Last updated November 8, 2026.(DS)

Hays State Prison: A Facility Built for 500, Holding 1,105, and Burying Its Dead

Hays State Prison sits on Underwood Drive in Trion, in Chattooga County, and opened in 1990 with a design capacity of 500. The Georgia Department of Corrections now rates it at 1,101 beds; GPS's facility records put the population at 1,105 — 100.4 percent of rated capacity and more than double what the plant was built to hold. It is a close-security men's facility that the Department describes as housing some of the state's "most challenging offenders," and its physical plant reflects that mission: several general-population dorms, a Fast Track unit, multiple Tier II special-management dorms, an outside fire station and infirmary, and large numbers of Level-II mental-health beds. Gabriel Illa has served as warden since November 2023, with Jonathan D. Swinford as Deputy Warden of Administration and Alisa M. Hammock as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment.

What follows is an account of what the public record shows about Hays: a facility where the segregation beds are full to the last one, where the deaths have been counted and named, where staff have been arrested for bringing in methamphetamine and cell phones, and where a single fight in October 2026 was enough to lock down most of the state prison system.

Segregation at 100 Percent, and a Population Twice the Design

GDC's own bed-count data leaves no ambiguity about Hays's special-management capacity. The facility holds 151 Tier II beds and 151 Tier II occupants — zero vacant, 100.00 percent occupancy. It holds 59 Tier III beds and 59 Tier III occupants — again zero vacant, 100.00 percent occupancy. The Tier Segregation System is located at Hays, per GDC's own report.

That is the administrative picture of a facility with no slack. GPS's facility record notes that Hays has been repeatedly cited for failures in lock security, staffing, and protection of prisoners in so-called protective custody — and the bed numbers suggest why: when every segregation bed is occupied, there is no reserve to move a person out of a dorm where he is not safe.

The population figure is the other half of the story. A prison designed for 500 people holds roughly 1,105. GPS has documented systemwide that most GDC facilities are 30 to 40-plus years old, with deferred maintenance producing broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, and pest infestations — and that the October 2024 Department of Justice findings, the Guidehouse 2024 assessment, and Commissioner Oliver's public "end of life" statements all corroborate the pattern. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, gang-control, and mortality crises documented at the facility level.

Thirty-Five Deaths Since 2020, Nine of Them Homicides

GPS's mortality registry records 35 deaths at Hays State Prison since January 1, 2020. By cause category, GDC's coding and GPS's tracking show 9 homicides, 9 natural or medical deaths, 4 suicides, 2 accidents, and 11 still listed as unknown or pending. The full list is maintained at https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/facility/hays-state-prison/.

The most recent 25, as GPS records them:

• Corey Anwar Dubose died March 23, 2026, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Melvin Gay Johnson died January 27, 2026, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Barcel Roylee Ward died November 28, 2025, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• James Cannon died October 25, 2025, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Raymont Savion Farley died June 15, 2025, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Tommy Joe Strickland died June 4, 2025, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Ralph Carter died March 5, 2025, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Joey Griffin died December 26, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Thomas Johnson died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Lawrence L Williams died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Mackendy Pierrette died September 13, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Keith Johnson died August 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Timothy Darmofal died May 22, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Freddie Lee Iii Talley died May 6, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Theron Morrell Hendrix died April 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Jeremy Edward Price died March 2, 2024, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Talore Stihles Blackford died October 28, 2023, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Randoulf Gutierrez died October 19, 2023, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Ronnie Joe Criswell died August 15, 2023, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Robert Millan Cook died July 17, 2023, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Quane Laquaus Johnson died January 15, 2023, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Accident.
• Robert Lee Burton died December 13, 2022, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Tony Christopher Williams died October 14, 2022, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• John Terrell Bohannon died September 20, 2022, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Quintez Deshon Smith died August 29, 2022, at Hays State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's homicide-tracking coverage has documented several of these deaths in detail. Freddie Lee Talley, 31, died May 6, 2024, from a stab wound to the chest; the incident report records a murder involving four other prisoners and multiple sharpened weapons ranging from 10.5 to 22 inches, and officers recovered seven weapons ranging in length from 9 to 22 inches. Three inmates received disciplinary reports but have not yet been charged. Jeremy Edward Price, 36, died March 2, 2024, from stab wounds to the neck and chest, classified as a homicide in incident reports and confirmed by his death certificate; his mother, Tammy Price, told the AJC she still does not know what happened to her child. Talore Stihles Blackford, 31, died October 28, 2023, from multiple stab wounds to the neck. Quintez Smith, 25, died August 29, 2022, from multiple sharp force injuries. Jorge Renberto Ventura-Cabrera, 35, died June 5, 2021, from stab wounds to neck, torso and upper extremities, with an incident report showing two other inmates involved. Anthony L. McGhee Jr., 34, died March 29, 2020, from complications of blunt force head trauma and sharp force trauma of torso and extremities.

