PRISON inmates have told of their horror after a dead inmate was left slumped over a cell block railing "for hours".
In footage shot by an inmate in Georgia, fellow prisoners can be heard complaining about the fact the body was left for "two and a half hours" as they claim no officer was on duty.
"No officer has came back in this building [sic]," said the unidentified inmate who narrates the mobile phone video.
"Ain’t nobody in over three hours. We have an inmate here that is dead …. hanging right here for the last two hours at least. Two and a half hours. Dead."
At the start of the video, filmed on July 3, 2021, at Ware State Prison in Waycross, the narrator's watch shows the time of 08:17, before the video continues to run.
During the length of the footage, no prison officer appears to be behind the glass of the control centre in the inmate's section of the prison.
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It has now been revealed that the dead man was John Ekers, a 54-year-old man who was convicted in 1991 for murder in Cobb County and sentenced to life without parole.
No foul play was suspected in his death.
The video, meanwhile, underscores the seeming lack of staff in the prison.
A Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman said staff arrived 18 minutes after the video was recorded, but inmates claimed said staff only turned up for the standard morning headcount.
The inmates claimed they could not alert any staff before the count.
The spokesman told Fox5: "It is extremely important to ensure any premature judgments of the details are reserved until the facts are fully investigated and confirmed, and our Office of Professional Standards is currently investigating the incident to determine specifics."
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Human rights defenders, meanwhile, have criticised the way the state prison system is run.
Christina Remlin of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta said: "I can’t imagine a more dramatic illustration of the total crisis of violence and chaos inside of our prison system."
This comes as the state's prison system is already facing a federal investigation into the violation of prisoners' civil rights and putting their lives at risk – because of staffing shortages.
Clark claimed staffing woes keep inmates from accessing adequate medical and mental health care. It can also lead to inadequate supervision and violence, she added.
One of The Southern Centre for Human Rights lawsuits claimed: "Many other men have died of unknown causes when no or few officers were present in the dormitory."
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the department’s civil rights division previously said understaffing is a particularly pernicious issue.
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"You have many facilities across the state running staffing vacancy rates that are close to 70 per cent," Remlin said. "So you really only have one officer in a situation where you need three."
Department of Justice investigators visited Ware State Prison days before Ekers' body was left slumped over a balustrade "for hours".
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