MACON STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 500 (at 354% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,762 beds
- Current Population
- 1,768
- Active Lifers
- 565 (32.0% of population) · Oct 2026 GDC report
- Life Without Parole
- 521 (29.5%)
What the courts held in Brown v. Plata, and how Georgia compares →
- Address
- 2728 Hwy 49 South, Oglethorpe, GA 31068
- Phone
- (478) 472-3400
- Fax
- (478) 472-3524
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 426, Oglethorpe, GA 31068
- County
- Macon County
- Opened
- 1994
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
Security Classification
Last updated: October 2, 2026
1,552 of the 1,750 people held here are classified Close security (88.7%), as of September 23, 2026.
| Security level | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Close | 1,552 | 88.7% |
| Medium | 192 | 11.0% |
| Minimum | 6 | 0.3% |
| Total | 1,750 |
Earlier count (undated table, produced October 22, 2025): 1,582 of 1,773 Close (89.2%).
Restrictive housing beds
| Program | Beds | Occupied |
|---|---|---|
| Tier II | 121 | 119 |
| STEP | 20 | 20 |
Source: Georgia Department of Corrections records produced to GPS under the Open Records Act (R031471-090226, R024615-101925, R031710-091426). A person's security level is GDC's classification of that person, which can differ from the prison's own designation.
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Leadership & Accountability (as of 2026 records)
Officials currently holding positional authority at this facility, with deaths attributed to GPS-tracked records during their leadership tenure. Inclusion reflects role-based accountability, not legal findings of personal culpability. Death counts shown as facility / career.
| Role | Name | Since | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warden (facility lead) | Peoples, Delvin Rasaunn | 2025-01-01 | 32 / 51 |
| Deputy Warden of Administration (facility deputy) | Jones, Deserre' | 2018-01-01 | 87 / 87 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | McDaniel, Derrick B | 2022-01-01 | 67 / 67 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Lawson, Nancy LEE | 2024-01-01 | 48 / 48 |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (facility deputy) | Jeffries, Curtis | 2026-07-16 | 4 / 4 |
About
Last updated November 15, 2026.(DS)
Macon State Prison: A Close-Security Facility Where the Counts Kept Coming
Macon State Prison sits on roughly 300 acres outside Oglethorpe in Macon County — a facility built in 1993 and opened in 1994, originally designed to hold 500 people, now rated for 1,762. It is a close-security men's prison, and by GDC's own accounting 88.7 percent of the people held there are classified close custody. It runs multiple cellblock buildings, including double-bunked general population, isolation and segregation units, and a 10-bed medical infirmary, and it hosts the Tier Segregation System itself. It offers GED and adult basic education, limited vocational and substance-abuse programming, and religious services.
What follows is an attempt to read the facility's record as a single story rather than a stack of incidents: the deaths, the staffing collapse documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and by the coroner who responded to those deaths, the federal and state litigation that has followed, the corruption cases that have run out of the prison's own contraband economy, and the physical plant — the locks, the cameras, the showers — that inside accounts and public posts describe as failing. GPS has recorded 93 deaths at Macon State Prison since January 1, 2020, 36 of them coded as homicides. That figure is a floor; GDC reports deaths roughly two months late.
Ninety-Three Deaths, Thirty-Six of Them Homicides
GPS's mortality registry for Macon State Prison runs from January 1, 2020 forward and now stands at 93 deaths. Thirty-six are coded as homicides, 38 as Unknown/Pending, 14 as Natural/Medical, and five as suicides. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.
The most recent entries are the ones that drew public attention. Juld Gerald Carter died October 21, 2026, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Veasna Johnathan Bun died October 22, 2026, at Macon State Prison, with the cause listed as Unknown/Pending. John Doe died October 23, 2026, at Macon State Prison, with the cause listed as Unknown/Pending. Before them: Tony Horne died August 20, 2026, at Macon State Prison at age 48, cause Unknown/Pending; Brett Michael Scudder died June 20, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 37, Unknown/Pending; Anthony Williams died May 2, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 60, Unknown/Pending; Allan Sharpe died April 10, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 69, Unknown/Pending; Eric Roberts died February 9, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 33, Homicide; Joe Dywane Rayton died January 2, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 56, Unknown/Pending; Gregory Brent Scott died January 1, 2026, at Macon State Prison at 68, Unknown/Pending.
