By Staff
INMATE HOMICIDE Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie holds a press conference Friday on the death of Toney Coley, 24, an inmate at East Mississippi Correctional Facility, who was found dead in his cell. His cell mate is suspected of killing him. The incident is the second homicide at the prison in three months. Photo by Steve Gillespie / The Meridian Star.
By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Nov. 2, 2002
The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department is investigating another inmate homicide at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility.
Toney Coley, 24, an inmate from Neshoba County who was serving a maximum of five years for burglary and grand larceny, was found dead in his jail cell in Lost Gap on Friday.
Sheriff Billy Sollie said the cause of death appeared to be strangulation, but an autopsy will be performed to officially establish the cause. Investigators were on the scene at about 6:30 a.m.
Coley's cell mate, 41, is the suspect in the case, but Sollie would not release his name during a press conference Friday. He said the suspect, who is serving a life sentence for rape, will not be formally charged until a grand jury meets in March.
Sollie said evidence was collected in the cell and will be turned over to the Grand Jury.
This is the second homicide the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department has investigated at the jail since August.
On Aug. 19, another inmate, Lonnie Grisham, 58, of Tippah County was found beaten to death in his cell. His cellmate, Tyrone J. Wilson, 29, of Hinds County is a suspect in that case, due to come before a grand jury that begins its sessions this month.
Lawrence Greer, who just recently took over as warden of the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, could not be reached for comment . The 100-acre prison in the Lost Gap community west of Meridian opened in April 1999 and is operated by Wackenhut Corrections.