MACON, Ga. — The family of a man stabbed to death by his cellmate at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe is suing a Georgia Department of Corrections employee, alleging they ignored warning signs that their loved one was in danger.
The blistering allegations come in court documents filed in the U.S. Middle District of Georgia on Monday.
According to the filings, Joseph Walter Brown — also known as J.B. — was sentenced to 20 years in Macon State Prison, and he had two years left to go in his sentence.
He would never get the chance to walk out a free man.
Instead, Brown was stabbed to death by Denarquis Glenn on July 25, 2022, an inmate who had attacked multiple cellmates in the year leading up to Brown's death.
'Chill Out'
Brown's cellmate, Glenn, had a habit of violence after smoking "strips," described in court documents as "paper soaked in insecticide, rampant in Georgia prisons."
The issue is so bad that, according to the filings, "when GDC dorms are being fumigated, the residents must be housed elsewhere; otherwise, residents will wipe walls and floors down with paper to smoke."
The court filings paint a picture of Glenn's "well-earned reputation at MSP and in Tier I for extreme, unprovoked violence." Glenn would "become unhinged" after smoking strips, the suit says.
Glenn was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing two Pizza Hut employees in Bainbridge with each killing separated by around 7 months.
His violent tendencies, however, did not stop once he was behind bars, the lawsuit claims.
During his time in Macon State Prison, Glenn is accused of "violently attacking his cellmates" three times over a year, according to the filings.
The court filings say he attacked one of his cellmates with a shank while they were sleeping. Glenn then knocked out the teeth of another cellmate in a "stomping" attack. In the third "brazen attack," Glenn attacked his cellmate with a shank while a guard was removing their handcuffs.
Those other cellmates survived with "permanent serious injuries," the suit says.
Brown would not be as lucky. He would die from his injuries in an attack that left “blood covered the cell.”
Now, the family is seeking justice, arguing that Latrice Hatcher, a lieutenant overseeing the dorm, had ample opportunity to intervene and possibly save Brown's life.
Brown told Hatcher he "was scared to be housed with Glenn," urging them not to put them together, according to the suit. But he wasn’t the only one objecting to the arrangement.
"Glenn also told Hatcher not to put J.B. in the cell — he told Hatcher there would be a 'problem' if she did so," the filings say. " Knowing Glenn's history, Hatcher understood that a 'problem' in context meant Glenn would attack, and potentially kill, J.B."
After being moved into the cell, fights between Brown and Glenn became a frequent issue, with the suit saying it happened nearly every other day over a two week period.
During one fight, Hatcher went up to their cell and told the two to "chill out," the suit says. Again, both Glenn and Brown asked "several times" to be separated.
"Hatcher did nothing in response," the filings allege. "She did nothing to protect J.B."
'Ticking time bomb'
After the first two attacks in the general population, Glenn was moved into Tier 1, a separate dorm for problematic inmates. While Glenn was there for his string of attacks, Brown was there for being caught with a contraband cellphone.
According to the filings, the first attack by Glenn should have led him to being assigned a higher tier of custody, because of "the severity of the attack and the catastrophic nature of the injuries." Glenn was only moved to Tier I, the suit said, where he was not separated from other inmates.
"Instead, MSP officials continued putting people into Glenn's cell, putting those people at risk of a violent attack," the suit says.
Even after another attack against his first cellmate in Tier 1, Glenn still remained in the same dorm.
"Glenn had no business being in a cell with another person," the suit read. "Hatcher knew that Glenn was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to kill somebody."
On July 25, 2022, the time bomb went off, and Brown was killed. He was stabbed multiple times with a shank.
Now, it is up to the courts — and a jury — to decide whether Hatcher was personally liable for the death of Brown.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said they do not comment on pending litigation, and they did not respond to questions about whether Hatcher still works at the department.
The suit also comes as family members of incarcerated Georgians express deep worries about the conditions in Georgia's prisons.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating the GDC since 2021 for possible civil rights violations, looking into worries that Georgia prisons are unable to provide reasonable protection to prisoners. That investigation is ongoing.
Macon State Prison has had its own set of issues as well. The suit notes that Hatcher is facing three similar lawsuits.
Back in 2023, the family of Bobby Edward Lee Jr., who was killed at Macon State Prison in 2020, settled after a similar lawsuit. Lee was strangled by a convicted murderer, even after pleading for a day and a half for help.
The suit says nobody came to his aid until after Lee was strangled. Lee's death marked the sixth killing over 6 months, the suit said.
Their suit also paints a picture of gang violence, inhuman conditions, and understaffing at Macon State Prison.
His family received $24,500 in their suit.
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