TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. — A Telfair State Prison inmate died on Wednesday while in custody, the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) confirmed on Thursday.
A statement from the GDC said Eric Whitehead, who was around 29 years old, died on Wednesday following a fight with another inmate.
The statement said Whitehead’s body was sent to the GBI crime lab to determine an official cause of death. It added that his death is under investigation by the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards and additional details are unavailable.
Whitehead was serving a life sentence for a murder he committed in Richmond County in 2009. He had been in prison since 2011.
This is the second inmate found dead at Telfair State Prison in September 2024. Additionally, it is at least the third inmate found dead in a Central Georgia state prison in September 2024, and at least the fifth inmate death in the past 30 days.
Legislative scrutiny
Georgia House speaker Jon Burns recently created a subcommittee in July to tackle the recent issue of deaths and other prevalent issues in state prisons.
This came a month after Gov. Brian Kemp announced plans in June to have an in-depth, system-wide assessment of the state's prisons. Sen. Jon Ossoff has also expressed his frustrations over the state's prisons.
“The General Assembly has placed significant emphasis on improving the safety, security and conditions of our state-operated corrections facilities,” Burns said in July press release. “With Governor Kemp’s ongoing assessment of Georgia’s prisons, we want to ensure we are prepared to take immediate action when subsequent recommendations and appropriations requests are delivered in January or during the interim. I look forward to the work of the committee and its support of efforts to restore law and order to Georgia’s prison system.”
Dublin Rep. Matt Hatchett serves as the committee’s chairman and works with six other Georgia Representatives on finding the best way to resolve this issue.
“(We need to) make sure we are knowledgeable about what the needs are so that we can try to get them done as quickly as possible,” Hatchett said in July. “The security of our state prisons is of utmost priority.”
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