GDC Locks Down Prisons June 18

All Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) facilities were placed on lockdown June 18 after multiple incidents statewide, according to a GDC spokesperson.

Wheeler Correctional Facility was initially included in the lockdown order, and while some Georgia facilities remained locked down Monday, the Wheeler prison was able to lift the order after a day or so, said Warden Shawn R. Gillis. “We didn’t have anything happen here,” Gillis said Monday of the CoreCivicowned facility which houses medium security adult male felons.

Multiple fights occurring at GDC facilities promoted a lockdown “out of an abundance of caution, which is not uncommon,” the GDC stated. On Tuesday, June 17, an inmate at Georgia's Hancock State Prison in Sparta died after local officials said he was stabbed multiple times with a homemade weapon in the prison yard. On Wednesday, June 18, an inmate at Macon State Prison died while in custody, the GDC confirmed. The bodies of both inmates have been taken to the GBI crime lab to determine the official cause of death and investigations are ongoing.

According to a GDC spokesperson, prior to the lockdown, a minor fight occurred at Coastal State Prison in Savannah with no outside medical attention required but multiple offenders were also involved in fights at Johnson State Prison at Wrightsville requiring outside medical transports. A fight also occurred at Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena.