Last updated October 18, 2026.(DS)

Augusta State Medical Prison: The State's Medical Hub and the Care It Does Not Deliver

Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) sits on 3001 Gordon Highway in Grovetown, in Richmond County, and it is where the Georgia Department of Corrections sends the people it can no longer pretend to treat anywhere else. Built in 1982 and opened in 1983, ASMP is the state's flagship close-security medical facility, providing level-V specialty medical and mental-health care for seriously ill and high-acuity incarcerated people from across the system. It combines general housing units with an on-site hospital that includes acute-care, long-term-care, crisis, and pre-/post-operative beds. It primarily houses men but can receive women for medical treatment.

The facility's rated capacity is 1,326 against an original design capacity of 535, and GPS's current population figure is 1,149 — 86.7 percent of rated capacity. The warden is Deshawn B. Jones, who has held the post since June 2024; the deputy wardens of security are Michael Frank Paschal, Orbey Harmon, and Latasha M. Harris, and Samantha Denise Carter is deputy warden of administration.

What follows is the analytical record GPS has assembled on ASMP: a mortality registry that runs to 396 deaths since January 2020, a series of homicides and in-custody deaths that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has documented in detail, a 2026 cluster of alleged staff abuse against men who cannot feed or clean themselves, a federal First Amendment case that began with an ASMP prisoner and ended with a judge holding the GDC commissioner in contempt, and a settlement ledger that runs into the millions. The through-line is not that ASMP is uniquely cruel. It is that the facility designated to provide the system's most intensive care is also the place where the consequences of failing to provide it are most visible — and most lethal.

A Mortality Registry That Runs to 396

GPS's mortality database records 396 deaths at Augusta State Medical Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, because GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. The yearly distribution is remarkably flat: 62 in 2020, 57 in 2021, 65 in 2022, 63 in 2023, 65 in 2024, 45 in 2025, and 39 already in 2026. By cause, 293 are coded Natural/Medical, 66 Unknown/Pending, 17 Suicide, 11 Homicide, 9 Accident, and 1 Other.

The most recent entries in that registry, as GPS holds them:

• Donnie Gene Poland died September 15, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Demilo Ponchorello Johnson died September 10, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Dwight Bernard Freeman died August 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 69; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Jimmie Lee Dennis died August 17, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 64; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• John Henry Tuff died August 8, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 75; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Anretoes Kenwood Wilkins died August 7, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 50; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Donald Hugh Young died August 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 49; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Phillip Curtis Walker died July 16, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 62; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Kolby Young died July 13, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 24; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Edouard Kamdem died July 12, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 77; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Joseph Daniel Bristol died July 11, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 73; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• David James Vineyard died July 3, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 58; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Jerry Watson died July 2, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 75; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Wanique Marsay Odwin died June 29, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 44; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• David Meeks died June 20, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 62; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• James Dean Wilkinson died May 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 69; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Jacobi Alandis Chomicki died May 22, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 23; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Frederick Raskin died May 12, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 84; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Henry Ross died May 11, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 56; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Manuel Gomez died May 9, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Robert Bruce Green died May 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 69; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Lemarcus Antonio Dunson died April 27, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 50; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Walter Caldwell died April 25, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 49; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Jackie Mccoy Blackmon died April 25, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 72; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Edward Eugene Barber died April 22, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 72; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.

The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry. For context, GPS has independently tracked 1,918 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020.

The Homicides Inside the Hospital

The AJC's homicide-tracking coverage documents a steady line of killings at ASMP stretching back to the start of the decade, several of them involving men placed in cells with people who had already been flagged as dangerous.

Eddie Gosier, 39, died May 2, 2020, by ligature strangulation — hours after inmate Daniel Luke Ferguson was moved into his cell by guards. Ferguson had a prior history of strangling an inmate at Hays State Prison. Thomas Henry Giles, 31, died October 28, 2020, from inhalation of products of combustion after being left in his smoke-filled cell for hours while officers evacuated nearby inmates; the GBI ruled the death a homicide, and the state agreed to pay his family $5 million to settle a lawsuit over his death. Terry Lee Bennett II, 43, died January 10, 2021, from blunt impact to the head. Ali Lamont Tanner, 45, died July 2, 2021, from a stab wound to the neck.

William Taylor Bodge, 61, died February 5, 2022, from delayed complications of blunt force injuries to the head suffered weeks earlier, with the incident date listed as January 20, 2022. Raphael Zachery Milligan, 41, died July 21, 2022, from blunt force injuries and strangulation; another prisoner was charged with his murder. Amos Bennett Huff Jr., 60, died March 30, 2023, by strangulation; his 26-year-old cellmate was charged with Huff's murder. Randall Joey Futch, 61, died June 8, 2023, from delayed complications of blunt force head trauma.

