Last updated October 11, 2026.(DS)

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison: Intake, Death Row, and the Weight of 121 Deaths

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) sits in Jackson, in Butts County, and holds a singular position in Georgia's correctional system. Opened in 1968 and renovated in 1998, it is the state's largest prison and its central intake facility for men — every man entering GDC custody passes through its diagnostic process. It also houses Georgia's male death-row unit, operates a 192-bed Special Management Unit for the most restrictive custody, and carries out state-ordered executions. Its housing plant includes eight cellblocks with single- and double-bunked cells, seven general-population dormitories, a 17-bed Segregated Transition Education Program (STEP) unit, and a medical unit. It maintains a CERT Team, a Tactical Squad, and an on-site fire station. The facility's original design capacity was 500; its current rated capacity is 2,487, against a population of 2,428 — roughly 97.6% of rated capacity. Jacob Beasley has served as warden since July 2025.

That combination — intake, death row, medical hub, mental-health designation, protective custody, and administrative segregation, all inside one perimeter — is the analytical center of this page. The evidence below describes a facility where the people passing through are the newest and least settled in the system, where the people staying are the most restricted, and where the consequences of both are recorded in a mortality count that GPS has tracked continuously.

A Mortality Count That Keeps Growing

GPS's mortality registry records 121 deaths at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a figure GPS treats as a floor, because GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. The yearly distribution runs 19 in 2020, 15 in 2021, 20 in 2022, 24 in 2023, 22 in 2024, 11 in 2025, and 10 so far in 2026. By cause, the registry lists 51 deaths as Natural/Medical, 37 as Unknown/Pending, 18 as Suicide, 7 as Homicide, 4 as Overdose, 2 as Accident, 1 as Execution, and 1 as Medical Neglect.

The most recent 25 people in that registry are named here. Shaun Corey Farrell died July 13, 2026, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. James Nelson Hall died July 2, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Leonel Cedillo died June 27, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Mark Rutledge died June 26, 2026; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. Phillip Dwayne Rogers died June 14, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Terry Junie Marshall died March 2, 2026, Natural/Medical. James Thompson died February 6, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending. Christopher Lee died January 31, 2026, Natural/Medical. Novice H Langston died January 12, 2026, Natural/Medical. Trevone Lavelle Lovett died January 10, 2026, Natural/Medical. Juan Jose Rodriquez died December 10, 2025, Overdose. Tabaya Marshall Gray died November 27, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Charles Ramen Coppeak died November 19, 2025, Overdose. Christopher Wayne Crook died August 5, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Daniel Claude Callahan died July 26, 2025, Natural/Medical. Woodrow Wilson Hodges died July 14, 2025, Natural/Medical. Jacob Scott Wilcox died June 28, 2025, Natural/Medical. Mark Smith died June 7, 2025, Natural/Medical. David Octavious Robbs died April 30, 2025, cause Unknown/Pending. Michael Scott West died March 6, 2025, Accident. William Rhodes died February 20, 2025; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. John Irvin Jr Tidd died December 15, 2024, Suicide. Willie Henry Ponder died November 8, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Thomas Jr Williams died November 7, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending. Stephen Allen Hester died November 6, 2024, cause Unknown/Pending.

The full list is maintained at https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/facility/georgia-diagnostic-and-classification-prison/. Where the registry says Unknown/Pending, GPS does not yet know the cause; those entries are not assigned one here.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's homicide-tracking coverage has documented several earlier deaths at the facility in detail. Brandon Trace Burrell, 31, died on January 28, 2024, from methamphetamine intoxication complicated by a physical altercation — he was assaulted by another incarcerated person while under the effects of methamphetamine and reportedly suffered numerous stab wounds. Carrell Beontae Johnson, 32, died June 6, 2023, from chopping injuries to the head and sharp force injuries to the torso. Elmer W. Pless, 65, died May 15, 2023, by strangulation. Boyd Henry Williams, 64, died October 3, 2022, from manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. Daniel Charriez, 46, died February 23, 2022, from delayed complications of traumatic brain injury, with a four-month interval. Separately, the AJC reported that a person who assaulted someone at Coastal State Prison in March 2020 — with no investigation conducted — reentered the prison system in 2022 and strangled his cellmate to death at GDCP.

Mark Rutledge's death drew an official response: GDC's Office of Professional Standards led the investigation, and his body was sent to a GBI crime lab to determine the cause of death. GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.

