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SMITH STATE PRISON

State Prison Close Security GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections) Male
48 Source Articles 3 Events

Facility Information

Original Design Capacity
750 (at 147% capacity)
Bed Capacity
1,526 beds
Current Population
1,106
Active Lifers
291 (26.3% of population) · Jul 2026 GDC report
Life Without Parole
193 (17.5%)
Why design capacity matters: Adding beds to a prison does not increase medical facilities, educational programs, kitchen capacity, counseling services, or recreation areas. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Plata that severe overcrowding beyond design capacity violates the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Read: Brown v. Plata - A Legal Roadmap for Georgia's Prison Crisis →
Address
9676 Hwy 301 North, Glennville, GA 30427
Phone
(912) 654-5000
Fax
(912) 654-5305
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 726, Glennville, GA 30427
County
Tattnall County
Opened
1993
Operator
GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)

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.

RoleNameSinceDeaths
this facility / career
Warden (facility lead) Mims, Charles Michael2025-01-014 / 36
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Warren, Willesha2022-01-0126 / 26
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Carver, Keenan2024-01-0110 / 10
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Kennedy, Ashley L2024-01-0110 / 10
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Foulks, Rodney2024-01-017 / 7
Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) Edwards, Brianna2026-07-01— / —

About

Smith State Prison in Glennville, Georgia has emerged as an epicenter of corruption, violence, and systemic collapse, with a former warden indicted on racketeering charges, an inmate-ordered murder of an 88-year-old man, a smuggled gun killing a kitchen worker, and 38 deaths tracked since 2020 amid chronic understaffin

Mortality Statistics

40 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.

Deaths by Year

  • 2026: 5
  • 2025: 1
  • 2024: 6
  • 2023: 11
  • 2022: 5
  • 2021: 7
  • 2020: 5

View all deaths at this facility →

County Public Health Department

Food service and sanitation at SMITH STATE PRISON fall under the jurisdiction of the Tattnall 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
EH Specialist
Name
Lance Dasher
Address
P.O. Box 353
Glennville, GA 30427
Phone
(855) 473-4374
Email
Lance.Dasher@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.

Email the Inspector

Food Safety Inspections

Georgia Department of Public Health

Latest score: 72 (Feb 16, 2026)
View DPH report ↗

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

DateScorePurpose
Feb 16, 202672Routine
Jun 27, 202585Routine
Jan 19, 202482Routine
Jun 29, 202384Routine

Source: Georgia Department of Public Health — data last refreshed April 24, 2026. Search all Georgia inspections ↗

Analysis written on July 12, 2026.

Smith State Prison, a close-security men’s facility in Tattnall County that opened in 1993, has become one of the most dangerous and dysfunctional prisons in Georgia. With a design capacity of 1,526 but an original footprint built for just 750, the prison held 1,106 people as of mid-2026. It is a place where a warden allegedly ran a criminal enterprise, where an inmate obtained a firearm and shot a civilian employee to death, and where at least 38 people have died in custody since 2020. The cascade of violence, corruption, and neglect reflects the broader collapse documented across the state’s prison system, but at Smith it has reached a fever pitch.

The Saint Laurent Squad: A Warden Indicted

On May 13, 2026, a Tattnall County grand jury returned a six-count felony indictment against former Warden Brian Adams on charges including violation of Georgia’s RICO Act, bribery, making false statements, tampering with evidence, and violating his oath as a public officer. The indictment was the culmination of a 39-month investigation into what prosecutors described as a sprawling contraband scheme known as the “Yves Saint Laurent Squad,” operated from inside the prison by inmate Nathan Weekes. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Georgia Virtue, Adams is accused of accepting U.S. currency bribes in exchange for allowing cell phones, narcotics, weapons, designer clothing, jewelry, and tobacco to flow unchecked into the facility.