Then came a run of deaths the AJC documented in a single retrospective. Thomas Preston Johnson, 56, died April 12, 2024; incident report data shows a homicide. Rodarick Lee Hayes, 29, died May 25, 2024, from sharp force injury of the torso — two prisoners and a correctional officer were charged with murder, the officer accused of aiding in the attack. The Department of Justice investigation of Georgia prisons later found that Hayes had been attacked on multiple occasions before his death, suggesting a failure to protect him. Lamar Wesson Phillips, 39, died June 8, 2024; incident report data shows a murder involving an inmate-to-inmate assault.

The AJC's reporting also documented a death that was not a homicide but sits squarely in the same failure: Jimmy Lucero was placed in solitary confinement at ASMP without receiving required medical checks, and fell into a catatonic state and starved.

In 2026 the registry records two more homicides — Jacobi Alandis Chomicki, 23, on May 22, and Wanique Marsay Odwin, 44, on June 29. The AJC reported that Chomicki's cause of death was initially undetermined and his body was turned over to the Richmond County Coroner's Office for transport to the GBI crime lab; GDC's Office of Professional Standards was investigating as standard procedure. GPS's registry now codes the death as a homicide.

Valentine's Day in the Medical Wing

The most detailed recent account of what care looks like inside ASMP comes from a pair of alleged incidents on consecutive days in February 2026, both involving certified nursing assistants and both involving men who could not care for themselves.

On February 14, 2026, around dinnertime, CNA Janette Shields allegedly struck inmate Bruce Smith with an open hand in the prison's medical wing, according to news reporting. Smith, whose GDC ID is 1003634516, is disabled and requires assistance with daily living tasks and medical care; the news article reported his weight as 111 pounds, while GDC records show 103. News reporting also records that a staff member named Shields, a CNA at Augusta State Medical Prison, was arrested on February 14.

The next day, February 15, a CNA identified as Williams allegedly cursed at quadriplegic inmate Anthony Shedd, refused to empty his catheter bag, refused to help him eat, and locked the door of his room. Shedd, GDC ID 0000567033, is a quadriplegic patient housed at ASMP; GDC's live database lookup as of April 17, 2026 still showed him as "active" at the facility. The source article characterizes the two incidents as establishing a pattern of staff misconduct.

What followed is the part that matters most analytically. The ASMP warden allegedly made threats of retaliation against Shedd for reporting CNA Williams, communicated via a phone call to Cindy Robertson, a contact person associated with Shedd's case, approximately February 20–21, 2026. GPS staff have separately assessed that a report received regarding ASMP reflected sustained, ongoing contact between the reporter and an incarcerated person, and that an incarcerated person's ability to use electronic messaging indicated intact cognitive function despite a physical condition — an assessment that bears directly on how claims of incapacity get discounted inside the facility.

GPS staff have documented an allegation of denial of basic medical care involving catheter management at ASMP, and characterize a reported refusal to assist an incarcerated person with eating as denial of basic medical care. GPS records show, over the past twelve months, 8 medical-neglect signals at high and critical severity, 8 staff-misconduct signals, 4 family-safety-concern signals, and 4 grievance-obstruction signals at this facility. GPS has also received accounts of use-of-force incidents at ASMP.

The Paperwork Behind the Care

The medical documentation that governs ASMP is itself part of the record. The Infirmary/OPHU Nurse Round Progress Note form used at the facility carries form number I006.1 and was last revised May 24, 2022; a separate Infirmary/OPHU progress note form carries number I009.0 with a last revision date of January 25, 2021. Karina Purcell is listed as Form Owner on the nursing progress note used in Shedd's November 11, 2024 assessment.

Those forms set the thresholds at which a nurse must contact a health care provider: blood pressure systolic ≥180 or ≤90, or diastolic ≥110 or ≤60; pulse ≥110 or ≤60; respirations persistently ≤10 or ≥20; temperature >101°F; oxygen saturation <90%. The same thresholds appear in GDC protocol at Walker State Prison, which additionally requires STAT contact with a medical provider and emergency transport without delay if the provider cannot be reached, with reassessment every 10–15 minutes while awaiting transport.

The existence of a written threshold is not evidence that anyone crossed it in time. It is evidence that the standard existed and was documented — which is what makes the gap between the form and the care a question worth asking.

Benning v. Oliver: A First Amendment Case That Outlasted Its Plaintiff's Patience

ASMP is where one of the state's most consequential prison speech cases began. Ralph Harrison Benning, an inmate at Augusta State Medical Prison, filed a 2018 lawsuit challenging GDC restrictions and censorship on inmate emails, including a limit of 12 email contacts tied to the in-person visitation log.

In 2024, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Benning a favorable ruling concluding the GDC could not limit his email contacts to 12 individuals listed on his in-person visitation log who had been cleared by a background check. In November 2024, Benning filed a motion claiming that the GDC was "willfully and intentionally" refusing to comply with the appellate court order and that he "continues to be subject to email-contact restriction."