The Kitchen, the Freezer, and Ronald Allen's Hands

The most fully documented single case in the evidence is that of Ronald Allen, a 55-year-old incarcerated man assigned to the GDCP kitchen. In early April 2024, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Allen was ordered into the freezer to separate hundreds of frozen beef patties by hand so they could be cooked immediately. He asked for protective gloves. Family-alleged accounts state he was given only thin disposable gloves and performed the task without proper protective equipment. He allegedly suffered cold-induced vascular injuries to both hands, developed infections, and experienced progressive symptoms.

Dr. Michael M. Neeki, listed as an expert witness in the lawsuit, opined that GDC and the defendants disregarded Allen's escalating complaints, provided inadequate treatment, engaged in delayed evaluations, and deviated from the standard of care in treating the cold-induced vascular injuries. The lawsuit raises claims of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs under the Eighth Amendment, medical malpractice, and negligence, and seeks compensatory damages. Family-alleged accounts state Allen underwent amputation of his dominant hand and finger amputations. GPS's own investigative reporting has described the case in detail; one GPS-authored piece on the Allen matter carries an unresolved fact-check status and is given no evidentiary weight here.

The Allen case is not the only account of medical failure at the facility. GPS staff have observed that rapid returns from medical without adequate treatment is a recurring pattern documented across multiple cases at GDCP, and GPS staff characterized a food-allergy accommodation refusal as a serious safety issue rather than an administrative matter. GPS records show 15 medical-neglect signals from 8 distinct cases over the past 12 months, spanning nine months and carrying severity ratings from moderate to critical, with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia named as an external forum. In April 2026 alone, GPS records 4 medical-neglect signals at critical severity.

Staffing, Lockdowns, and the Machinery of Restriction

GDCP's staffing picture sits inside a systemwide collapse that GPS has documented as an integrated structural finding: officer vacancies across Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3% and 60% for multiple years against a national standard of no more than 10%, the hiring pipeline cannot close the gap, and Georgia ranks last of 50 states for correctional-officer pay. 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."

At GDCP specifically, GPS records 4 staffing-shortage signals from a single case across four separate months between December 2025 and October 2026, with the U.S. Department of Justice named as an external entity. GPS records show 20 named staff-misconduct signals from 9 cases across eight months, and 9 unnamed staff-misconduct signals from 5 cases. In May 2026 alone, GPS records 7 named staff-misconduct signals and 3 unnamed ones.

The evidence describes lockdown as a routine instrument at the facility. GPS staff records indicate an acknowledgment of a padlock lockdown at GDCP, and GPS staff observed and documented nighttime check procedures there, with staff indicating that the procedure was not consistent with standard welfare protocol. GPS records 6 inadequate-climate signals from 4 cases across four months, and 4 overcrowding signals from 3 cases across four months.

GPS has received accounts of use-of-force incidents at the facility, and GPS records 3 excessive-force signals and 3 assault-by-staff signals over the past 12 months, each drawn from at least two distinct cases. GPS records 4 assault-by-inmate signals from 3 cases across four months, and 4 mental-health-crisis-unattended signals from 3 cases across three months, at critical and high severity.

Death Row, Executions, and the State's Most Consequential Room

GDCP houses Georgia's male death-row unit and conducts the state's executions. Stacey Humphreys, 52, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on December 17, 2025, at the facility — which would have made him the 77th man and 78th person executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. That execution was halted in December after his lawyers argued two State Board of Pardons and Paroles members had conflicts of interest; a judge ruled one member must recuse herself but found no conflict for the other, and the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal. A December 2025 clemency meeting was postponed due to litigation challenging the participation of Board members Kimberly McCoy and Wayne Bennett, and a Fulton County judge ruled that McCoy had a conflict of interest.

A new execution date was then set: Humphreys was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7:00 p.m. on September 16, 2026, at GDCP. The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles scheduled a clemency hearing for September 15, 2026, one day before the scheduled execution, and then denied clemency. U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May had earlier declined to halt the December execution, ruling that Humphreys failed to show his rights to due process and equal protection would be violated. Humphreys' attorneys filed a notice of appeal asking the Georgia Supreme Court to review a September 10 Cobb County Superior Court decision denying him a new trial. He was convicted of malice murder in the 2003 killings of Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown, shot and killed in a real estate office in Powder Springs.

The death-row population includes people whose sentences raise unusual questions. DeMarcus Ali Sears is sentenced to death in Georgia; a court finding states that his death sentence does not correspond to an underlying murder conviction, and that he was convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury. Jeremy Moody is a death-row inmate housed at GDCP. Anthony Douglas Shoffner Jr., a former GDC corrections officer at GDCP, is currently serving LWOP at the facility.

