ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities say eight Georgia prisons are on lockdown after a bloody June that included the killing of an inmate in one prison and a brawl at another facility that sent 16 inmates to hospitals.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said Wednesday that the lockdowns are a response to rising tensions between prison gangs following the violence.
An autopsy found Joshua Brooks died of blunt force trauma after he was found unresponsive in his cell at Calhoun State Prison in southwest Georgia on June 11. Multiple fights broke out in Smith State Prison in south Georgia on June 20.
Authorities they've canceled visitation at Calhoun and Smith, as well as state prisons in Valdosta, Waycross, Pelham, Sparta, Oglethorpe and Helena.
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