On February 11, 2026, Judge Self held a 35-minute hearing in Macon during which he summoned GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to the witness stand and scolded the department for failing to follow court orders on inmate email access. The AJC reported that Judge Self found it "shocking" and "unbelievable" that the GDC ignored a court order from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, suggesting the department acts as if it is "above the law." Early in 2026, following Judge Self's order calling for an explanation of non-compliance, the GDC sent a directive to all prison wardens and superintendents to no longer enforce the portion of the policy limiting email contacts.

The same AJC coverage placed the case in a wider frame: a two-year investigation that revealed rampant corruption, massive understaffing, and record homicides within the GDC, even as state officials clamped down on releasing information about deaths inside its prisons. Two years before the 2026 hearing, a federal judge in Middle Georgia had found the GDC in contempt for disregarding mandates to improve conditions in a high-security prison wing near Jackson, issuing a 100-page order finding state prison officials willfully disregarded requirements.

The Settlement Ledger

Georgia's open-records settlement ledger records what the state has paid out for incidents at ASMP. The largest entries are tied to deaths. Thomas Henry Giles (2020) — $3,000,000, linked to a documented death record. George Washington Hardy (2015) — $300,000, also linked to a documented death record. Terry Anthony (2021) — $517,000. Adrian Jenkins (2017) — $100,000. Eugene Griggs (2017) — $17,500. Montra Moss (2017) — $10,000. Tangela Williams (2017) — $9,500. Justina Collins-Powell (2022) — $2,726.

The AJC's reporting on Giles put the figure at $5 million to settle a lawsuit over his death; the DOAS ledger records $3,000,000. GPS presents both figures as their respective sources state them.

Heat, Pests, and a Kitchen That Scores Well

DPH food-safety inspections at ASMP have produced consistently high marks: 100 on June 25, 2024, and again on April 11, 2025; 95 and 97 in early December 2024; 99 and 90 on August 15, 2025; 91 and 98 on February 26, 2026. The violations cited across those inspections were routine — in-use utensils improperly stored, cold-holding temperatures, food-contact surfaces, physical facilities. Inspector Derek Buzhardt conducted the 2025 and 2026 visits; Jasmine Anderson conducted the June 2024 visits.

GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture, because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. High DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination. That analytical frame applies here as a system-wide finding, not as a documented ASMP-specific failure.

What GPS records at ASMP specifically is different: 4 inadequate-climate signals over the past twelve months, 3 sanitation-failure signals, and 3 overcrowding signals. GPS has received recurring reports describing housing-unit temperatures approaching 100 degrees, pest problems including large roaches, and special-diet sandwiches containing perishable meats prepared in advance and left at room temperature until distribution. GPS records 5 staffing-shortage signals at critical and high severity between May and August 2026.

What the Facility Offers

The public record of programming at ASMP is thin, and that thinness is itself the finding. The one program documented in the evidence is Pups in the Pen, through which incarcerated men at ASMP foster and train rescue dogs. Over a little more than two years, the initiative has helped place more than 120 dogs in homes. One of them, Hope, was discovered near a trash can, emaciated and barely alive; a veterinarian recommended euthanasia, but she was sent to Pups in the Pen and has since been adopted into a permanent home.

Beyond that, the record is largely of absence. GPS has received recurring reports describing education access at ASMP as effectively unavailable, with staff citing facility policy as the justification, and describing the tablets issued to incarcerated people as serving primarily as a distraction rather than a meaningful rehabilitative or educational tool. These are accounts GPS has received, not findings GPS has documented.

A Note on the Wider System

ASMP does not sit outside the patterns GPS has documented across the Georgia Department of Corrections; it concentrates them. Officer vacancies in Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3% and 60% systemwide for multiple years, against a national standard of no more than 10%. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that "the leadership of the Georgia Department of Corrections has lost control of its facilities" and faulted GDC for placing "too much blame on gangs and insufficient emphasis on understaffing." Most GDC facilities are 30–40+ years old, with documented patterns of deferred maintenance. GPS treats infrastructure collapse and staffing collapse as force multipliers for the violence, classification, and mortality crises documented at the facility level — and at a facility whose entire purpose is medical care, the multiplier lands on people who cannot walk away from it.

Sources

This analysis draws on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's homicide-tracking and investigative coverage of the Georgia Department of Corrections, including its reporting on the deaths of Eddie Gosier, Thomas Henry Giles, Rodarick Lee Hayes, Jimmy Lucero, and others at Augusta State Medical Prison; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Georgia Department of Occupational and Administrative Services risk-management settlement ledger obtained through open records; federal court filings and hearing coverage in Benning v. Oliver; GDC medical documentation forms and nursing protocols; GPS's own mortality registry and intelligence records; and accounts collected by GPS staff and published through Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story.