PULASKI STATE PRISON

Last updated August 23, 2026.(DS)

Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville opened in 1994 as a medium-security women's prison and now holds 1,184 people — 96.8% of its 1,223 rated capacity, more than double its original 500-person design. The compound includes multiple double-bunked dormitory buildings plus segregation units used for disciplinary and protective custody. Pulaski offers GED classes, basic education, and limited vocational and treatment programs. But the facility's public record is dominated by something else: a long pattern of deaths under a contract physician later exposed in statewide reporting, federal findings of unconstitutional conditions, and — most recently — allegations of retaliation and intimidation under a warden appointed in April 2025.

The Nazaire Years: Lethal Medical Neglect and the Settlements That Followed

The most consequential chapter in Pulaski's history concerns Dr. Yvon Nazaire, a contract physician whose tenure at the facility — and at Emanuel Women's Facility — is tied to at least 22 deaths of women between 2005 and 2015, according to GPS's published investigation. GPS reporting documents that Nazaire arrived in Georgia with a history of malpractice deaths in New York, that the state hired him despite knowing about that record, and that he was praised for cutting costs by denying women medical care. The denials resulted in deaths, and the state gave him a raise anyway.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Bonnie Rocheleau failed to get adequate care at Pulaski when she developed pneumonia, leading to her death. The same outlet documented that Mollianne Fischer failed to receive adequate medical care at the facility, resulting in her being left in a vegetative state. These are not isolated cases; they are the human names behind a pattern GPS has described as lethal medical neglect.

The Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through open records, shows the state paid out substantial sums tied to Pulaski incidents: $925,000 to Bonnie Rocheleau (2015), $300,000 to Kimery Finger (2015), $85,000 to Makayah Howard (2024), $30,000 to Kari A Quinn (2013), and $15,900 to Dante Coleman (2018). The Rocheleau settlement — nearly a million dollars — is the largest single payout in the ledger tied to this facility, and it corresponds to the pneumonia death the AJC documented.

Sexual Violence and the DOJ's Constitutional Findings

The U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 findings letter concluded that sexual assault is "rampant" in Georgia Department of Corrections facilities and that GDC does not reasonably protect incarcerated people, including LGBTI individuals, from sexual harm. GPS's systemic analysis places Pulaski squarely within that pattern: the DOJ documented at-knifepoint sexual assaults at Pulaski State Prison specifically.

The facility's own staff have been implicated. In May 2024, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Deputy Warden Alonzo L. McMillian was arrested at the Hawkinsville prison and booked into the Pulaski County jail on charges of having a sexual relationship with a prisoner, with arrest warrants alleging improper sexual contact on February 24 and 25. He was released the next day on a $10,000 bond. GDC spokesperson Joan Heath confirmed that both McMillian and another supervisor, Clark, were terminated May 2 following their arrests on charges of sexual contact with prisoners. The AJC noted at the time that the alleged misconduct of two prison supervisors could signal a larger systemic problem within the GDC — a framing that the DOJ's subsequent findings would validate.

The July 2023 Disturbance and the Deaths That Followed

On July 15, 2023, inmates at Pulaski destroyed building property in a disturbance involving 11 people using weapons including broomsticks, a crowbar, metal spray, shanks, and locks. Nine security staff responded, and chemical spray was used to quell the incident, according to AJC reporting.

The disturbance came amid a cluster of deaths. Monika Bradley died at Pulaski on July 5, 2023. Kristi Perkins died on July 12, 2023. GDC stated that a mechanical issue with air conditioning occurred on July 9 and was resolved the same day, and that there was no indication the deaths were related to that issue. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into the causes of death for both women, and GDC's Office of Professional Standards conducted standard-procedure investigations. Both causes of death remain undetermined.

GPS's mortality database records 30 deaths at Pulaski since 2020 — a floor, since GDC reports deaths approximately two months late. Of those, 20 are categorized as unknown or pending cause, six as natural or medical, two as suicide, and two as other. The most recent deaths include Kristi Perkins (July 12, 2026), Monika Yvette Bradley (July 3, 2026), Tulia Eustache (June 3, 2026, age 66), Karen Michelle Lindsey (May 24, 2026, age 59), Denecia Nichelle Randall (March 30, 2026, age 28, suicide), and Ronika Lashawn Carswell (December 12, 2025, age 50).