The scheme’s lethal reach extended far beyond the prison walls. Weekes and his associates have been charged with three murders, including the 2021 shooting death of 88-year-old Bobby Kicklighter, killed in his bed in a case of mistaken identity. Prosecutors allege Weekes ordered a hit on a correctional officer who lived next door to Kicklighter, but the gunmen went to the wrong house. Adams remained in his position as warden for some 18 months after GDC allegedly learned of at least two murders orchestrated from within the prison, according to reporting by The Georgia Virtue.

A civil lawsuit filed by Kicklighter’s family in Tattnall County State Court seeks damages from Adams and former Corrections Officer Ireon Moore, alleging they facilitated a criminal conspiracy to kill the non-complicit officer by allowing the illegal use of mobile phones. The suit further claims Moore was paid to participate in the conspiracy, with financial arrangements carried out by text message. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation interview in April 2022, during which Adams denied being solicited or bribed by any inmate in the preceding decade, later formed the basis for the false-statements charges.

A Gun in the Kitchen: The Killing of Aureon Grace

On June 16, 2024, inmate Jaydrekus Hart used a loaded gun—which investigators believe was smuggled in by drone—to fatally shoot 24-year-old Aramark food service employee Aureon Shavea Grace in the prison kitchen at around 4:30 a.m. Hart then turned the weapon on himself. The incident triggered an immediate system-wide lockdown of all Georgia prisons, with roads leading into Smith closed and officers in tactical gear stationed at the entrance.

Reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Georgia Public Broadcasting revealed that prison staff had been repeatedly warned by inmates that a weapon was on the premises, yet no lockdown, extensive search, or protective measures were initiated. Grace’s mother, Deshonda Hagins, filed a lawsuit in Fulton County State Court alleging GDC was repeatedly warned of the gun but failed to act. The suit also contends Hart was not authorized to be in the kitchen at the time and was allegedly favored by GDC staff, permitted to violate rules with impunity.

The shooting exposed a back door through which contraband—including weapons—could enter undetected. A former corrections officer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the prison’s supply gate lacked a metal detector, creating a point of vulnerability. The state has never publicly disclosed exactly how the firearm was brought inside.

A Trail of Homicides

Smith State Prison’s death record is among the worst in Georgia. GPS has tracked 38 deaths at the facility since 2020, with a peak of 11 in 2023. The string of killings includes:

  • Correctional Officer Robert Clark, 42, stabbed to death by an inmate with a homemade weapon on October 1, 2023.
  • James Adams Jr., 72, killed by blunt force trauma to the head and neck on November 8, 2023.
  • Quenton G. Mayo, 30, stabbed in the neck by four prisoners on August 14, 2023.
  • Justin Tyler Smith, 37, died July 28, 2023 from an epidural hematoma after being punched and falling.
  • Shaquan Jahrel Boykins, 31, killed by blunt impact injuries on May 11, 2023.
  • Calvin Darrell Denson Jr., 31, stabbed in the chest during a seven-inmate fight on April 26, 2023.
  • Anthony Joseph Zino III, 71, strangled to death and discovered days later, his body badly decomposed, on April 5, 2023.
  • Hiwatha Abdulcah Hakeem Jr., 26, stabbed multiple times by four other prisoners on April 12, 2021; his family later sued, alleging attackers had a known history of violence and that prison officials failed to provide timely medical care.
  • Desmond Hill, 35, strangled on April 9, 2021, a day after calling his mother to say his cellmate had threatened to kill him.
  • In 2020, a prisoner was tied up, beaten, waterboarded, and sexually assaulted by his cellmate; when hospitalized, bars of soap that had apparently been used in the sexual assault fell out of his body.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented that 2023 set a statewide record of 37 prison homicides, and Smith was a significant contributor. Statewide, GPS has independently tracked 1,847 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.

Staffing Collapse and Its Consequences

Smith State Prison is one of the most understaffed facilities in the entire correctional system. In January 2024, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that two-thirds of correctional officer positions were unfilled—just 53 officers for a facility designed to have 160. This chronic shortage left single officers responsible for hundreds of incarcerated people, a condition that former Smith officer Andrew Phillips described to The Marshall Project as “too brutal, too disgusting.” Phillips was once the sole officer assigned to an area housing 600 men. He endured a mass mattress fire with no functioning extinguishers, inmates throwing feces and urine, and an 11-day stretch of consecutive shifts before being called to escort a stabbing victim to the hospital. He resigned permanently in February 2023.

