Five Hours in a Shower Stall

Georgia’s own death investigators recorded what happened to four men at Washington State Prison. A man locked alone in a shower stall to cool down. A cell unchecked for fourteen hours. A tray at 10:19 nobody rose for. In each case the response to a medical crisis was a placement, not treatment.

The Empty Column: Georgia Won’t Say How Prisoners Die

Georgia’s 2024 prison mortality report has a column headed “Cause of Death.” It is empty for all 330 people. For one month in January 2025 the state filled it in — and 41 percent of the deaths were homicides. Then the column disappeared.