ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into a case of a female inmate who died at the Rockdale County Jail last weekend.
The sheriff's office said 47-year-old Dawn Goodman of Norcross died from a self-inflicted injury last Saturday, Aug. 8.
An Aug. 12 news release from the sheriff's office said deputies "responded quickly" to the incident, but it did not give many other details. They said Goodman was pronounced dead just before 9:30 p.m. at Piedmont Rockdale Hospital.
The GBI interviewed the deputies involved and inmates in the surrounding area, according to the sheriff's office. An internal affairs investigation has also been launched, officials said. The GBI declined to release more information, citing the ongoing investigation.
11Alive reached out to Goodman's family, who said that the sheriff's office has been transparent with them during the investigation. They shared a statement asking for privacy, but acknowledged that Goodman "faced struggles like many of us do."
"The sheriffs department has been kind, professional, and transparent during the early process of the investigation and we await further information from them as the investigation continues," the statement said, adding that family is in the "difficult stages of the healing process."
This is at least the fourth death at the Rockdale County Jail in the last two years. Two of those inmates reportedly died from a medical emergency. A third died from dehydration.
A grand jury blamed that death on the staff's lack of training and adherence to policies, but found no single person was to blame.