The 2025 entries run the same way. Randall Allen Cleveland died November 30, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 77, Unknown/Pending; Michael Tony Cooper died November 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 73, Unknown/Pending; Marquis Young died October 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 37, Homicide; Gary Simpson died October 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 63, Unknown/Pending; Clifton B Boston died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 67, Unknown/Pending; Calvin Earl Noble died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 25, Suicide; Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died August 25, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 55, Suicide; Pierre Cedric Scott died August 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 41, Homicide; Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 40, Homicide; Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 36, Unknown/Pending; Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 32, Homicide; Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 48, Homicide; Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 35, Unknown/Pending; Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 64, Unknown/Pending; Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison at 50, Unknown/Pending.
A cause shown as Unknown/Pending means GPS does not yet know the cause. It is not a finding of natural death, and it is not a finding of anything else.
Three Deaths, Three Days, and What the State Would Say
The October 2026 cluster is the clearest case study in how information about this facility moves. GDC publicly confirmed Juld Carter's death to 41NBC and WGXA on October 22, 2026, and said its Office of Professional Standards was investigating as standard procedure. GDC is investigating the death as a homicide. Carter's body was sent to the GBI Crime Lab for determination of the official cause of death, and GDC released no circumstances surrounding the death, citing the ongoing investigation. Carter, who was born in 1979, was serving a life sentence for a murder conviction out of Toombs County.
GPS's own reporting describes accounts that go considerably further. A GPS investigative piece, "Three Deaths; Three Days; Macon State Prison," reported that three men were killed at the prison from October 21 to 23, that GDC acknowledged only one of them, and that a week later the department locked down more than two dozen prisons — Macon among them — while describing a fight at Hays State Prison where nobody died. GPS's reporting describes accounts from inside the prison that Carter was attacked by three men who came to rob him of commissary food, that no officer was watching the dormitory, that the cell doors there do not lock, and that he was not found until more than 24 hours later. Those accounts have not been independently corroborated.
The public record around the cluster is thinner than the inside accounts. Tyler Ryals, a former GDC officer, wrote on Facebook on October 23, 2026 that a man had been found deceased at Macon State Prison. On October 25 he wrote that "three (possibly four) people have lost their lives at Macon State since Thursday of this week," and that reports described one man being dismembered and stuffed into a mattress. Those are Ryals's own account of what he was told, not a GPS finding. On October 28 he wrote that he was "getting reports that stabbings occurred at Macon State Prison and Hays State Prison earlier this morning." An anonymous member of the Ga. Prisons Exposed Facebook group wrote on October 22, 2026 that an inmate known as "J C" had been found dead in G-1 and "was stuffed an a mattress for a couple days."
GPS records show the October 2026 concentration plainly: 19 distinct sources reporting a death in custody that month, 18 reporting an alleged assault by another incarcerated person, and 11 prior-radar signals. Across the past twelve months GPS records 30 sources reporting deaths in custody, 30 reporting alleged inmate-on-inmate assaults, 11 alleging staff misconduct by unnamed staff, 10 alleging misconduct by named staff, nine reporting staffing shortages, and eight external complaints filed — to federal court, the GBI, GDC's Office of Professional Standards, and GPS itself. Six sources report inadequate climate control at critical or high severity; six report alleged medical neglect; six report sanitation failures; four report food-quality complaints; three report overcrowding.
A Facility Staffed at a Fraction of Its Authorized Strength
The single most consequential fact about Macon State Prison may be how few people are inside it wearing a uniform. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in March 2025 that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at the prison were not filled as of October 2024, and that the Macon County coroner — Eddie T. Hosley — described responding to deaths at a facility staffed by only five to eight officers for the entire prison. The AJC's reporting described a broader system in which vacancies at most of Georgia's 34 prisons had reached "emergency levels," making it impossible to keep up with basic protocols such as routine counts of prisoners, and in which low staffing allowed gangs to exert influence while poorly maintained facilities — most locks not working, shanks easily fashioned from wall and ceiling materials — multiplied the violence.