Tammy Price has also alleged publicly that GDC is hiding its inability to protect prisoners from harm by omitting manner-of-death information from its mortality reports — an allegation the AJC reported in January 2025.

Coroner Files: What the Death Certificates and Autopsies Actually Say

GPS obtained Chattooga County Coroner death-investigation files through Open Records requests, produced in June 2026, and they add detail the Department's own coding does not.

Coroner Jeremy McElhaney's file in the death of Melvin Gay Johnson — case 26-005 — records the cause as multiple sharp force injuries and the manner as homicide, characterized as "stabbed by other(s)." A GBI DOFS autopsy performed by Dr. Reynolds (GBI case ME-26-10301 / 2026-1002455) documented stab wounds to the upper back, neck, and left side of the head, and a CT scan showed a penetrating injury through the left temporal bone. Johnson was found unresponsive in an open dorm. No suspect and no weapon were located. Brain death was confirmed at 1147 hours on January 27, 2026, and his kidneys and liver were donated through Lifelink. GDC investigator Ty Hutchins is associated with the case.

The file in James Cannon's death — case 25-090 — lists the cause as pending final medical examiner pathology, with strangulation/asphyxia under consideration, and the manner as homicide. A GBI DOFS autopsy by examiner McCuller (case ME-25-13412 / 2025-1034497) noted purplish neck marks, petechiae to the whites of the eyes, a possible fingernail puncture to the chest, and blood in the left ear. The warden reported to the coroner that the decedent's cellmate confessed to manually strangling him; GDC bagged the decedent's hands, and a documented fight with the cellmate had occurred within the two weeks prior to death. The date of death is October 25, 2025.

Raymont Savion Farley was found deceased in a single-occupant/isolation cell during the 0630 check — cold and stiff, with dried vomit on his face — having last been seen alive at 2200 the prior night. Coroner's case 25-049 lists epilepsy as the cause and natural as the manner, with findings described as SUDEP-consistent; a GBI DOFS autopsy was performed by Dr. Lehman (case ME-25-11964 / 2025-1018972). Two packets of daily medications were found on the cell floor at the entrance, which the coroner's file notes were possibly undelivered or untaken meds for a known seizure patient. Medical records show Farley was prescribed phenytoin (Dilantin) and levetiracetam (Keppra).

Tommy Joe Strickland was transferred to Hays on May 29, 2025, from Johnson County for palliative care at the prison infirmary for advanced AIDS. He went unresponsive on May 31 and was emergently taken to Atrium Floyd, where laboratory testing found fungal meningitis; he was admitted to the ICU on comfort care and accompanied 24/7 by Hays officers until death. The coroner's file — case 25-046 — lists the cause as AIDS with fungal meningitis as a contributing condition, manner natural, and no medical examiner consultation was conducted; no autopsy was performed. The date of death is recorded as June 4, 2025, per GDC-canonical records and the coroner's narrative, though the coroner's findings block shows June 5, inconsistent with the rest of the record.

Barcel Roylee Ward was found nude in cardiac arrest on his cell floor; staff said he was last known alive approximately 30 minutes before and had complained of shortness of breath. He had a history of asthma and depression and was on Seroquel, Buspirone, and an albuterol rescue inhaler. Coroner's case 25-103 lists cause and manner as pending GBI toxicology, histology, and medical records; a GBI DOFS autopsy was performed by Dr. Samantha Mattox (ME-25-13754 / 2025-1038382). The file noted no trauma or foul play. The date of death is kept as November 28, 2025, per GDC-canonical records, though the file's front pages list 11/29 and the body entered the morgue cooler at 11/29 0105; based on that intake time, the file concludes death occurred the evening of 11/28.

