Rolland Phillips
Roland Lamont Phillips, 33, a native of Illinois who had moved to Metter several years earlier, was held at Hancock State Prison in Sparta, Georgia, when he died on June 28, 2023. His mother, Patricia Morris, and stepfather, Walter Morris, who helped raise him from boyhood, say he had asked prison officials not to place anyone in his cell after an earlier stabbing, and that he was pepper-sprayed when he objected to a new cellmate. Authorities said he was stabbed to death in his cell, and prosecutors described the death as a homicide. A jury acquitted his cellmate in August 2025 after the defense argued the cellmate acted in self-defense against an alleged sexual assault, and the family says it has received little information from prison officials about his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (neglect alleged). His mother says he warned prison officials not to put anyone in his cell after an earlier stabbing, and that they did so anyway.
Reported by: Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Blayne May; the victim's parents (family or their lawyers).