HANCOCK COUNTY, Ga. — A Hancock State Prison inmate is dead while in custody, the Georgia Department of Correction confirms.
They say Travon Walthour was pronounced dead on Sunday, but they are tight-lipped about what caused their death.
Walthour, who was serving an 18-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter out of Liberty County, was turned over to the county coroner and will be taken to teh GBI crime lab to determine the official cause of death.
It comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice found that Georgia's prisons fail to adequately keep inmates safe from harm, as required under the constitution.
They pointed to rampant violence stemming from understaffing alongside numerous other issues ranging from transparency to gangs to more.
The Department of Corrections says the death is being investigated by the GDC's Office of Professional Standards, which is standard procedure. Because of that, they say no additional information is available.
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