Corey Anwar Dubose, who was serving life without parole, died March 23, 2026. EMS was called to the Hays medical ward for a diabetic emergency; Dubose suffered a myocardial infarction en route and was treated in a catheterization lab with an Impella device. A femoral-artery injury occurred during Impella re-placement and was repaired; he declined and died in the cardiac care unit. No autopsy was performed — the GBI Medical Examiner declined to accept the decedent — and hospital cardiologist Dr. J.C. Merritt signed the death certificate. Toxicology was negative, and the coroner's file noted no signs of foul play, suicide, or trauma.

October 2026: One Fight at Hays, Most of Georgia Locked Down

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, four inmates were involved in what GDC believes was a gang-related fight at Hays State Prison, contained to two dorms. Three were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and have since returned; no staff members were injured. WTOC reported the same account.

By Thursday, more than two dozen Georgia prisons — reports ranged from 25 to 27 — were on lockdown. GDC described the trigger as increased activity involving groups it identifies as security threats, and officials said other facilities were locked down "out of an abundance of caution" over retaliation concerns, with the lockdown continuing until further notice and security threat assessments conducted intermittently. By the following Tuesday's update, Dooly State Prison and Macon State Prison remained on full lockdown, while specific dorms at Smith, Valdosta and Wilcox state prisons were operating under restricted movement.

The same facility has produced this kind of shockwave before. GPS reporting describes three homicides at Hays within a single month in late 2012 and early 2013, and a correctional officer stabbed 22 times who survived. GPS's reporting also describes the 2013 stabbing death of 19-year-old Pippa Hall-Jackson in what was described as a gang-related mistaken-identity incident.

In April 2026, during a period of coordinated Blood-on-Blood violence across the system, GPS's reporting describes a high-ranking ROLACC Blood leader attacked during an official inspection at Hays — stabbed multiple times in the neck in front of the warden and prison staff, requiring CPR. That account has not been independently confirmed in the public record.

GPS records show 11 assault-by-inmate signals at Hays across four months in 2026, with concentrations in April and August, alongside four staffing-shortage reports and three staff-misconduct allegations in the same twelve-month window.

Contraband, Cell Phones, and the Staff Who Brought Them In

GDC's own contraband arrest reports document a steady traffic through Hays's front gate. In January 2024, security staff recovered 12 packages wrapped in electrical tape in Officer Nicholas Grindle's locker: 7 vape pens, 1 vape bottle, 1 wireless earbud, 20 charging cables, 5 charging blocks, 14 cell phones, 222 grams of marijuana, and 760 grams of methamphetamine. Grindle admitted to attempting to bring contraband to an offender and was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Department.

In April 2025, security staff found contraband in the office of Nurse Practitioner Timothy Turner — a cellphone, wireless earbuds, and two homemade metal weapons. Turner was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office and transported to Chattooga County Jail. In June 2023, Food Service Contractor Lisa Burton was arrested entering the front entry.

The AJC has documented the longer arc. In 2019, GBI uncovered evidence that Hays Lieutenant Lakeshia Thomas was arranging to bring in marijuana for Gangster Disciples member Jarico Deshun Brown; she pleaded guilty in April 2022 and was sentenced to 15 years with two to serve in confinement. Federal officials announced the sentencing of a former Hays guard who smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for over a month. And in 2018, Hays officer Voltaire Pierre received $7,000 over a four-month period for bringing in pot, cocaine and meth in noodle soup containers; he was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison.

GDC's published contraband reports for Hays run from 2 incidents in 2010 to 9 in 2011, 8 in 2018, and 6 in 2025 — arrests as reported by the Department, which publishes no dispositions.

The Department has also spent real money on the problem. Purchase order 607014, dated June 30, 2023, is a completed $401,871.00 order for "Hay SP Drone Detection Deployment and Software Subscription," shipped to 777 Underwood Dr, Trion, with Convergint's Atlanta office named as vendor information and Paul Franco as point of contact. GPS's reporting describes GDC deploying cell phone blocking technology — Managed Access Systems — at multiple prisons including Hays, Calhoun, Wilcox, and Dooly.

Medical and Mental-Health Staffing by the Numbers

The contract staffing matrices tell their own story about what Hays is funded to provide. Centurion's proposed staffing matrix for Hays totals 920 weekly hours (23.00 FTE), including a Director of Nursing at 40 hours, a Health Services Administrator at 40 hours, a Pharmacy Coordinator/Tech at 40 hours, 152 weekly LPN hours (3.80 FTE), 112 weekly LPN evening hours (2.80 FTE), and 112 weekly RN night hours (2.80 FTE).

