Aureon Shavea Grace, a 24-year-old mother, died on June 16, 2024, after being shot by an inmate while working in the kitchen of Smith State Prison in Glennville, Georgia. The incident, which occurred on a Father's Day morning, sent shockwaves through the community and raised serious questions about the security protocols within the state's correctional facilities.
Grace, a resident of Statesboro, was employed by Aramark, a food service contractor for the prison.
She had been working at the facility since January of that year. On the morning of her death, at approximately 4:30 a.m., an inmate named Jaydrekus Hart fatally shot her in the prison kitchen before turning the gun on himself. Grace was pronounced dead at the scene, while Hart was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his self-inflicted injuries.
Officials from the Georgia Department of Corrections later revealed that Grace and Hart had been in a personal relationship. A suicide note, apparently left by Hart, was also discovered. Hart, 34, was serving a 20-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery, with a potential release date in 2043.
The tragedy prompted an immediate lockdown of all state correctional facilities and a thorough investigation by the Georgia Department of Corrections. A significant focus of the investigation was determining how a firearm was smuggled into a close-security prison where even correctional officers are not permitted to carry guns.
In the aftermath, Aureon Grace's family filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections, alleging that prison officials were aware of the presence of a gun within the facility for more than a year prior to the shooting but failed to take appropriate action. The lawsuit contends that warnings from inmates about the firearm were ignored and that no extensive search or protective measures were implemented. The family also disputed the Department of Corrections' insinuation that Grace had helped Hart obtain the weapon, stating that the gun was in the prison before she began working there. They learned of her death not from officials, but from other inmates who contacted a family member using a contraband cellphone.
