PHILLIPS STATE PRISON

Last updated September 13, 2026.(DS)

Phillips State Prison in Buford opened in 1991 and is officially classified as a close-security facility for adult male felons, though many sources still refer to it as medium security. It holds 10 housing units with a mix of two-man and single-man cells, about 100 isolation/segregation cells, and a linked transitional center. It has hosted a campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and offers education and faith-based programming, but it has also been involved in federal corruption prosecutions over officers trafficking contraband and drugs. Warden Aaron Thomas Pineiro has led the facility since June 2024, with Deputy Warden of Administration Remona Annette Holloway, Deputy Warden of Security Dorothy Andre, and Deputy Warden Joshua Craig Fulbright in senior roles.

GPS's mortality database records 69 deaths at Phillips State Prison since tracking began in January 2020 — a count GPS treats as a floor, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Of those, 36 are categorized as natural or medical, 14 as homicide, 8 as suicide, 5 as overdose, 1 as accident, 1 as medical neglect, and 4 as unknown or pending. The facility's current population is 671 against a rated capacity of 918 — an occupancy rate of 73.1 percent. The yearly distribution is uneven: 3 deaths in 2020, 11 in 2021, 10 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 18 in 2024, 16 in 2025, and 6 recorded so far in 2026.

A Homicide Cluster and the McBride Killing

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has documented a sustained pattern of violent deaths at Phillips State Prison. Alim Rasheed Lovett, 33, died on December 8, 2022 from stab wounds to the back injuring the right lung, with four other prisoners involved according to the incident report. Jacob Kendall Daniels, 19, died on August 13, 2022 from a stab wound to the neck, shoulder, and arm. Sidney Sanchez Nealey, 22, died on July 18, 2022 from stab wounds to the torso. Jamal Cymonne Johnson, 32, died on June 11, 2022 from stab wounds to the head injuring the brain, with delayed effects. Arthur James Wimbush Jr., 46, died on April 2, 2023 from blunt force trauma with fracture of the thyroid cartilage. David Fambro, 69, died on July 24, 2024 from complications of facial fractures with an interval of 26 days; incident report data shows a homicide.

The most consequential of these deaths was that of Quafabian Melik McBride, 19, who died on September 30, 2022 from stab wounds to the chest injuring the heart during a gang-related fight in the lockdown unit. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that officers allegedly arranged for McBride to be brought to the lockdown unit on the day he was killed — a detail that places staff decision-making at the center of the killing. The AJC further reported that the Department of Justice found the killing triggered a gang war at multiple GDC prisons, with Bloods attacking Crips over the several days that followed and 20 prisoners hospitalized.

Dave Stone, 61, died on November 20, 2021 from closed head trauma with delayed effects. His sister told the AJC he was in a mental health ward when he was assaulted, apparently with two pipes wrapped in a cloth, after which his brain was no longer functioning and he was taken off life support. GPS has also recorded deaths at Phillips that remain pending review: Wayne A. Lockett, whose death report was filed December 23, 2024; Randall Futch, filed June 8, 2023; and Anthony Lamar Johnson, filed October 10, 2021.

Bed Math and the Wimbush Killing

GPS's investigative reporting has focused on the death of Arthur James Wimbush Jr. An investigative piece by Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS) titled "Nowhere to Put Him: How Georgia's Bed Math Killed a Man Thirty Days From Home" describes accounts indicating Wimbush was killed at Phillips State Prison thirty days from release. According to that reporting, the Chief of Security said every segregation bed was full, so there was nowhere to put a man who needed protecting; the Gwinnett County medical examiner certified the death a homicide. GPS's framing — that Georgia's bed math is the mechanism — connects the killing directly to the facility's physical plant and classification practices. That article carries a not-yet-checked fact-check tag, so its account should be read as GPS's documented reporting rather than as independently corroborated fact.

Inmate accounts collected by GPS describe a pattern at Phillips State Prison in which incarcerated people who faced credible threats were moved into housing units where those threats could be carried out. Family members report that administrative segregation beds at the facility were full, and that individuals without disciplinary infractions were held in lockdown beds for months for lack of space. One family member reported that a lieutenant returned an incarcerated person to the same dormitory the next morning after the person had been removed. These accounts are consistent with the systemic finding GPS has documented across GDC: classification drift, in which medium-security facilities operate as close-security facilities without adequate staffing and infrastructure. GPS's classification-drift analysis, based on October 27, 2025 data, documents that medium-security facilities are housing disproportionate numbers of close-security inmates. Phillips, officially close-security, sits inside that broader pattern.