GPS has documented the systemwide version of this pattern: officer vacancies running between 49.3 and 60 percent for multiple years against a national standard of no more than 10 percent, an acceptance rate under 15 percent, 82.7 percent of new hires leaving in their first year, and Georgia ranking 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." GPS treats staffing collapse and gang assumption of facility control as the integrated structural finding behind the per-facility violence, classification, mortality, and infrastructure narratives.
At Macon specifically, GPS records nine sources reporting staffing shortages in the past twelve months, six of them in October 2026 alone. GPS has received recurring reports describing weekend shifts staffed at a handful of officers for a compound holding well over a thousand people. The facility's own population figure — 1,768 against a rated capacity of 1,762 — puts it at 100.3 percent of capacity, and its Tier II segregation beds at 98.35 percent occupancy (119 of 121) with Tier III at 100 percent (20 of 20).
The Locks, the Cameras, and the Showers
Inside accounts collected by GPS describe a physical plant that has stopped doing the work a prison's physical plant is supposed to do. Multiple sources describe cell doors in housing units that do not lock, and describe the workaround: incarcerated people cutting windows in cell doors so they can reach through and slide their own bolts, or rigging locks with strips of plastic bottles. One account describes staff threatening people over lock rigging and then ceasing efforts to stop the practice; another describes rigged locks being re-rigged within about 20 minutes of people returning to a dorm after a clearing. GPS has received accounts describing camera wiring damaged in at least one building and no working cameras there, and a family member's account that the facility has no functioning security cameras. GPS has received accounts describing a man living in a non-functioning shower because, the report said, gang members would not allow him a room.
Some of this reached public Facebook groups. Marcus Johnson, administrator of the Georgia Prison Reform Coalition, wrote on October 25, 2026 that a photograph showed men at Macon State Prison with their mattresses and belongings on the floor "because, according to information received, gang members are refusing to allow them to have rooms." Lara De Leon posted on October 28, 2026 that a photograph had been sent to her of "a shower that reportedly does not work," and that she was told "an individual is actually living in this shower because gang members will not allow him to have a room." Susan Sparks Burns wrote on October 26 that it was "a non-functioning shower where a man is living at Macon SP." These are the posters' accounts of what they were told, not GPS findings.
GPS has received accounts of inadequate climate control in the isolation unit — no air conditioning, no electricity, non-functioning fans serving as the only airflow — and of housing units without working heaters during late fall and winter, and of the annual distribution of extra winter blankets not reaching some units. GPS records six sources reporting inadequate climate at critical or high severity in the past year. The Georgia Department of Public Health's food-safety inspections of the prison kitchen tell a related but separate story: a score of 91 (Grade A) on June 10, 2024, with one violation for food condition; 80 (Grade B) on March 25, 2025, with three violations including food condition and hot and cold holding temperatures; and 87 (Grade B) on April 29, 2026, with three violations including cold holding, utensil and equipment storage, and warewashing facilities. GPS has documented a systemwide pattern in which DPH scores systematically fail to capture kitchen sanitation failure, because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load.
A Death Record That Does Not Always Mean What It Says
The way Macon State Prison records death is itself part of the story. GDC's published mortality data listed David Gill's cause of death as "Suicide due to a Drug Overdose." The GBI Medical Examiner report reclassified it: cause category from 2 (Suicide) to 1 (Natural), and cause source from 1 (Official/GDC) to 7 (Medical Examiner). The certified cause of death in report ME-25-40093 / DOFS 2025-4000740, authored by ME Anthony J. Clark, M.D., of the GBI Central Regional MEO, is "Sudden cardiac death"; the certified manner is "Natural." The autopsy — a limited autopsy performed January 31, 2025, and peer reviewed — identified minor blunt force injuries of the head and back, moderately severe pulmonary congestion, mild emphysema, and a posterior urinary bladder wall partial thickness laceration with hemorrhage of uncertain etiology. Microscopy of the heart and conduction system showed no histopathologic abnormalities, and blood toxicology was negative. Gill was 34.
