2 ex-officers at Augusta prison face federal charges in inmate’s death

According to the indictment, Roberson and Phillips became aware of a smoldering fire in an inmate’s cell on Oct. 28, 2020. But instead of extinguishing the fire, trying to evacuate the inmate, or reporting the emergency over the radio, they allegedly left the inmate in his locked cell for several hours, prosecutors said.

Thomas Henry Giles, 31, died, and his death was ruled a homicide by a GBI medical examiner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The Georgia Department of Corrections’ internal investigation determined that Giles died because of “the delay and negligence” of officers in removing him from his unventilated cell.

Phillips and Roberson voluntarily resigned in December 2020.

The state later agreed to pay Giles’ family $5 million to settle a lawsuit over his death. It is believed to be the largest amount paid to settle a claim against Georgia over a state prison inmate’s death or injury.

“There were any number of opportunities to have prevented this in the first place or to have done something about it early on or later,” Zack Greenamyre, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit, previously told the AJC. “Those opportunities have continually gone lacking.”

In September 2017, Giles pleaded guilty to an armed robbery charge and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. At the time of his death, Giles was being held in an area of the prison hospital that houses prisoners with severe mental health and behavioral problems.