A Marrero man serving a life sentence for murder at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola died Wednesday shortly after he was found unresponsive in his cell, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Joharri Walker’s cause of death has not yet been determined. But his mother, Priscilla Walker Ayche, said Wednesday that other inmates at Angola told her that her son died of an overdose.
Word of Joharri Walker’s death left Ayche in shock, she said. Relatives also noted the strange similarities with the death of his brother, Johnell Walker, 27.
Johnell Walker died of a fentanyl overdose two and a half years ago while an inmate at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.
Angola death
Joharri Walker, 27, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015, after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Stefan Johnson. Stefan, who would have been a sophomore at John Ehret High School in Marrero, was shot in the back on July 8, 2014, court records said.
On Wednesday, a corrections officer at Angola found Joharri Walker unresponsive in his cell about 1:17 p.m., according to Ken Pastorick, spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections.
Medical staff administered CPR but couldn’t revive Walker, according to Pastorick, who added that authorities did not suspect any foul play.
Joharri Walker’s cause of death is still under investigation, and an autopsy, including toxicology testing, will be conducted, according to the department.
Ayche said Friday that she and her family are still waiting to hear from corrections officials and get their questions answered.
Fentanyl overdose
Johnell Walker died October 22, 2021, while in custody at the Gretna jail. Nine days earlier, he’d been sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms plus 50 years after being found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder, court records said.
Johnell Walker and two other suspects had been accused in the 2015 Harvey shooting deaths of Johnell Ovide, 23, and Trammell Marshall, 21.
Johnell Walker and a 41-year-old inmate were found unresponsive in their housing unit, according to authorities. Both were suspected of overdosing on drugs and taken to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero.
Johnell Walker was pronounced dead while other inmate survived, authorities said. An autopsy later determined he died of acute fentanyl toxicity.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation but did not book anyone directly with Johnell Walker’s death, according to Capt. Jason Rivarde, spokesperson for the department.
However, two people were arrested by detectives investigating how the fentanyl entered the jail, Rivarde said. Aaliyah Pryer, 19, and Don Raines, 42, were charged with conspiracy to introduce contraband into the correctional center, court records said.
Raines, an inmate at the Gretna jail, and Pryer, an Algiers woman who wasn’t housed in the facility at the time, were accused of plotting together to smuggle in Suboxone, a prescription opioid used to treat addiction, according to court records.
Pryer was also charged with possession of heroin and illegal possession of Suboxone. She pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to two years of active probation, court records said.
Raines has not been arraigned in the case, according to court records. He was being held at Allen Correctional in Kinder, La., where he is serving a 13-year sentence after pleading guilty in November 2021 to possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon, court records said.
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