Autopsy: Inmate died as a result of homicide

By Staff
William F. West / community editor
Aug. 22, 2002
An autopsy report has concluded that a prisoner who died Monday at East Mississippi Correctional Facility was the victim of a homicide.
Sheriff Billy Sollie said state pathologist Steven Hayne examined the body of Lonnie Grisham about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hayne determined that blunt force trauma was the cause of death,
Grisham, 58, of Tippah County was found in his cell at about noon on Monday. Sheriff's investigators have said that Grisham's body was bruised and bloody.
Cellmate Tyrone J. Wilson, 29, of Hinds County is a suspect. Grisham and Wilson had been moved into a single cell on Monday when the prison received 55 inmates. No motive for the alleged attack is known.
Sollie said no charges are being filed now, but the case will be presented to a Lauderdale County grand jury in November.
The prison is designed to house inmates with special needs including those with psychiatric problems and those who need medication to perform day-to-day functions. Sollie said he is not certain about Wilson's particular need, but said he was is being held in isolation.
East Mississippi Correctional Facility, in the Lost Gap community west of Meridian, is a 100-acre prison opened in April 1999 by Wackenhut Corrections.