ATLANTA — Family and friends gathered Tuesday evening at South Bend Park in southeast Atlanta for a vigil honoring an Atlanta man who was killed inside a Georgia prison just days before he was supposed to come home.
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Jimmy Trammell was one of three inmates killed during a violent altercation Sunday at Washington State Prison in Davisboro, located between Macon and Augusta. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, the fight involved suspected gang members.
The deaths remain under investigation.
For Trammell’s family, the loss is especially painful. After spending 10 years behind bars on felony burglary charges, he was scheduled to be released on Wednesday.
“I just want to get some type of understanding of how this happened to him with three days left,” one family member told Channel 2’s Candace McCowan during the vigil.
This is not how Aquinas Stillwell imagined this moment. He was supposed to be planning his brother’s homecoming. Instead, he found himself preparing to bury him.
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“It was supposed to be a happy day,” Stillwell said. “I was looking to pick him up, and you know.”
Trammell’s aunt, Michelle Lett, said the family had been eagerly awaiting his release.
“It was going to be a good feeling to actually touch him and hold him and embrace him and let him know that we love him,” Lett said. “He was happy himself. You could hear the excitement, the relief in his voice. He was just so ready to come home.”
As the family released balloons in Trammell’s honor, emotions ran high.
“Instead of him being released, we are releasing balloons for him,” Stillwell said. “He’s dead because of their negligence. I feel robbed...robbed.”
At this time, funeral arrangements remain on hold. Trammell’s body is with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, where an autopsy is being conducted before he can be released to his family.
The Georgia Department of Corrections says it will provide updates as the investigation continues.
The family has created a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses. Click here to donate.
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