MACON, Ga. — An inmate died at Central State Prison in Macon on Christmas night, according to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.
Joseph Akins, 66, was serving a sentence for arson out of Crisp County, prison records show. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On Christmas day, Akins was found dead in an open area at the prison, Jones said.
They're not sure what led to Akins' death, and Jones says Akins' body is being sent to the GBI crime lab to determine his cause of death.
It comes on the heels of a number of prisoner deaths at the prison on Fulton Mill Road in Macon.
26-year-old Maquis Johnson was stabbed at Central State Prison on Dec. 18. Only one day prior, 28-year Hollis Bryant, was stabbed multiple times Sunday at the state prison on Fulton Mill Road in Macon.
Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice has been probing conditions at Georgia's state prisons.
A press release from the DOJ says the investigation will "examine whether Georgia provides prisoners reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners."
The DOJ's Civil Rights investigation has run into road bumps, with the DOJ taking the Georgia Department of Corrections to court in 2022 claiming they failed to provide basic details and documents about how many inmates were killed in Georgia's jails.