A Hays State Prison inmate’s death this week became the third in a month.
Gwendolyn Hogan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction, confirmed Saturday that an inmate died from injuries sustained in an altercation at the northwest Georgia prison in Trion on Friday.
“An unidentified inmate went out for treatment for injuries sustained,” Hogan said in a statement. “The inmate later died as a result of his injuries.” The spokeswoman said the altercation did not involve prison staff.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate, the spokeswoman said. The GBI was also investigating two other recent inmate deaths at Hays State Prison, which in Chattooga County, about 40 miles south of Chattanooga, Tenn.
On Dec. 26, Damion McClain, 27, died from injuries after getting into a fight with another inmate, the GBI said. McClain was serving time for armed robbery convictions. Fellow inmate Daniel Ferguson, who was serving a life sentence for murder, was charged with murder in McClain’s slaying.
A week earlier, on Dec. 19, another inmate, Derrick Stubbs, 25, was found dead.
Both McClain and Stubbs were housed in the same area of the prison, but GBI agent James Harris told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that investigators did not believe their killings were linked.
“They weren’t tied any way together,” Harris told the publication. “That was the first thing on our minds.”
Stubbs’ mother told the Chattanooga Times her son, who was in prison for armed robbery, was in protective custody following a fight when he was found dead.
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