OGLETHORPE, Ga. — At least four prison inmates are dead in just eight days across three Central Georgia prisons.
Two of them are stabbing victims at Central State Prison in Macon: Hollis Bryant and Marquis Johnson. Another inmate died of natural causes at Dooly State Prison this week. Eight days ago, Taurean Hardy was killed in a fight with his cellmate at Central State Prison.
All that information is according to the Georgia Department of Corrections and Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.
Hardy's brother, Keone Hardy, wants people to know who his brother was. Keone Hardy says his brother wasn't perfect and accepted punishment for his crimes. He says his brother's death never should have happened.
"I kind of froze and I hung up. I hung up. Broke the phone. I threw my phone," he said, describing how he got the news. "Stopped everything I was doing. I kind of froze. It froze me. You can see a tear coming out of my eye. I didn't expect it."
Taurean Hardy died around 7:45 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, according to Macon County Deputy Coroner Eddie Hosley. The Department of Corrections says he was in a fight with his cellmate, Joshua Marchman.
Hardy was 40. He only had a few years left in prison, serving a sentence for armed robbery. The Department of Corrections says the latest he could have gotten out is 2029.
"He wasn't no perfect person. He wasn't no angel. He accepted everything he did, no matter what it was. He never cried about it," Keone Hardy said.
Friday, Hardy drove to Oglethorpe from Brunswick, hoping for answers. He says they didn't tell him much more than he already knew.
Keone Hardy did time himself. He spent six years in the Georgia prison system.
"They need to change it. They need to actually secure the facilities," he said.
He knows how fights start and how they can go, but in the face of his brother's death, Hardy has a message for other inmates.
"I don't care how tough you are, how gangster you are, at the end of the day, families get affected every day," he said.
Now, Keone Hardy needs to plan his brother's funeral. He says it will be a small one in Brunswick, and all their family is invited.
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