Last updated October 18, 2026.(DS)

Central State Prison: A Medium-Security Hub Under Pressure

Central State Prison sits on the grounds of the historic Central State Hospital complex in Macon, a medium-security facility for adult male felons that opened in 1978 and has historically been one of the larger medium-security hubs in middle Georgia. Its housing consists of cellblocks and dormitories configured for general population and segregation, along with a small infirmary; the prison provides work details, basic education, and limited treatment and religious programs. GPS's current records put the facility's rated capacity at 1,153 against a population of 1,149 — 99.7 percent of capacity — a figure that sits oddly beside the 288 people the plant was originally designed to hold.

What follows traces four threads that run through the public record at Central State: a mortality registry that includes five homicides since 2020 and a cluster of stabbings in the last weeks of 2023; a series of staff criminal charges, including a felony sexual-contact case filed in October 2026; a disciplinary and contraband picture that witnesses describe as irregular; and a set of state liability payouts that run from $250 to $100,000.

The Death Record: 39 Deaths Since 2020, Five Ruled Homicide

GPS has recorded 39 deaths at Central State Prison since January 1, 2020. The registry's cause coding is dominated by deaths GPS has not yet been able to classify — 19 are listed as Unknown/Pending — with six natural/medical, five homicides, four suicides, three "other," and two overdoses. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.

The most recent entries are close together. Steve Allen Burk, 38, died July 20, 2026, with the registry listing the cause as homicide. Demetris Raynard Keller, 38, died July 17, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Mickey Barrett, 64, died July 11, 2026, of natural/medical causes. Raemonte Gentale Harris, 39, died July 3, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Richard Palmer, 57, died June 2, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Michael Lane Brooks, 77, died April 19, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Miguel Angel Duran, 44, died March 1, 2026; the registry lists suicide.

Earlier entries follow the same pattern of unresolved coding. Ronald Goss, 60, died October 23, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Joseph Hamm, 36, died October 8, 2025, of an overdose. James Theodore Miller, 64, died September 22, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Ricky D Ring, 56, died July 16, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Travis Jamal Gaither, 41, died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison, with the registry listing the cause as Unknown/Pending. Ricky Eugene Rogers, 68, died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison, with the registry listing the cause as an overdose. Lamancha Ware, 48, died March 2, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Matthew Maddox died January 28, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Brandon Jamal Pool, 38, died December 29, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Leon Culver Kelly, 47, died December 9, 2024, with the registry listing homicide. Anthony Le Ray Baugher, 68, died October 26, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Thomas Dewayne Kiker, 49, died June 22, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Jeremiah Eugene Taylor, 41, died April 21, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Deanthony Terrell Fleming, 37, died February 14, 2024, and Adel Eackles, 64, died February 10, 2024, both with causes Unknown/Pending. Joseph W Akins, 66, died December 25, 2023, cause Unknown/Pending.

The three earliest homicides in the named set are the December 2023 stabbing deaths and Joshua Carl Lester. Marquis Lamar Johnson, 26, died December 18, 2023, with the registry listing homicide; Hollis Alan Bryant, 28, died December 17, 2023, also listed as homicide. Joshua Carl Lester, 34, died July 28, 2021, of a stab wound to the chest, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

December 2023: Two Stabbings in Two Days

The AJC's homicide-tracking coverage documented the December 2023 deaths in detail. Marquis L. Johnson was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8, 2023, hospitalized, and died on December 18, 2023, after returning to the prison and going into cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing. Hollis Alan Bryant, 28, died on December 17, 2023, from sharp force trauma to the left femoral artery; three other prisoners were criminally charged in connection with his death, according to the DOJ report as described by the AJC.

Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that in the last weeks of December 2023, two incarcerated men were stabbed to death at Central State Prison, bringing total prison deaths in the prior month to six. GPB also reported, citing Department of Corrections data, that 2023 was the most violent year for Georgia prisons since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff Misconduct: A Felony Charge and a Pattern of Arrests

On October 15, 2026, Zacarra Esquire Oliver was arrested and booked into the Bibb County jail, charged with sexual contact with a person in custody by a law enforcement employee or agent (O.C.G.A. 16-6-5.1(b)(3), a felony) and with trading with inmates without the warden's consent (O.C.G.A. 42-5-16), according to the Bibb County Sheriff's Office inmate search. GDC's August 2026 staff roster lists a Zacarra Oliver as an Accounting Technician 3 at Central State Prison. She has been charged, not convicted. 13WMAZ reported that the accounting technician is accused in arrest warrants of having sexual intercourse with a Central State Prison inmate and illegally giving him food.

The charges are not isolated. 13WMAZ reported that a guard at Central State Prison faced charges after falsely imprisoning four Department of Family and Children Services employees over child support payments in December 2025. The same outlet reported that three former prison guards were accused of beating an inmate and trying to cover it up in March 2025. In June 2025, three inmates at Central State Prison were charged with stabbing another inmate, per GDC-sourced reporting.

GPS's systemic finding on sexual violence in GDC facilities provides the frame: the October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that sexual assault is "rampant" and that GDC does not reasonably protect incarcerated people from sexual harm; of 456 sexual-abuse allegations recorded in 2022, only 35 were substantiated. Georgia has never submitted a PREA certification of full compliance to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Contraband, Disciplinary Irregularity, and the Drone Overflight

GDC's own contraband reports record 20 incidents at Central State Prison, including an August 23, 2025 episode in which security staff observed a drone flying over the facility; the Bibb County Sheriff's Office located a vehicle nearby and arrested two occupants with charges pending. A separate August 2025 entry in GDC's published reports describes a package recovered near Washington State Prison containing 958 grams of tobacco, six cell phones, charging equipment, hacksaw blades, and a gold pocketknife — an incident at a different facility, included here only to show the scale of what GDC's contraband bulletins describe.

GPS's intelligence records show recurring reports of disciplinary-process irregularities at Central State — falsified write-ups, denied witnesses and video at hearings, and grievances that went unanswered. GPS has received accounts of staff-on-inmate use of force at Central State Prison, and multiple sources describe officers beating incarcerated people who were handcuffed or immobile. These are accounts GPS has received, not findings.

Liability Payouts and the Wider System

Georgia's DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records state liability payouts tied to Central State Prison stretching back a decade: $22,000 in the Joshua David Turk matter (2022 incident), $3,000 in the Daniel Ford matter (2021), $2,000 in the Marvin Bonilla-Bonilla matter (2020), $100,000 in the Christopher Stewart matter (2019), $70,000 in the Calvin McClain matter (2018), $250 in the Robbin Bayse matter (2018), and $22,000 in the Steven L. Avery matter (2014).

Those payouts sit inside a system GPS has documented as structurally strained. 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." GPS records show staffing-shortage reports at Central State in the spring of 2026, alongside medical-neglect allegations concentrated in May 2026. GPS has independently tracked 1,918 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.

A Facebook comment by William Davis on September 4, 2026 described conditions in the dorms: "You should see the bed space at central state in the dorms, at Macon GA, 3 bed high ,only 2 feet apart, in a dorm with 86 inmate's." That is his account, not a GPS finding.

Leadership and Accountability

Sonja D. Brown has served as warden since June 1, 2026. The deputy ranks include Lachaka Nicole McKenzie as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (since May 2025), Dennis J. Turner and Janice Denise Blackshear as Deputy Wardens of Security (since January 2024 and May 2025 respectively), and Kendarlin McMilan as Deputy Warden of Administration (since July 2026).

Sources

This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Bibb County Sheriff's Office inmate search; the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; GDC's published contraband reports; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and 13WMAZ; the October 2024 DOJ findings letter as described in GPS's systemic documentation; GPS's mortality registry and intelligence records; and a publicly posted Facebook comment.