Staffing Collapse and Gang Control

GPS has documented that officer vacancies in Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3 percent and 60 percent systemwide for multiple years, against a national standard of no more than 10 percent. 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 percent of the system's roughly 49,000 incarcerated population are validated members of 315 different security threat groups — more than double the national average. DOJ and the Guidehouse 2024 consultant assessment independently concluded that gangs effectively run multiple facilities, controlling access to phones, showers, food, and bed assignments.

At Phillips State Prison specifically, inmate witnesses report that prior to a recent administration change, gangs had an informal agreement not to enforce hierarchy and to resolve conflicts through negotiation — an arrangement enforced primarily by an alliance between two groups. Gang-affiliated incarcerated people at the facility refused to comply with a facility agreement, considering it too lenient. The McBride killing — in which officers allegedly arranged for a 19-year-old to be brought to the lockdown unit where he was stabbed to death — is the clearest documented example of how staff decisions intersect with gang violence here.

The DOJ investigation in October 2024 cited Eighth Amendment violations at Phillips State Prison. That finding places the facility within the federal government's broader conclusion that GDC leadership has lost control of its facilities.

Sexual Violence and PREA Failures

GPS has documented that sexual violence in Georgia Department of Corrections facilities is systemic. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that sexual assault is "rampant" and that GDC does not reasonably protect incarcerated people, including LGBTI individuals, from sexual harm. Of 456 sexual-abuse allegations recorded in 2022, only 35 were substantiated — 7.7 percent. GDC's own consultants, PREA Auditors of America, reviewed 388 PREA investigation files in May 2022 and found that not one met the law's standards. Georgia has never submitted a PREA certification of full compliance to the U.S. Department of Justice in the law's two-decade history.

GPS has received accounts of sexual abuse of young incarcerated people by senior staff at Phillips State Prison, and of an incarcerated person sexually abused over years at the facility while staff were aware. GPS has also received accounts of an incarcerated person at Phillips forced at knifepoint to perform a sexual act, and of an assault by multiple individuals that was videotaped. A family member of an incarcerated person contacted the DOJ and PREA auditors to report alleged abuse.

A Cycle 3 PREA audit for Phillips State Prison is published. GPS's own analysis notes a conflict between the audit's clean finding on retaliation standards and an allegation of retaliation against an incarcerated person for protecting another — an account GPS has received of a person placed in lockdown for attempting to protect someone else.

Infrastructure, Contraband, and the Phone War

GPS has documented a systemic pattern of infrastructure collapse across GDC facilities, treating it as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, gang-control, and mortality crises GPS has documented at the facility level. Most GDC facilities are 30-40-plus years old, with documented patterns of deferred maintenance that have produced systemwide failures: broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, broken kitchen sanitization equipment, and pest infestations.

At Phillips State Prison, GPS has received accounts that the warden contracted to install low-water-flow toilets and automatic shut-off valves on showers, and that the shower valves failed within days because they were not designed for heavy prison use; the valves were subsequently tied off, leaving showers running continuously, and the new low-flow commodes require three flushes to empty. The facility also contracted for a cellphone containment system costing several million dollars, which accounts describe as incomplete in its containment and as creating hotspots that gang members fought over.

GPS's reporting has documented that Georgia spent $50 million deploying phone-blocking technology at 35 prisons, and that homicides quadrupled — at every facility where GPS confirmed activation dates, violence erupted within weeks. Phillips State Prison has a history associated with Operation Ghost Guard, the federal corruption prosecution over officers trafficking contraband and drugs.

Settlements, Coverage Gaps, and the Record

The Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through open records, records three liability payouts tied to Phillips State Prison. The largest — $700,000 — was paid to Demitri Carter for a 2017 incident. Steven A. Whitt received $5,000 for a 2019 incident, and Terry Allen received $2,500 for a 2018 incident. These settlements document that the state has paid to resolve claims arising from conditions at this facility.

GPS staff have acknowledged a current gap in firsthand source intelligence coverage at Phillips State Prison — a gap that matters given the facility's mortality record. GPS has received recurring reports of deaths at the facility treated as routine, of staff reprimanded for procedural issues rather than for deaths, and of termination packets discarded while the staff members involved were later promoted. GPS has additionally received accounts of an incarcerated person left in a caged recreation yard for 15 or more hours without a bed roll, water, or bathroom access, and of a family member told by a staff member that an incarcerated person must be "okay with" abuse.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; the October 2024 Department of Justice findings letter and federal court records; Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledgers obtained through open records; GPS's own investigative reporting, including "Nowhere to Put Him: How Georgia's Bed Math Killed a Man Thirty Days From Home" and GPS's classification-drift analysis; GPS's mortality database; and inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff.