporting a crime and 14 separate counts of lying to investigators.
Simon was the one to call 911 on the morning of Oct. 5 of that year to report her 20-month-old son missing from his indoor playpen at their home outside Savannah.
Detectives quickly honed in on a dumpster at Azalea Mobile Home park where Simon lived and more than a month later, the toddler’s remains were discovered in a landfill by investigators after they spent weeks combing through thousands of tons of garbage for any trace of his remains.
Prosecutors allege Simon beat her son “with an object” causing “cruel and excessive pain” leading to his death, according to the indictment against her.
“I’m on PC [Protective Custody] status since I first arrived. Instead of housing me with the other PC females where I could receive all the privileges they receive they decided to house me in medical,” she told The Post.
“In medical we – myself and the other high profile PC females – have very little to help pass by time.
“The rec[reation] yard is a concrete box with a concrete ceiling.”
Simon was deemed a flight risk and denied bail following her arrest.
She also claimed she does not have as many privileges as other “high profile inmates” in protective custody and accused the jail of “punishing me for crimes I’m accused of having committed” – but declined to comment on the case before the trial, which is currently expected to take place before the end of the year.
“They immediately stripped me of clothes put me in a smock and then put me in a suicide cell even though I never once said anything about being suicidal or implied it,” she continued.
Simon told The Post at one point she had befriended another inmate, Angela Montgomery — who has since been convicted of shooting a woman and kidnapping her six-week-old twin sons — and that she had got in contact with Simon’s mother to help her get out of solitary.
“They had me in that cell for nine days and didn’t let me out until my mom went on the news about it,” Simon added.
“If I’m going to be here i’d like to be treated like any other PC who get all the privileges the way they’re meant to.
“They get the TV all day, get to have their food commissary whenever they please, they have a clock, and if their lights don’t go off entirely they are dimmed considerably.
“Most of the officers are very professional but some, not many, treat us like we are guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around.”
At first a full-scale search for Quinton as a missing child was mounted. However, after a thorough search of the home and surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said investigators believed the child was dead and named Simon as the sole suspect.
Police and FBI agents soon focused their investigation on the landfill.
While they frantically searched for remains of Quinton, Simon and her mother, Billie Jo Howell, were spotted on the deck of Sting Ray’s bar on Tybee Island, a local vacation destination, downing shots of tequila.
