Two months after a fourth Athens-Clarke County jail inmate died in a four-month span, affected Athens families are still looking for answers.

Four Athens-Clarke County jail inmates died while in custody from April to July 2025. Sheriff John Williams announced at a press conference on July 14 that fentanyl was suspected in “some” of the four deaths. An autopsy revealed that 32-year-old Shabazz Wingfield’s death was caused by a mixture of methamphetamine and fentanyl. Of the three other inmates’ deaths, no autopsies have been released.

It has been over two months since the last death, and there are still no updates from the sheriff’s office or city hall. Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz spoke to students on Tuesday in a brief news conference. When asked about any updates on the recent deaths, Girtz had none to give:

“I don’t have any update that we can provide. Sometimes those investigations play out over a number of months, but certainly that will be public as soon as we can.”

Mayor Girtz said that he worked with Sheriff Williams to increase his deputies’ salaries so that he could better maintain his staff. Chief Deputy Woods said that the jail is understaffed by more than 40 employees, with some shifts operating at 50% strength.

“Fortunately, we’ve seen a modest, not significant reduction in fentanyl deaths community-wide over the last year,” Girtz said, “Of course, fentanyl is one of these drugs with just a very small piece of the drug, it could be deadly. And we know that for decades, some contraband has gotten into the jail as well. And so the sheriff, who, of course, manages the jail, because he's a separately elected official with his own administrative purview, has been tracking that very closely.”

Wingfield was the first of a string of deaths that began on April 22. Torrance Bishop died on May 5, after being found having a “medical emergency.” Boycie Howard was found unresponsive in his cell on July 8. Howard had been kept in “high-max” confinement, according to jail officials due to Howard allegedly representing a danger to himself or others. His mother, Natasha Dunn believes he was neglected by the staff and that he had never used hard drugs.

Brent Boling was the fourth inmate to die on July 11, after he had been similarly hospitalized following a “medical emergency.” No other details have been released about the inmates’ causes of death.

At July 14’s news conference, Sheriff Williams noted fentanyl’s deadly impact in jails and the difficulties in curbing its usage among incarcerated populations.

“We have to understand that we’re never going to be able to 100% eliminate contraband from entering the jail, especially something in the form of fentanyl,” Williams said. “People can smuggle it in in a belly button, in between your fingers. People are very creative when it comes to these things.”

Chief Deputy and Jail Commander Frank Woods has gone on record, noting the jail’s understaffing as reasoning for deteriorating conditions. Woods also noted that the camera and control systems in the jail are “antiquated and failing.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate these deaths.