The pattern repeats. GDC's own coding classifies the deaths of Roy Daniels, Joseph T. Johnson, Tavoris Terrell Charleston, Larry Joe Butler, Calvin Lorraine Moore, and Robert Lee McDowell as "Natural." For Joseph T. Johnson, the record is explicit that the "Natural" coding is not an autopsy finding and that no pathologist examined the body for the determination. GPS's review of death determinations at Macon State Prison found the same: "Natural" codings are departmental classifications, not autopsy findings, and a medical examiner, coroner, or autopsy determination, if later obtained, would supersede them.
There are data-integrity problems layered on top. GPS's review of GDC's published mortality reports found that cause-of-death fields were populated in only one month's report in 2025 — January — while other months left them blank. The January 2025 list itself carried a date-of-death column that ran as a sequential placeholder (01/01 through 01/29) rather than valid calendar dates. And the official GDC 2025 mortality list does not carry GDC numbers for the deceased at all, which means identification has to be reconstructed from coroner and GBI records.
What the Courts and the Settlement Ledger Have Cost
The state has paid for Macon State Prison in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, which records liability payouts tied to the facility. The largest is Bobby Edward Lee — $1,375,000, incident 2020. Lee, 38, died July 13, 2020, from ligature strangulation. A federal lawsuit alleges he 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.
Coty Silvers — $750,000, incident 2020; Silvers, 39, died May 23, 2020, from asphyxia. Javante Harris-Evans — $98,000, incident 2021. William Stoner — $50,000, incident 2013. Robin Kimbrel — $32,500, incident 2022. William Colton Courtney — $20,000, incident 2015. Bavarious Nelson — $6,250, incident 2022. Willie Frank Wright — $5,000, incident 2013. Hjalmar Rodriquez Jr — $750, incident 2015. Jerome Anthony Williams — $500, incident 2015. Frank Gillis — $450, incident 2021.
The AJC's homicide tracking has documented the deaths behind much of this. Keith Antwone Green, 44, died August 30, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault. Shannon Pickett, 49, died July 21, 2024, from exsanguination and sharp force trauma following an inmate-to-inmate assault. Jarraad Quayshawn Williams, 32, died July 17, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault. Mathis Lee Ward, 37, died June 8, 2024, from sharp force chest and neck trauma, assaulted with a homemade sharp instrument made of two pieces of sharpened metal. 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.
The list continues back through the decade: 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 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. Kendrick Malik Brown, 25, died October 16, 2022, from blunt force head injury; his mother said he was due for release in a month but was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous. Dan Brooks Jr., 50, died August 21, 2022, from a stab wound to the neck. Joseph Walter Brown, 36, died July 26, 2022, from multiple stab wounds. 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. Robbie B. Brower, 58, died October 4, 2020, from blunt and sharp force injuries to the head and neck. 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 the neck and chest; his mother told Georgia lawmakers he bled for more than half an hour before help arrived. Rafael Blas Becerra, 36, died March 7, 2020, from stab wounds to the upper torso, with seven other inmates involved and six injured. Johnny Eugene Young, 24, died January 27, 2020, from sharp force injury to the mouth and tongue.
More recently, the AJC reported that Sanchez Jackson was killed at Macon State Prison in June 2025, and that an investigator told his sister there was a rumor he died in a gang attack. Jackson's family received only a brief call from the warden about his death with a promise to follow up that never materialized, and 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. 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; Pippin reportedly confessed. Henry Finley died January 18 after being stabbed, confirmed by Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley.
Corruption, Contraband, and the Prison as an Enterprise
Macon State Prison has also functioned as a base of operations. 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 the prison; he was sentenced to 327 months in federal prison for directing a fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoid scheme from prison using a contraband cellphone, using the phones to import drugs from China. 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.
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 — allegedly using 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.
