3 inmates dead, corrections officer and others injured in Georgia prison fight, police say
DAVISBORO, Ga. (AP) — Three inmates were killed and a corrections officer and several other inmates were injured when a fight broke out Sunday at a state prison in Georgia, according to local police.
The fight that started among inmates at the Washington State Prison left three inmates dead, Davisboro Police Chief Leondus Dixon said in an email. A corrections officer was injured and 12 inmates were taken to local hospitals for treatment, Dixon said.
The Georgia Department of Corrections had not posted any public statements about the incident to its website or social media accounts by Monday afternoon and had not responded to calls and emails from The Associated Press seeking information.
It’s not yet clear what prompted the fights or how the inmates were killed and injured or how the officer was injured. Washington County Deputy Coroner Mark Hodges said there were three deaths related to the incident, but he didn’t have any further information.
The medium security prison in Davisboro, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, has a capacity of about 1,550 inmates, according to the Department of Corrections website.
The Department of Corrections is leading the investigation, Dixon said. In addition to Davisboro police, he said the Washington County and Johnson County sheriff’s offices and Georgia State Patrol responded to the scene.
The Georgia State Patrol referred questions to the Department of Corrections.
The Department of Justice in 2024 issued a report saying Georgia prison officials are “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked deadly violence, widespread drug use, extortion and sexual abuse at state lockups. The report, following a civil rights investigation, found sophisticated gangs run prison black markets trafficking in drugs, weapons and electronic devices such as drones and smart phones. Investigators also cited a rising number of homicides in Georgia prisons, from seven in 2018 to 35 in 2023. Homicides later rose to 66 in 2024, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and were on pace to top in 2025 through June.
State officials have denied that they were violating inmates constitutional rights at the time of the 2024 report, but Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver and others have acknowledged that the pandemic led to a staffing crisis in state prisons as many prison guards resigned. The state has pumped more than $600 million in new spending into the Department of Corrections in recent years. That has helped the state hire more guards, but Oliver told lawmakers in December that the state is still 1,000 guards short of recommended staffing levels.
State Rep. Billy Hitchens, a Republican from Rincon, said at the December hearing that he’s concerned the prison system isn’t making meaningful progress toward preventing inmates from jamming or disabling cell-door locks. Broken locks allow inmates to roam freely and commit attacks. Oliver said then that fully replacing cell-door locks could take years.
