$750K Recovery Against Corrections Officers Under 42 USC 1983 for Family of Man Killed by Cellmate at Macon State Prison

OGLETHORPE, GA—Corrections officers at Macon State Prison were warned for days of multiple physical altercations between Coty Silvers and his cellmate. Coty’s cellmate warned corrections officers of what he would do to Coty if he was not moved out of the cell.

“I’m about to go home, I ain’t got time for this,” is what one officer told them, according to the cellmate.

The threats and Coty’s cries for help continued as other people incarcerated in their dorm began warning officers of the same threat—that Coty’s cellmate was going to kill him.

On May 22, 2020, Coty was found brutally tortured and murdered an hour after his final plea. This was the second homicide at Macon State Prison that month.

Coty’s family contacted our firm in March of 2022 after another firm had turned them away because of the lack of evidence. With limited evidence, we filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that same month against the officers involved.

In June of 2023, the family reached a $750,000 settlement with the officers.