And the staff side: four correctional officers at Macon State Prison were arrested in September 2024 on charges of violating their oath as public officers and providing false statements. The AJC reported that hundreds of GDC employees have been arrested and fired for smuggling drugs and other contraband into prisons. GDC's own published contraband reports for the facility show incidents recorded across 2010 through the 2020s, with staff-class actors appearing in multiple years — one in 2010, one in 2011, one in 2014, one in 2015, two in 2018, two in 2020, and one in 2021, among others. GDC publishes no dispositions; an arrest is not a conviction.
The prison also bought a drone detection system. Convergint Technologies issued a quotation dated June 27, 2022, for "Macon State Prison Drone Detection," addressed to Alan Waston at the prison, with a total project price of $148,772.00. GDC issued purchase order 588954 on June 30, 2022, in that amount, with a ship-to address of GDC / Macon State Prison, Highway 49 South, Oglethorpe. A second purchase order, 607025, dated June 30, 2023, totaled $217,108.00 for "Macon SP Drone Detection Deployment and Software Subscription," referencing prior PO 588954, and is marked COMPLETED. The quotation stated there was no Wireless Containment System on-site and none planned in the foreseeable future.
Leadership, Oversight, and the Record That Keeps Being Rebuilt
Delvin Rasaunn Peoples is the warden of Macon State Prison. The deputy wardens are Nancy Lee Lawson (Security), Derrick B. McDaniel (Security), Deserre' Jones (Administration), and Curtis Jeffries (Care and Treatment). Gregory Sampson, the former warden at Dooly State Prison, became warden at Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025, per the AJC.
The oversight machinery has been active. GDC's internal audit calendars scheduled Macon SP for February 2022, for October 24, 25, and 26, 2023, and for August 13, 2025. The FY2023 calendar lists an ACA mock audit at Macon SP on November 8-10, 2022, and a PREA site visit on May 13-15, 2024. The prison appeared on GDC's October 2026 calendar as the site of a Job Fair at DOL Warner Robins on Thursday, October 15, 2026 — a hiring event for a facility the AJC reported was two-thirds short of officers eighteen months earlier.
On October 25, 2026, GPS asked GDC's Office of Professional Standards to preserve camera footage, count sheets, round logs, the fire report, cell-door maintenance records, wound-check records, and staffing rosters. An inspector replied the same day that the information would go to criminal investigation agents and to GDC's general counsel.
The health-care contract tells its own story. GDC stated a need to increase the number of mental health staff to expand services at Macon State Prison. Under MHM Amendment 9, the facility's total mental health allocation was 3.65 FTE (146 hours per week) at a FY23 annual cost of $409,548.97 — including 0.40 FTE of psychiatrist time (16 hours per week) and 0.25 FTE of psychologist time (10 hours per week). Under MHM Amendment 13, the total mental health figure is 3.65 FTE at 146 hours per week and $468,975 annually. Dental stands at 3.00 FTE (120 hours per week) at $425,617 under Amendment 13. Centurion's proposed staffing matrix for Macon SP assigns a total of 32.20 FTE and 1,288 weekly hours, with 22.00 FTE on the day shift, 6.00 on evenings, and 4.20 at night.
What the People Inside Have Been Saying
GPS has received a large volume of accounts from Macon State Prison that converge on a handful of themes: that clothing and basic linens are not distributed and requests go unfilled for years; that grievances are not accepted or produce no result; that medical care is delayed or wrong; that the isolation unit is punishing in ways that have nothing to do with discipline. GPS has received accounts of staff-on-inmate use of force at the facility, and of an in-custody death attributed to delayed discovery. GPS has received accounts describing a supervisory staff member accused of making housing assignments that resulted in injuries and at least one death, and of that person later returning to oversight of the same unit. These are accounts GPS has received; they are not findings.