Warden Wendy Jackson and the Allegations of Retaliation

Wendy A. Jackson was appointed warden of Pulaski State Prison on April 16, 2025. Within ten months, GPS had received reports — documented across multiple GPS-authored articles — of retaliation, intimidation, extended lockdowns, and a non-functional grievance process under her leadership. GPS's published investigation describes Jackson as an "untested warden" and reports that families of people incarcerated at Pulaski are sounding the alarm about the new leadership.

The facility's current leadership structure, per GDC personnel records, includes Jackson as warden, Andrea Showers as Deputy Warden of Security (since April 1, 2024), Shelley Elizabeth Hermann as Deputy Warden of Administration (since April 16, 2025), and Gloria Ann Turnage as Special Assistant to the Warden (since September 16, 2024). A Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment, KaSann Mahogany, is also listed in GPS's records.

GPS has received recurring reports from multiple sources — inmate witnesses, family members, and staff records — describing a pattern during lockdown periods in 2024-2025: water access to cells cut off for multiple days, extended denial of shower access, nearly two weeks without clean clothing, severely limited phone access, and confiscation of personal property including locks. Multiple witnesses report that staff allegedly used intermediaries to discourage incarcerated people from directly contacting facility leadership, and that lockdowns were allegedly ordered in retaliation for contact with administration or outside advocates. GPS records show three family fear-for-life signals at critical or high severity between February and July 2026, documented across three distinct sources.

One GPS-authored account, published as a Tell My Story piece titled "The Fire Alarm Kept Ringing and No One Came," describes a facility with no supervision, rampant violence, and systemic neglect, where incarcerated people called their families to get help because officers wouldn't respond to emergencies. The account is tagged as not yet fact-checked by GPS.

Food Safety and the Pattern Behind the Scores

The Georgia Department of Public Health's food-safety inspection history at Pulaski shows a volatile record. On January 29, 2026, the facility received a failing score of 67 (Grade F) on a routine inspection, with eight violations including hands not clean and properly washed, inadequate handwashing facilities, and a person-in-charge not demonstrating knowledge or performing duties. A follow-up inspection on February 6, 2026, scored 96 (Grade A) with two violations. The pattern — a failing routine score followed by a passing follow-up — repeats: a 78 (Grade C) follow-up in September 2025 after a 73 (Grade C) routine in August 2025; an 83 (Grade B) routine in February 2025; a 90 (Grade A) routine in October 2024; an 82 (Grade B) routine in June 2024; a 91 (Grade A) routine in January 2024; and a 92 (Grade A) routine in June 2023.

GPS's systemic analysis of food-service sanitation across GDC kitchens — published in the investigation "Dunked, Stacked, and Served" — documents that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture the reality of 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, and because GPS has documented professional overlap between inspectors and facility staff in small-county settings. High DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination; the contradiction is the analytical center of that investigation. GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food (2024), under 60 cents per meal, versus the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for a nutritionally adequate adult diet. The Marshall Project independently reported on rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities in May 2026.

The Broader Structural Context

Pulaski's crises do not exist in isolation. GPS has documented that 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%. 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 people 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.

GPS has documented gang violence and extortion at Pulaski specifically. GPS-authored reporting describes Pamela Dixon's daughter being subjected to gang extortion at the facility, with Dixon paying more than $10,000 in extortion demands to gang members who threatened to disfigure her daughter's face if she didn't send $300 by 8 p.m. through Cash App. GPS records show multiple reports of gang members using violence to extort incarcerated people and their families at Pulaski.

The infrastructure itself is failing. GPS's systemic finding documents that most GDC facilities are 30-40+ years old, with deferred maintenance producing broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, broken kitchen sanitization equipment, and pest infestations. The DOJ 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.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Marshall Project; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledgers obtained through open records; GDC personnel records and official statements; federal court filings; GPS's own mortality database and investigative reporting, including the investigations "Dunked, Stacked, and Served" and "Pulaski State Prison Crisis: Untested Warden, Deadly History"; and inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff.