VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — State and local authorities are investigating the death of a Valdosta State Prison inmate.
The Georgia Department of Corrections says 41-year-old Thomas Willis was found unresponsive in his cell at 2:57 p.m. Thursday. Authorities tried to revive him before he was taken to the prison's medical section, where he was pronounced dead.
The Valdosta Daily Times reports Willis' body was transported to a state crime lab for an autopsy. Lowndes County Coroner Austin Fiveash says his office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating the death.
Corrections officials say Willis had been convicted of terrorist threats and acts in November 2013 in Pickens, and up for release in 2019.
He was the first prisoner reported to have died at the prison this year; four prisoners died in 2016.