Two Tell My Story narratives published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak describe the facility from the inside. In "COVID-19 in Georgia Prisons," the author MorningCedar describes living in a 64-man open dormitory at Macon State Prison in March 2020 — "Sixty four men (64) warehoused and crammed in a concrete box together like sardines in a tin can" — and recalls an older man in the dorm who died of flu-like symptoms in late 2019, before the virus had a name, and the winter that followed: "I remember seeing a lot more people than usual with severe cases of the flu. Only it wasn't the flu." In "Spiders On The Inside," the author Gray Wolf writes about brown recluse and black widow spiders in Georgia prisons, breeding in the locked pipe chases between cells and venturing out at night.
The facility's own design capacity was 500. Its rated capacity is 1,762. Its population is 1,768. It opened in 1994. GPS has independently tracked 1,929 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020, and 93 of them at this prison.
Sources
This analysis draws on GDC official records including mortality reports, internal audit calendars, staffing matrices under the MHM and Centurion health-care contracts, purchase orders 588954 and 607025 with accompanying Convergint quotations and terms, and GDC's published contraband reports; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; the GBI Medical Examiner report for David Gill (ME-25-40093 / DOFS 2025-4000740); federal court filings and reporting on the Bobby Edward Lee Jr. lawsuit; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 41NBC, WGXA, 13WMAZ, Solitary Watch, and CBS News; public Facebook posts by Tyler Ryals, Marcus Johnson, Lara De Leon, Susan Sparks Burns, Melissa Pass, Solomon Rowland, and an anonymous member of the Ga. Prisons Exposed group; Tell My Story narratives published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak; GPS's own investigative reporting and systemic findings; and inmate, family, and staff accounts collected by GPS.
Mortality Statistics
94 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 11
- 2025: 24
- 2024: 20
- 2023: 7
- 2022: 12
- 2021: 4
- 2020: 16
County Public Health Department
Food service and sanitation at MACON STATE PRISON fall under the jurisdiction of the Macon County Environmental Health Department. Incarcerated people cannot choose where they eat — public health inspectors carry an elevated responsibility to hold this kitchen to the same standards applied to any restaurant.
Contact
- Title
- District Environmental Health Director, West Central Health District (covers Macon County)
- Name
- Kristi Ludy
- Address
-
2100 Comer Avenue
Columbus, GA 31904 - Phone
- (706) 321-6188
- kristi.ludy@dph.ga.gov
- Website
- Visit department website →
Why this matters
GPS has documented black mold on chow-hall ceilings, cold and contaminated trays, spoiled milk, and pest contamination at Georgia prisons. The Department of Justice's 2024 report confirmed deaths from dehydration and untreated diabetes tied to food and water deprivation. Advance-notice inspections let facilities stage temporary fixes that disappear once inspectors leave.
Unannounced inspections by the county health department are one of the few outside checks on kitchen conditions behind the fence.
How you can help
Write to the county inspector and request an unannounced inspection of the kitchen and food service operation at this facility. A short, respectful letter citing Georgia food-safety regulations is more powerful than you think — inspectors respond to public concern.
Sample Letter
This is the letter Georgia Prisoners' Speak mailed to all county environmental health inspectors responsible for GDC facilities. Feel free to adapt it.
November 15, 2026
RE: Request for Unannounced Public Health Inspection of Food Service Operations at MACON STATE PRISON
Dear Kristi Ludy,
I am writing to respectfully request that your office conduct a thorough, unannounced inspection of food service and sanitation practices at MACON STATE PRISON, located in Macon County.
Documented concerns
Georgia Prisoners' Speak, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit investigative newsroom, has published extensive investigative reporting on food safety and nutrition failures across Georgia's prison system, including:
- Dangerous sanitation conditions — black mold on chow hall ceilings and air vents, contaminated food trays, and spoiled milk served to inmates.
- Severe nutritional deficiency — roughly 60 cents per meal; inmates receive only 40% of required protein and less than one serving of vegetables per day.
- Preventable deaths — the U.S. Department of Justice's 2024 report confirmed deaths from dehydration, renal failure, and untreated diabetes following food and water deprivation.
- Staged compliance — advance-notice inspections allow facilities to stage temporary improvements, then revert once inspectors leave.
