Day after deadly Georgia prison brawl, 2nd fight breaks out at nearby site

For the second time in two days, a fight broke out in a Georgia prison.

On Monday night, at least two inmates were injured during a brawl inside the Hancock State Prison, authorities said. Officials did not detail the severity of the injuries or say if the inmates were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The fight only involved inmates at the facility, located about 100 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta, said Thomas Resha, chief investigator with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.

The Georgia Department of Corrections, which oversees the facility as well as the Washington State Prison where a deadly fight occurred Sunday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Resha told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution deputies were called to help with security around the outside of the Hancock prison. He said the Georgia State Patrol, Milledgeville police and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office assisted.

“We went at the request of the Hancock County sheriff to aid his office in securing the outside perimeter,” Washington Sheriff Joel Cochran told the AJC. “Smaller counties rely on each other to help when situations arise due to lack of manpower.”

Opened in 1991, Hancock State Prison houses men who have been convicted of serious crimes, according to the GDC website. The prison has a capacity to hold 1,200 people and is classified as a “close security” facility, which means inmates could pose an escape risk, have an assault history, be deemed dangerous “or have detainers for other serious crimes,” according to the GDC.

The facility is about 35 miles from the medium-security Washington State Prison. That’s where — a day earlier — three inmates were killed and 13 others were injured during what the GDC described as a gang-affiliated “disturbance” Sunday afternoon. A guard sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to the department.

Cochran’s office was also asked to help secure the outside of the Washington prison during that incident, the sheriff said.

Prison staff regained control by 3 p.m. after using nonlethal weapons, the GDC said in a statement. The site remained on lockdown Monday, the department confirmed.

The deceased inmates were identified as Teddy Jackson, Ahmod Hatcher and Jimmy Trammell, who was set to be released Wednesday.

Homicides inside Georgia’s prisons have been rising dramatically in recent years, according to an AJC investigation that used public death records, coroner’s reports and autopsy reports, along with death information from the GDC.