Contraband, Staff Corruption, and the Perimeter Problem

The evidence documents a persistent contraband problem at GDCP that implicates both incarcerated people and staff. The AJC reported that within days of being convicted of malice murder and sentenced to life without parole plus 80 years, Shane Tassi was photographed on social media displaying a homemade shank and making a gang gesture at GDCP; Tassi and two other incarcerated people received disciplinary sanctions. The same outlet reported that Tassi possessed a homemade shank and contraband cell phone within days of arriving at the facility.

Staff corruption cases run alongside. Officer Vera Jackson admitted she was paid several thousand dollars to provide death-row inmate Eric Perkinson with information on upcoming shakedowns and staff; she pleaded guilty to violating her oath and received five years' probation. Former Counselor Gibbs was arrested on April 17, 2025, for failure to appear on an assault charge, and was subsequently charged with violation of oath of office, conspiracy, and crossing the guard line; Chief Counselor Bethune reported Gibbs's initial arrest to the Butts County Sheriff's Office, which processed it. In a separate federal matter, Deivon Waller was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison plus a $2,000 fine and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana; he conspired to smuggle methamphetamine, marijuana and cell phones into multiple Georgia state prisons using drones. Asa James Ward, an inmate at GDCP, was sentenced to 56 months and a $1,500 fine, and Tristahn Ash, a GDC inmate, was sentenced to 92 months and a $1,500 fine.

GPS records 8 due-process-violation signals from 4 cases across six months, with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles named as an external entity, and 8 external-complaint signals from 3 cases across six months, with complaints filed to entities including the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the Human and Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Mail Interference, Medical Records, and the Documentation Problem

Physical evidence collected at GDCP includes a postcard received with its return address obscured, consistent with staff interference with incoming mail, and physical evidence indicating that postcard harassment at the facility resumed in 2026. GPS staff have observed that notation systems at GDCP may be used to track family advocacy activity, and GPS staff have communicated to incarcerated individuals that tablet-based contact is not a secure channel for sensitive legal outreach.

GPS staff also observed that a positive TB skin test entry in an incarcerated person's records at GDCP was characterized internally as a fabricated or unsupported result. GPS staff observed that a medical flag on an incarcerated person's record may be creating pressure to undergo a test the person has previously had adverse reactions to. GPS staff observed that caloric allotment and snack refusals at GDCP fit a pattern tracked across multiple facilities.

GPS records 3 sanitation-failure signals and 3 food-quality-complaint signals over the past 12 months, each from at least two distinct cases. The facility's most recent DPH food-safety inspection, on May 27, 2026, returned a score of 100 (Grade A); a prior routine inspection on March 26, 2025, also returned 100 (Grade A). GPS has separately documented a systemic pattern across GDC kitchens in which high DPH scores coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination — a contradiction GPS treats as the analytical center of its investigation into Georgia prison food.

A Facility Under Continuous Scrutiny

The AJC reported that almost every part of GDCP has been vandalized by prisoners, with widespread infrastructure failures. The AJC also reported that despite Charles Lee Broady Jr.'s request for protection from threatening gang members, he was moved to a location where six gang members attacked him with razor blades, nearly killing him.

GPS staff observed a pattern at GDCP in which incarcerated individuals opt for general population placement over protective housing in order to access programming, and characterized this as a systemic issue warranting independent documentation. GPS staff observed that incarcerated individuals at GDCP were asked to identify specific people who chose general population placements at other facilities over remaining at GDCP, reportedly in connection with accessing case plans and therapeutic community programming. GPS staff characterized a transfer to Coastal State Prison as pattern evidence.

GPS records show 9 death-in-custody signals from 5 cases across five months, 10 lawsuit-filed signals from 4 cases across four months, and 4 multi-source-corroboration signals across five months. GPS records 3 family-fear-for-life signals and 3 family-safety-concern signals, and 4 media-outreach attempts from 3 cases across five months.

The facility's leadership has turned over recently: Jacob Beasley has served as warden since July 2025, with Patricia Watts as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment since September 2026, Reginald Tyrone Clark as Deputy Warden of Security since January 2023, Tandra Tiease Rogers as Deputy Warden of Administration since November 2023, Terrion Thurman as Deputy Warden of Diagnostics since September 2025, Nicholas Brown as Deputy Warden of Security since January 2025, and Jacinta Booker Johnson as Deputy Warden of Security since April 2026.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Georgia Virtue, WRDW, WGXA, and WMAZ; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; federal court filings in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, including the civil rights action arising from Ronald Allen's injuries; GDC official statements and records responses; and GPS's own mortality registry, which has recorded 121 deaths at this facility since January 1, 2020. It also draws on GPS's systemic findings on staffing collapse, infrastructure failure, food-service sanitation, and sexual violence across GDC facilities, and on inmate, family, and staff accounts collected by GPS. GPS has independently tracked 1,896 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020.