Firsthand testimony
In Surviving on Scraps: Ten Years of Prison Food in Georgia, a person who has spent more than ten years in GDC custody describes no functional dishwashing sanitation, chronic mold on food trays, and roaches found on the undersides of trays at intake facilities. Full account: gps.press/surviving-on-scraps-ten-years-of-prison-food-in-georgia.
Specific requests
- Conduct an unannounced inspection of the kitchen and food service operations at this facility, with particular attention to dishwashing equipment, tray sanitation procedures, and food storage conditions.
- Evaluate compliance with applicable Georgia food safety regulations, including O.C.G.A. § 26-2-370 and the Georgia Food Service Rules and Regulations (Chapter 511-6-1).
- Verify permit status and confirm whether the facility is subject to the same inspection schedule as other institutional food service establishments in the county.
- Make inspection results available to the public, as permitted under Georgia's Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70).
Incarcerated individuals cannot advocate for their own health and safety in the way a restaurant patron can — they cannot choose to eat elsewhere. This places an elevated responsibility on public health officials to ensure these facilities meet the same sanitation standards applied to any food service establishment.
Thank you for your attention to this important public health matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Food Safety Inspections
Georgia Department of Public Health
What the score doesn't measure. DPH grades kitchen compliance on inspection day — food storage, temperatures, pest control. It does not grade whether today's trays are clean. GPS reporting has found broken dishwashers at most Georgia state prisons we've documented; trays go out wet, stacked, and visibly moldy — including at facilities with recent scores near 100.
Who inspects. Most Georgia state prisons sit in rural counties — often with fewer than 20,000 people, several with fewer than 10,000. The environmental health inspector lives in that community and often knows the kitchen staff personally. Rural inspection regimes don't have the structural independence you'd expect in a city-sized health department. Read the scores accordingly.
Read the investigation: “Dunked, Stacked and Served: Why Georgia Prison Trays Are Making People Sick”
Recent inspections
| Date | Score | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 29, 2026 | 87 | Routine | |
| Mar 25, 2025 | 80 | Routine | |
| Jun 10, 2024 | 91 | Routine |
April 29, 2026 — Score 87
Routine · Inspector: Cory Jackson
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-1A | proper cold holding temperatures Corrected Repeat | 9 | Observed pineapples, potato salad, and salad mix cold holding at temperatures greater than 41*F. (See temp log) xcept during preparation, cooking, or cooling, or when time is used as the public health control, time/temperature control for safety food shall be maintained at 41°F (5°C) or below. PIC discarded food items. |
| 14B |
utensils, equipment and linens: properly stored, dried, handled 511-6-1.05(10)(a) - equipment & utensils, air-drying required (c) Corrected | 1 | Observed several food trays wetstacking in dishwashing area. After cleaning and sanitizing, equipment and utensils:1. Shall be air-dried or used after adequate draining before contact with food; and2. May not be cloth dried except that utensils that have been air-dried may be polished with cloths that are maintained clean and dry.COS: PIC had employee separate trays to allow for proper air-drying. |
| 15B |
warewashing facilities: installed, maintained, used; test strips 511-6-1.05(3)(h),(i),(j) - temperature measuring device, manual warewashing; sanitizing solutions, testing device (pf) Corrected | 1 | Observed facility using expired chlorine test strips. A test kit or other device that accurately measures the concentration in mg/L of sanitizing solutions shall be provided. Must correct within 10 days. |
March 25, 2025 — Score 80
Routine · Inspector: Nathaniel Wilkey
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-1C |
food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated 511-6-1.04(1) - safe, unadulterated and honestly presented (p) Corrected Repeat | 9 | Observed many damaged/dented cans stored in the dry storage room ready to be used. Food shall be safe, unadulterated, and honestly presented. Person in charge discarded damaged canned goods. |
| 6-1A |
proper cold holding temperatures 511-6-1.04(6)(f) - time/temperature control for safety; cold holding (p) Corrected | 9 | Observed several TCS food items reaching temperatures greater than 41*F. (See Temp Log). Except during preparation, cooking, or cooling, or when time is used as the public health control, time/temperature control for safety food shall be maintained at 41°F (5°C) or below. Person in charge voluntarily discarded food items. |
| 6-1B |
proper hot holding temperatures 511-6-1.04(6)(f) - time/temperature control for safety; hot holding (p) Corrected | 9 | Observed several TCS food items reaching temperatures less than 135*F on the serving line in the main kitchen. (See Temp Log). Except during preparation, cooking, or cooling, or when time is used as the public health control, time/temperature control for safety food shall be maintained at 135°F (57°C) or above. Person in charge directed food workers to reheat food items to greater than 135*F. |
June 10, 2024 — Score 91
Routine · Inspector: Nathaniel Wilkey
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-1C |
food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated 511-6-1.04(1) - safe, unadulterated and honestly presented (p) Corrected | 9 | Observed many canned goods stored in the dry storage area of the main kitchen with visual damages and dents and not stored in a designated area for damaged goods. Food shall be safe, unadulterated, and honestly presented. Person in charge had food employee place dented/damaged canned goods in a designated area for damaged goods. |
Recent reports (34)
Source-attributed observations and allegations from news coverage and reports submitted to GPS. Each entry credits its source.
