John Anthony Ekers
John Anthony Ekers, 54, died in July 2021 at Ware State Prison in Waycross, Georgia, where he was held. Cell phone video recorded inside the facility showed him slumped over a second-floor railing, and a person held there who narrated the video said he had been in that position for two hours or more with no officer on the unit. The Georgia Department of Corrections said no foul play was suspected and that its Office of Professional Standards was investigating. The department later attributed his death to the toxic effects of meth, and his sister, Margaret Ekers, said she had lost touch with him and has questions about how drugs got into the prison.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose (neglect alleged). The Georgia Department of Corrections says he died from the toxic effects of meth, and an inmate who filmed the scene says no officer had been on the unit for more than two hours while he hung over a railing.
Reported by: Georgia Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); anonymous inmate who narrates the video.