Last updated October 4, 2026.(DS)

Macon State Prison: Death, Depletion, and the Machinery of Neglect

Macon State Prison sits on roughly 300 acres outside Oglethorpe, in Macon County — a close-security men's facility built in 1993 and opened in 1994, originally designed to hold 500 people. It now holds 1,769 against a rated capacity of 1,762, a population figure that reflects the facility's transformation from a mid-sized regional prison into one of the most violent and most thinly staffed institutions in the Georgia Department of Corrections system. Its multiple cellblock buildings include double-bunked general population, isolation and segregation units, and a 10-bed medical infirmary. It offers GED and adult basic education, limited vocational and substance-abuse programming, and religious services.

That is the physical and programmatic record. The evidentiary record is considerably darker: 89 GPS-tracked deaths since January 1, 2020, 35 of them classified as homicides; a documented officer vacancy rate near two-thirds; a federal lawsuit over a strangulation death that produced a $1.375 million state payout; four officers arrested in a single 2024 sweep; and a contraband economy sophisticated enough to run a nationwide fraud scheme from inside the walls. This page examines those threads together, because at Macon they are not separate stories.

A Death Registry That Reads Like a Homicide Log

GPS's mortality registry has recorded 89 deaths at Macon State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Thirty-five of those deaths are classified as homicides. Eight are recorded as natural or medical, three as suicide, and 43 remain unknown or pending. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.

The most recent deaths GPS has recorded at the facility include Brett Michael Scudder, who died June 20, 2026, at age 37, with the cause listed as Unknown/Pending; Anthony Williams, who died May 2, 2026, at 60, cause Unknown/Pending; and Allan Sharpe, who died April 10, 2026, at 69, cause Unknown/Pending. Eric Roberts died February 9, 2026, at 33; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Joe Dywane Rayton died January 2, 2026, at 56, and Gregory Brent Scott died January 1, 2026, at 68, both with causes listed as Unknown/Pending.

Randall Allen Cleveland died November 30, 2025, at 77, and Michael Tony Cooper died November 20, 2025, at 73, both Unknown/Pending. Marquis Young died October 22, 2025, at 37, a homicide; Gary Simpson died October 8, 2025, at 63, Unknown/Pending. Clifton B Boston died August 26, 2025, at 67, Unknown/Pending, on the same day Calvin Earl Noble died at 25, a suicide; Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died August 25, 2025, at 55, also a suicide. Pierre Cedric Scott died August 22, 2025, at 41, a homicide, and Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, at 40, a homicide.

Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, at 36, Unknown/Pending; Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, at 32, a homicide; and Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, at 48, a homicide. Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, at 35; Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, at 64; Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, at 50; and Marion Washington died May 16, 2025, at 61 — all with causes listed as Unknown/Pending. John Austin Mitchell died April 23, 2025, at 50, Unknown/Pending. D'Andrius Brown died March 23, 2025, at 30, a homicide, and Lynn Alexander Durett died March 20, 2025, at 74, Unknown/Pending.

The registry's homicide count is corroborated by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's running documentation of individual deaths at the facility. The AJC reported that Henry Finley died January 18, 2025, after being stabbed at Macon State Prison, confirmed by Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley. The same outlet reported that Jonathan Mitchell died at a hospital after being beaten by fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin, who was accused of using his foot, knee and fist to beat Mitchell's head and face. Earlier, the AJC documented the deaths of Keith Antwone Green, 44, who died August 30, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault; Shannon Pickett, 49, who died July 21, 2024, from exsanguination and sharp force trauma; Jarraad Quayshawn Williams, 32, who died July 17, 2024; and Mathis Lee Ward, 37, who died June 8, 2024, from sharp force chest and neck trauma after being assaulted with a homemade sharp instrument made of two pieces of sharpened metal.

The pattern extends backward without interruption. Devontae Marquez Young, 28, died May 10, 2024, from cardiac arrest and sharp force chest trauma. Reginald Lamonte Ginn, 31, died March 13, 2024, from blunt force head trauma; the AJC reported he was apparently beaten to death by an inmate wielding a fan motor tied to a belt. Kenneth Keith Malcom, 38, died February 12, 2024, from sharp force trauma to head, neck, torso and upper extremities. Taurean Hardy, 41, died December 10, 2023, after an altercation with his cellmate, per the DOJ report. Kevin Deshawn Lamar, 44, died August 10, 2023, from sharp force chest trauma; his cellmate was charged with murder.