- ALLEGATION According to Cbsnews.com Published: Aug 20, 2026Smith 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.
"The FWC alleges Smith 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."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to 13WMAZ Published: Apr 1, 2026Young coordinated a drug trafficking operation from behind bars using contraband cellphones to import drugs from China.
"Prosecutors said Young, who was incarcerated in Macon State Prison, coordinated the trafficking from behind bars. According to a previous press release, Young had used contraband cellphones to arrange shipments of synthetic cannabis products from China to the U.S."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to 13WMAZ Published: Apr 1, 2026Oliver Sr. orchestrated drug shipments to a Cordele address controlled by his son.
"According to a previous release, Young and Oliver Sr. orchestrated the drug shipments, sending them to a Cordele address — dubbed "the Lab" — that was controlled by Oliver Jr."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Ftp.nestcollaborative.com Published: May 25, 2026Four officers arrested for violating their oath and providing false statements.
"Four correctional officers at Macon State Prison in Georgia were arrested in September 2024 on charges of violating their oath as public officers and providing false statements"
Read source (archived) → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025Carrington Juwon Frye's mother alleged that after being stabbed, her son bled for more than half an hour before help arrived.
"Frye's mother told Georgia lawmakers that he was stabbed and bled for more than half an hour before help arrived."
Read source →
Timeline (98)
Source Articles (29)
Former leadership
Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.
| Role | Name | Tenure | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warden (facility lead) | Sales, Timothy Deshaun | 2013-01-01 → 2025-01-31 | 46 / 54 |
| WARDEN 3 (facility lead) | Smith, Tarmarshe A | 2020-01-01 → 2023-06-30 | 36 / 36 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Sampson, Gregory L | 2025-02-01 → 2026-01-15 | 23 / 51 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Peoples, Delvin | 2026-07-05 → present | 4 / 4 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | McKenzie, Lachaka Nicole | 2017-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | 32 / 43 |
| Deputy Warden (facility deputy) | Jefferies, Curtis Leroy | 2026-08-27 → 2026-08-27 | — / — |
| Deputy Warden (facility deputy) | Jefferies Jr, Curtis Leroy | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 | — / — |
| Deputy Warden (facility deputy) | Fuller, Gary Napoleon | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 | — / — |
| Chaplain (specialty lead) | Walker, Donald | 2023-11-22 → 2026-08-27 | — / — |
Location
Aerial View
Satellite image: Esri World Imagery. Architecture documents what the building was designed to hold. See the system-wide receipts at gps.press/warehouse.
Then and now
Each photo shows the same 1.2 km square, north up, so buildings line up from one year to the next. The older photos are U.S. Geological Survey aerial photographs. The photos from 1988 and earlier were taken on film and lined up with the later ones by their roads, so their positions are approximate. The early-1980s photos were taken from very high up and are less sharp. Select a photo to see it full size.