Civil rights attorney says Georgia inmate’s body went undiscovered for 2 days in cell
Attorney Ben Crump is demanding accountability from the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Attorney Ben Crump is demanding accountability from the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Above video: Full press conference with attorney Ben Crump
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump stood alongside a grieving family in south Georgia on Thursday, demanding accountability in the death of a 21-year-old inmate in solitary confinement at Valdosta State Prison.
Je’Vion Benham was discovered unresponsive in his cell on Christmas Eve 2025. According to Crump, the Lowndes County coroner’s office determined Benham had been dead for at least two days before his body was found.
Crump said the coroner ruled that Benham died by strangulation and that it’s believed his cellmate was responsible.
“So, how is it that you’re in the care and custody of Valdosta State Prison under the Department of Corrections, and you cannot keep a proper count on a daily basis to discover that a young man is dead for over two days?” Crump said. “It is a shame before God.”
Crump said the cellmate had been incarcerated since the 1990s and was a known member of the Ghost Face Gang, which he described as a dangerous white supremacist prison gang founded in Georgia prisons.
Attorney Lisa Park said Benham and his cellmate were assigned to different tiers and should not have been housed together.
“The fact that they already knew that Je’Vion’s cellmate was part of a dangerous gang, a white supremacist gang, you’re going to put that together with a young African American? It’s a recipe for disaster,” Park said.
Park also called it “gut-wrenching” that Benham’s body went undiscovered for two days.
“This young male body was laying in the prison for two days with nobody noticing,” she said. “They didn’t realize that he wasn’t being fed. They didn’t have check on him for two days.”
According to Crump, the coroner’s report noted that Benham’s body had significantly decomposed by the time it was discovered.
Benham’s mother, Robin Benham, said her son had been looking forward to his release.
“He wanted to be an inspirational speaker to youth. He wanted kids to not do the same things he did,” she said. “My son should have been coming home.”
She said she was not given the choice to bury her son and was instead provided his ashes.
“Somebody needs to be accountable,” she said. “And it’s not just about my baby either. It’s about everybody else that has to go through this. This is a mother’s worst nightmare.”
Crump said the case raises broader concerns about inmate safety.
“If it can happen to Je’Vion, then it can happen to your loved one,” he said.
WJCL 22 News reached out to the GDC for a comment. We have not heard back yet.