MHM's FY23 staffing table for Hays totals 14.25 mental health FTEs at 570.00 hours per week, at an annual cost of $1,612,960.52 — including 1.00 psychologist FTE at $83.78 per hour, $174,268.23 annually. By MHM Amendment 13, the mental health total remains 14.25 FTEs at 570 hours per week but the annual cost has risen to $1,858,092, and the psychologist line is gone: no psychologist FTEs at Hays, at a rate card of $83.78. Amendment 13 lists 2.00 mental health counselor FTEs at $36.09 and $150,144 annually, 0.25 psychiatrist FTE at $145.09 and $75,448 annually, and no mental health unit manager, no clinical director, no mental health nurse practitioner, and no activity therapist.

Dental staffing under Amendment 13 is 2.00 FTEs at $261,763 annually: 1.00 dentist at $101.64 and $211,412, 1.00 dental assistant at $24.21 and $50,351, and no dental hygienist.

The kitchen has its own record. Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections at Hays since 2023 show a recurring pattern of B grades: 84 on August 29, 2023; 83 and 87 on December 27, 2023; 87 on May 7, 2025; 87 on November 18, 2025; and 82 on June 22, 2026 — the last citing food separated and protected, food-contact surfaces cleaned and sanitized, and wiping cloths properly used and stored. The paired A grades on the same dates (97, 87, 91, 92, 91) suggest two separate inspected facilities or serving lines. GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH scores systematically fail to capture, and has reported that GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food.

Settlements, Lawsuits, and the Cost of What Happens Here

Georgia's DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through Open Records, records state liability payouts tied to Hays across more than a decade: $650,000 to Charles L. Broady Jr. (2017 incident), $215,000 to Estaban Mosqueda Romero (2014), $80,000 to Joshua Blash (2016), $65,000 to Monica Rodriguez (2016), $35,000 to Synita Hudgins (2022), $29,000 to Cecelia Carson (2020), $23,000 to Alexander Williams (2019), $15,000 to Travarus Smith (2017), $5,000 to Uriah Raheem (2019), $450 to Ricky Bernard McCoy (2011), and $250 to Deborah Martin as agent for Kendrick R. Martin (2017).

The state is also building. GPS's reporting describes a $600 million prison spending surge that includes a $24 million, 126-bed "hardened" unit at Hays — the first of four identical modules planned statewide. The GSFIC construction ledger shows the ModCorr contract (GDC-171A, commitment CP-001) running through dozens of invoices across 2025 and into 2026, from $15,000 line items to a $7,467,286 payment dated October 31, 2025.

What People Inside Have Said

GPS's reporting and the accounts it has collected describe a facility where the T.E.A.R. program and taser deployment were piloted before spreading across the system, and where door-locking failures left people locked in or locked out of cells. Rauf Latham, who was incarcerated in GDC for over 12 years, said in a July 2026 YouTube interview with Tyler Ryals that Hays was short on staff during his time there, from June 2013 to January 2015, that the T.E.A.R. program had just been implemented when he arrived, and that Hays was the first prison where he saw the lock-and-light system on cell doors.

Tyler Ryals, a former GDC sergeant, said in a recorded interview that only two members of Hays State Prison's tactical squad responded to an incident there. GPS has received recurring reports from inside Hays describing lockdowns, padlocked doors, and stabbings, and family members have described difficulty getting information about people held at the facility.

A Tell My Story account published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story, "Wayne Garner GDC Commissioner," by Standing Bear, describes a 1996 episode in which, as the author tells it, a "Goon-Squad" of GDC officers was sent to Hays with orders to beat inmates, with prisoners dragged from bunks and beaten, and Georgia State Patrol transporting the injured to local hospitals. The account is a first-person narrative, not a documented record.

Sources

This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Corrections records — bed counts, mortality reports, contraband arrest reports, purchase orders, and contract staffing matrices — along with Chattooga County Coroner death-investigation files obtained by GPS through Open Records requests, GBI Medical Examiner autopsy records, Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections, and the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger. News reporting comes from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WTOC. It also draws on GPS's own mortality registry, its facility records, its systemic findings on infrastructure, staffing, food service, and sexual violence, and firsthand accounts published through Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story and interviews conducted with formerly incarcerated people and former GDC staff. GPS has independently tracked 1,928 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.