- Prison staff neglected to check on Benham for over 2 days, leading to his death in solitary confinement.
- Benham was placed with a known white supremacist, creating a foreseeable risk to his safety.
- Systemic issues like gangs controlling prisons and negligent guards are major problems in Georgia’s corrections system.
Prison is a terrifying place, not only because it is a place full of potentially dangerous criminals, but because it is a place with potentially dangerous correctional officers and administrative staff who are wanton, neglectful, and inept.
BOSSIP has reported on numerous instances of Black men and women who have died inexplicably while in custody, and unfortunately, another case of prisoner death is beginning to gain traction in the news cycle.
According to CBS News, ubiquitous civil rights attorney Ben Crump is demanding accountability for the death of 21-year-old Je’vion Benham, who was found lifeless inside a solitary confinement cell at Valdosta State Prison in Valdosta, Georgia, on Christmas Eve 2025.
“The Department of Corrections had a fiduciary and constitutional duty to keep this 21-year-old son safe,” Crump said. “Instead, his body was discovered after being left there for over two days.”
That is correct. Benham was dead for two whole days before anyone at the prison gave a damn enough to check on his condition—wanton, neglectful, and inept.
The Lowndes County coroner found that Benham had begun to decompose so badly that his face was difficult to recognize. The family’s attorney, Liza Park, says that Benham personally requested to be placed in solitary confinement because he had concerns about his safety.
However, he was placed in a “solitary confinement cell” with a known white supremacist from the “Ghost Face Gang.” Park says that the men were not assigned to the same tier regarding their behavior and should never have been housed together.
“That alone was a huge mistake,” Park said, adding that combining a young Black inmate with a known white supremacist gang member created a “foreseeable” risk.
Benham’s death has been ruled a homicide, but at this time, the white cellmate has not been charged with a crime.
Robin Benham, Je’vion’s mother, says that she received a message that her child had “succumbed to his injuries” following an altercation. After traveling from Iowa to Georgia, she discovered what had to be a mother’s worst nightmare.
“I had to see that my son didn’t have a face,” she said. “We didn’t even get a choice. I got ashes. My kids got ashes.”
Sadly, Ms. Benham is very familiar with the Georgia prison system as she previously worked with the public defender’s office. At the press conference, she spoke directly to the major issues facing the state’s department of corrections.
The gangs run Georgia prisons,” she said. “They just let the guards come to work.”
Rest in peace, Je’vion Benham. This family deserves justice, there is no denying that Valdosta State Prison failed them.
