Lawsuit alleges Middle Georgia prison officers ignored altercation that left man dead
Two correctional officers for a Middle Georgia prison were accused of ignoring an inmate’s altercation with his cellmate that eventually led to his death, according to a lawsuit filed in Macon federal court this month.
Marilyn Pless, the surviving spouse of Elmer Winston Pless, filed a lawsuit May 15 against two correctional officers, Joseph Richardson and Jamie Shuler, who were in charge of making rounds on May 15, 2023, the day Pless was allegedly choked to death by his cellmate at the mental health unit at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classifications Prison in Butts County, court records show.
Elmer Pless suffered from bipolar disorder and required treatment and medication, the lawsuit says.
They were accused of deliberate indifference, which violates the Eighth Amendment, protecting people from cruel and unusual punishments, and the 14th Amendment, which establishes equal protection.
“Despite repeated pleas from other incarcerated men for officers to intervene, Defendants ignored these calls for help,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants Richardson and Shuler either wholly abandoned their required rounds and post, or they stood at their posts and deliberately chose to do nothing while Pless was being strangled to death.”
Pless also sued Lt. Jacquel Moore, shift officer Paulette Johnson, Lt. Rashad Christopher Berry and Lt. Marlene Boyd for failing to inspect Elmer Pless’ dormitory once per shift, which GDC policy requires, the lawsuit said.
Antoine Caldwell, Mark Agbaosi, Teketa Jester, LaChesa Pleshette Smith, Joseph Polite and Sheneca King, the prison’s administration members, were also sued by Pless because they “were directly responsible for ensuring that all correctional officers conducted proper rounds and monitored the men in all of the housing units, including the mental health unit in the D-dorm,” the lawsuit said.
They were also required to conduct rounds, according to GDC policy, the lawsuit said.
Pless, through attorneys Samantha Funt and Zach Greenamyr, is requesting a jury trial and damages.
Representatives of the Georgia Department of Corrections declined to comment on the lawsuit. A lawsuit represents one side of the story. The wardens, lieutenants and correctional officers had not filed a legal reply to the lawsuit at the time of publication.
Altercation lasted more than 2 hours
Pless and his cellmate, Michael Hendrix, were locked in their cell while other inmates were walking around the D-House, the mental health unit, at the prison, the lawsuit said. Pless and Michael got into a heated argument, which the lawsuit argues was loud enough for those walking around the block to hear.
When the argument escalated into a struggle, Pless asked another inmate outside to get a guard. However, even when Pless and other inmates pleaded for guards to come and stop the struggle, “no one responded to their calls for help,” the lawsuit said.
“This altercation went on for approximately two and a half hours before any guard response,” the lawsuit said.
Pless and Hendrix were in the mental health unit, which meant that, according to GDC policy, correctional officers were required to monitor every 15 minutes. However, Richardson and Shuler, who were on duty, allegedly did not conduct rounds in the dorm until Pless was found dead at around 7:50 p.m. “despite Defendants’ knowledge that these men were so vulnerable that 15-minute checks were required to keep them safe,” according to the lawsuit, which referenced records from log books.
“Unchecked violence and abdication of required duties in the mental health unit was not an isolated incident but rather part of a continuing pattern at GDCP,” the lawsuit said.
Hendrix was charged with felony murder as a result of the incident, court records show. His case is still pending.
Months without proper surveillance
The lawsuit referred to the Department of Justice’s investigation into Georgia prisons, which included the GDCP, and established in October 2024 that the “whole state of Georgia fails to reasonably protect incarcerated people from violence, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, by allowing pervasive violence in the prisons, grossly inadequate staffing, inadequately maintained facilities and failure to control weapons, drugs and other dangerous contraband -- amongst many other widespread constitutional violations,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also adds that incarcerated men who suffer from debilitating mental health conditions were some of the most vulnerable at the prison and are more at risk of an attack, “considering the poorly staffed housing units and guards who wholly abandoned their duties as a matter of course,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleged that the GDCP’s log book had zero rounds documented in the D-House between Jan. 17, 2023, and May 15, 2023, when Pless died. Nights would pass without any guards conducting rounds a single time during a night shift, the lawsuit said.
“The systemic failure to conduct required security checks in the mental health unit was a known problem at GDCP,” the lawsuit said. “Each of the Defendants received reports of these failures yet took no corrective action.”
