An Augusta State Medical Prison guard remained in jail Sunday night without bond for allegedly helping a convicted killer assault another inmate at the facility, located in Grovetown.
Officer Daniel Farmer, 31, was charged Oct. 21 with violation of oath by public officer and parties to the commission of a crime. He has been booked into the Columbia County Detention Center.
According to arrest warrants, Farmer helped inmate Donte Wyatt in committing aggravated assault against ASMP inmate Terry Anthony on the afternoon of Oct. 12 at the prison. Further details on the assault were not released.
Wyatt is a convicted killer tied to multiple slayings. Authorities say he stabbed LGBT activist Catherine Han Montoya to death inside her home in DeKalb County on April 13, 2015. Police believe Wyatt first stabbed his estranged wife at a Stockbridge Waffle house, then fled to DeKalb County, broke into Montoya’s home, and stabbed her to death.
He only surrendered after a SWAT team fired tear gas into the home. He later received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
While in a DeKalb County jail in 2015, Wyatt was accused of a fatally stabbing cellmate Jah’Corey D. Tyson with a cutting tool.
For his part, Anthony was in prison for robbery.
This is not the first act of violence at the medical prison. In fact, a civil rights lawsuit against the state of Georgia over conditions inside the prison, particularly at Augusta State Medical Prison, has been settled, according to a January article in The Augusta Press.
The settlement came after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would investigate allegations that prison officials have abandoned their responsibility for keeping inmates safe and providing reasonable medical care, among other concerns.
Greg Rickabaugh is the Jail Report contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at greg.rickabaugh@theaugustapress.com