Sabino Carlos Ramos, 34, died March 22, 2023, from multiple stab wounds. The DOJ report states that four gang members ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed. James Cornelius McLeroy III, 26, died December 19, 2022, from stab wounds to the torso; the incident report shows two other prisoners involved were gang members. Kendrick Malik Brown, 25, died October 16, 2022, from blunt force head injury; his mother alleged he was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous shortly before his scheduled release. Dan Brooks Jr., 50, died August 21, 2022, from a stab wound to the neck, and Joseph Walter Brown, 36, died July 26, 2022, from multiple stab wounds.

The 2020 and 2021 deaths follow the same pattern: Ryan Weston Darville, 37, died December 29, 2021, from stab wounds to the chest; Carlos Maurice Fisher Jr., 30, died May 10, 2021, from multiple sharp force injuries; Raul Villegas, 37, died December 13, 2020, from a stab wound to the torso, with an incident report showing three other inmates involved; Robbie B. Brower, 58, died October 4, 2020, from blunt and sharp force injuries to head and neck; Bobby Edward Lee Jr., 38, died July 13, 2020, from ligature strangulation; Coty Dustin Silvers, 39, died May 23, 2020, from asphyxia; David Travis Alexander Dennis, 35, died May 13, 2020, from multiple sharp force injuries; Carrington Juwon Frye, 23, died March 20, 2020, from stab wounds to neck and chest; Rafael Blas Becerra, 36, died March 7, 2020, from stab wounds to the upper torso, with an incident report showing seven other inmates involved and six injured; and Johnny Eugene Young, 24, died January 27, 2020, from a sharp force injury to the mouth and tongue.

Understaffing as the Operating Condition

The AJC reported that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were not filled as of October 2024, and that the coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. That figure sits inside a systemwide pattern: the AJC reported that staffing vacancies for correctional officers at the majority of Georgia's 34 prisons had reached "emergency levels," making it impossible to keep up with even basic protocols such as routine counts of prisoners.

GPS has documented the structural dimensions of that collapse. 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%; at Valdosta State Prison the rate reached 80% by April 2024. The hiring pipeline cannot close the gap — acceptance rate under 15%, with 82.7% of new hires leaving in their first year — and Georgia ranks last of 50 states for correctional-officer pay. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter explicitly 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." Approximately 31% of the system's roughly 49,000 incarcerated population are validated members of 315 different security threat groups — more than double the national average.

The staffing crisis is not merely a budget abstraction; it is the mechanism by which violence becomes possible. The AJC reported that low staffing allows gangs to exert influence, and that violence is enhanced by poorly maintained facilities where most locks don't work and prisoners can easily make shanks from wall and ceiling materials. GPS has documented a systemwide pattern of deferred maintenance producing exactly those conditions: broken cell-door locks (a 2012 audit found roughly 42% non-functional, confirmed by the 2024 Guidehouse assessment), inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, broken kitchen sanitization equipment, and pest infestations. The DOJ's October 2024 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.

The Lee Lawsuit and the Cost of Indifference

A federal lawsuit alleges that Bobby Edward Lee Jr. was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer, and blames his death on understaffing and indifference by prison officials. The AJC reported that officials placed Lee in a cell with a prisoner who had previously killed a fellow parolee despite Lee's pleas for protection, and that no officers responded until after he was strangled to death. Georgia's DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records a $1,375,000 state liability payout tied to Macon State Prison for the 2020 incident.

The settlement ledger documents a broader pattern of payouts. Javante Harris-Evans drew a $98,000 payout for a 2021 incident; Coty Silvers, whose death GPS records as asphyxia on May 23, 2020, drew $750,000; William Stoner drew $50,000 for a 2013 incident; Robin Kimbrel drew $32,500 for a 2022 incident; William Colton Courtney drew $20,000 for a 2015 incident; Bavarious Nelson drew $6,250 for a 2022 incident; Willie Frank Wright drew $5,000 for a 2013 incident; and Frank Gillis, Hjalmar Rodriquez Jr, and Jerome Anthony Williams drew $450, $750, and $500 respectively. The range — from a few hundred dollars to seven figures — reflects the breadth of conduct the state has settled rather than litigated.

The AJC also reported the account of Carrington Juwon Frye's mother, who alleged that after being stabbed, her son bled for more than half an hour before help arrived. Frye, 23, died March 20, 2020. And the AJC reported that Sanchez Jackson's family received only a brief call from the warden about his death with a promise to follow up that never materialized, and that the investigator gave only "short and vague" answers. Jackson allegedly told his sister that as many as four men were packed into one cell, rotating spots just to sleep.

