Man dies in custody at Bibb County Jail, officials say. What we know.
A man held at the Bibb County Jail died by suicide Wednesday, according to the Bibb County sheriff’s and coroner’s offices.
He was booked in the jail a day prior, according to an online log of incarcerated people at the facility.
Correctional deputies found 50-year-old Christopher Henderson “unresponsive” before 2:30 a.m. in his cell, a news release from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said.
Henderson was the only person in the cell when deputies found him, Sgt. Christopher Williams said.
Deputies provided aid until emergency medical services arrived and took Henderson to a local hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
Hospital staff said his injuries caused him to die from cardiac arrest, when the heart suddenly stops, according to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones. Henderson was pronounced dead by medical staff around 3 a.m. and his family was notified by around 8 a.m., records from the coroner’s office said.
His body will undergo an autopsy “due to this being an in-custody death,” deputies said.
Henderson was arrested Tuesday and charged with terroristic threats and acts, and disorderly conduct, a log of detainees said. He was being held without bond.
Medical staff is required to ask people about their mental health during the jail booking process, according to Capt. Linda Howard, a public information officer for the sheriff’s office, which oversees the jail. Deputies are not required to ask these questions.
“When inmates are being processed into the jail, they go through a medical screening process that is done through our contract medical staff with Correct Health,” Howard said. “At that time they provide the medical staff with that information.”
The sheriff’s office’s Internal Affairs Unit and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was investigating the death.
This is the second time someone has died by suicide at the jail in 2025, according to records from the coroner’s office.
Wesley Gautney, 41, was found “unresponsive in his cell” and died by suicide on June 23, the sheriff’s office said.
Four out of nine detainees who died in the jail between 2020 and 2024 died by suicide, according to data from the sheriff’s office. It was not immediately clear how many in-custody deaths have occurred there in 2025.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM.