Contraband, Corruption, and the Officer Pipeline

In September 2024, four correctional officers at Macon State Prison were arrested on charges of violating their oath as public officers and providing false statements. The arrests sit inside a documented systemwide problem: the AJC reported that hundreds of GDC employees have been arrested and fired for smuggling drugs and other contraband into prisons.

The contraband economy at Macon has produced federal convictions. Devito Duran Young pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for his role in a drug trafficking operation coordinated from Macon State Prison; he was sentenced to 327 months. Trace Davrin Works pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and received a 262-month sentence. Prosecutors seized $170,000 in cryptocurrency from Xin Wang during the case. 13WMAZ reported that Young coordinated a drug trafficking operation from behind bars using contraband cellphones to import drugs from China, and that Oliver Sr. orchestrated drug shipments to a Cordele address controlled by his son.

Contraband phones also enabled fraud. Rodney Edward Smith, a 39-year-old inmate at Macon State Prison, was extradited to Florida on August 16, 2025, to face charges for an alleged hunting lease fraud scheme. Smith allegedly used smuggled cell phones and multiple online aliases to post fake hunting lease advertisements for properties he did not own, collecting deposits from hunters across 15 Florida counties between July 1, 2025, and April 30. CBS News reported that Smith allegedly used smuggled cell phones and multiple online aliases to run a hunting lease fraud scheme from prison, collecting deposits from hunters across 15 Florida counties.

Isolation, Medical Neglect, and the Grievance Wall

GPS records show a cluster of signals at Macon State Prison over the past twelve months that reinforce the facility's documented conditions: nine sources reporting alleged inmate-on-inmate assaults across four months, seven reporting deaths in custody, six reporting family fear for an incarcerated person's life, and six reporting named staff misconduct. Four sources reported inadequate climate conditions, four reported alleged medical neglect, and four reported external complaints filed — two to federal court and two to Georgia Prisoners' Speak. Three sources reported food-quality complaints, and three reported equipment failure.

GPS has received recurring reports concerning the facility's isolation unit — accounts describing loss of electricity, absent air conditioning, and requests that incarcerated people be moved to medically appropriate housing. GPS has also received accounts of alleged medication errors at the facility resulting in serious neurological episodes, and of family members being unable to obtain medical records. Multiple sources describe difficulty filing grievances, with reports that staff have not accepted submitted forms. These are allegations GPS has received and recorded; they have not been independently corroborated.

The facility's food-safety record, by contrast, is documented by state inspection. The Georgia Department of Public Health scored Macon State Prison 87 (Grade B) on April 29, 2026, citing three violations including proper cold holding temperatures and warewashing facilities. On March 25, 2025, the facility scored 80 (Grade B), with three violations including food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated, and proper hot and cold holding temperatures. On June 10, 2024, it scored 91 (Grade A) with one violation. GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture — broken tray-sanitizing dishwashers, sustained roach and rodent infestation, and meals served on visibly contaminated trays. The pattern is hidden from DPH scores because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food (2024) and has proposed $1.60 per day in FY27 — under 60 cents per meal — against the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for an adult man's nutritionally adequate diet.

Leadership and the Long View

The GDC announced that Gregory Sampson, the former warden at Dooly State Prison, became the new warden at Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025. GPS's current personnel records list Delvin Rasaunn Peoples as warden, with deputy wardens Nancy LEE Lawson, Deserre' Jones, and Derrick B McDaniel.

The scale of the crisis at Macon is best read against the systemwide numbers. The AJC reported that GDC investigated 66 prisoner deaths deemed to be homicides in 2024, and that a tally of all prisoner deaths reached a record of 332, up about 27% from the prior year. The AJC separately reported that thirteen prison deaths from January 1 to February 4, 2025, were being investigated as homicides — the bloodiest start of a year going back at least a decade. GPS has independently tracked 1,896 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.

In response, Gov. Kemp proposed allocating an additional $600 million over 18 months to address staffing, emergency repairs and infrastructure improvements in Georgia prisons, citing consultant findings. Whether that investment reaches Oglethorpe — and whether it arrives before the next name is added to the registry — is the question the record does not yet answer.

Sources

This analysis draws on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's sustained documentation of deaths and staffing at Macon State Prison; reporting from 13WMAZ, CBS News, and Solitary Watch; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Georgia Department of Corrections; federal court filings and the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; and GPS's own mortality registry, systemic findings, and intelligence records.