The shortage made basic monitoring impossible. In April 2023, the body of Anthony Zino went unnoticed for days before guards found it decomposing. In 2021, Justin Wilkerson was strangled to death despite his mother’s testimony to the Georgia Legislature about his mental health diagnoses and prior attacks. Guards working alone have watched fatal assaults without immediately intervening, according to an investigation by the AJC.

Food, Sanitation, and Systemic Neglect

The Georgia Department of Public Health’s food-safety inspections reveal a declining environment. Smith received scores of 84 (B) in June 2023, 82 (B) in January 2024, 85 (B) in June 2025, and then plummeted to 72 (C) in February 2026, with nine violations including improper cold holding temperatures, lack of thermometers, and labeling failures. A score below 70 is considered failing.

Statewide, GPS has documented that GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food—less than sixty cents per meal—against an FDA-recommended Thrifty Food Plan of roughly $10 per day for an adult man. The investigative report “Dunked, Stacked, and Served” further found that tray-sanitizing dishwashers are routinely broken, roaches and rodents infest kitchens, and meals are served on visibly contaminated trays—failures that DPH inspections scheduled during walkthroughs often fail to capture.

Systemwide Lockdown: April 2026 Gang Violence

On April 1, 2026, a gang-related altercation inside Smith State Prison left two inmates critically wounded and airlifted to local hospitals. The Georgia Department of Corrections immediately placed every state prison on lockdown “out of an abundance of caution.” The incident, confined to a single dorm at Smith, was violent enough to trigger a systemwide security alert. GPS has since received multiple anonymous tips warning of coordinated gang retaliation against staff at the facility, and internal intelligence records indicate a cluster of inmate-on-staff assault reports in the months that followed.

Legal Reckoning and Settlements

The litigation surrounding Smith points to a deep institutional failure. In addition to the Kicklighter and Grace lawsuits, the state has paid out at least four major liability settlements tied to the prison: $1.45 million to the estate of Christopher Heath (2020), $450,000 to Julia Roberts (2023), $15,000 to Rufus Newberry (2018), and $75,000 to Ricardo Tavera Jaramillo (2014). These payouts—drawn from the Georgia Department of Administrative Services risk management settlement ledger—signal repeated, costly fatal and non-fatal incidents.

The Southern Center for Human Rights sued GDC in 2021 over poor prison conditions, and the U.S. Department of Justice has been scrutinizing Georgia’s prisons since September 2021. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that sexual assault is “rampant” and that GDC has lost control of its facilities. Smith State Prison—with its indicted warden, murdered staff, gun violence, and mounting death count—has become the case study for that finding.

Sources: This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Georgia Virtue, The Marshall Project, Georgia Public Broadcasting, WTOC, and In These Times; federal and state court filings; Georgia Department of Public Health inspection records; settlement data obtained through open records; GPS’s own investigative coverage, mortality database, and intelligence system; and aggregate signals drawn from multiple confidential sources.

Recent reports (62)

Source-attributed observations and allegations from news coverage and reports submitted to GPS. Each entry credits its source.

  • ALLEGATION According to The Georgia Virtue Published: Jun 22, 2026
    Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise within the prison that led to Kicklighter's murder.
    "The lawsuit, filed by the family of Bobby C. Kicklighter, alleges that Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise operating from within the prison, which led to Kicklighter's murder in a botched murder-for-hire scheme in 2021."
    Read source →
  • ALLEGATION According to The Georgia Virtue Published: Jun 22, 2026
    Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise within the prison that led to Kicklighter's murder.
    "The lawsuit, filed by the family of Bobby C. Kicklighter, alleges that Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise operating from within the prison, which led to Kicklighter's murder in a botched murder-for-hire scheme in 2021."
    Read source →
  • ALLEGATION According to WTOC Published: May 1, 2025
    A former employee sexually assaulted a corrections employee.
    "A former employee of Smith State Prison in Georgia has been charged with sexual assault involving a corrections employee."
    Read source →
  • ALLEGATION According to The Georgia Virtue Published: May 13, 2026
    Adams allegedly participated in a RICO organization (Yves Saint Laurent Squad) and accepted currency bribes through a pattern of racketeering associated with the enterprise run by inmate Nathan Weekes.
    "They also contended that Adams participated in a RICO organization, being Yves Saint Laurent Squad run by then-Smith State Prison inmate Nathan Weekes, and he committed the offenses of Bribery and False Statements and Writings in furtherance of the RICO organization. Adams, they said, was bribed when he accepted currency through a pattern of racketeering associated with the RICO enterprise."
    Read source →
  • ALLEGATION According to The Georgia Virtue Published: May 13, 2026
    Agents alleged that Adams provided false statements in an April 13, 2022 interview when he stated he had not been solicited or bribed by a GDC inmate in the past 10 years.
    "Agents alleged that Adams provided false statements in an April 13, 2022 interview when he stated he has not been solicited or bribed by a Georgia Department of Corrections inmate in the past 10 years."
    Read source →

Timeline (136)

June 22, 2026 (approx.)
Georgia Court of Appeals declines appeal other
The Georgia Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal from Brian Adams and Ireon Moore, citing lack of jurisdiction due to the use of an incorrect appellate procedure after the new direct-appeal statute took effect.
Source: The Georgia Virtue
June 22, 2026
Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise within the prison that led to Kicklighter's murder. report
June 22, 2026
Adams and Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise within the prison that led to Kicklighter's murder. report
May 13, 2026
Tattnall County Grand Jury Indicts Former Smith State Prison Warden arrest
A Tattnall County grand jury indicted a former warden from Smith State Prison on Tuesday.
Source: The Georgia Virtue
May 13, 2026 (approx.)
Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Brian Adams and Ireon Moore in Tattnall County State Court lawsuit
A lawsuit filed in Tattnall County State Court seeks damages from former Warden Brian Adams and former Corrections Officer Ireon Moore, alleging they allowed contraband including cell phones, narcotics, and weapons, and facilitated a criminal conspiracy to kill a non-complicit…
Source: Unknown source
May 13, 2026
Adams allegedly participated in a RICO organization (Yves Saint Laurent Squad) and accepted currency bribes through a pattern of racketeering associated with the enterprise run by inmate Nathan Weekes. report
May 13, 2026
Agents alleged that Adams provided false statements in an April 13, 2022 interview when he stated he had not been solicited or bribed by a GDC inmate in the past 10 years. report
May 13, 2026
The civil suit alleges Adams should have noticed contraband including cell phones, narcotics, weapons, designer brand clothing, jewelry, and tobacco at Smith State Prison. report

Source Articles (39)

The Game They Learned: How GDC's Closed Promotion Pipeline Made Its Own Wardens — and Its Own Indictments
May 16, 2026
El juego que aprendieron: Cómo el sistema cerrado de promoción del GDC creó a sus propios directores — y sus propias acusaciones
May 16, 2026
Dunked, Stacked, and Served: Why Georgia Prison Trays Are Making People Sick
Apr 10, 2026
The Man Who Turned On the Heat
Apr 6, 2026
GDC prisons locked down statewide after multiple inmates injured in 'gang-related' fights - WGXA
Google News - GDC · Apr 3, 2026

Former leadership

Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.

RoleNameTenureDeaths
this facility / career
WARDEN 3 (facility lead) Beasley, Jacob2023-01-01 → 2024-12-3117 / 55
Warden (facility lead) Adams, Brian2019-10-01 → 2023-02-0817 / 17
CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT (facility lead) Todd, Curtis J2025-01-01 → 2025-01-31— / 1
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) McFarlane, Andrew M2019-01-01 → 2022-12-3117 / 50
Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) Henderson, Marcus2019-01-01 → 2023-01-0117 / 17
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) COX, Eric2021-01-01 → 2021-12-317 / 51
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Epperson, Alicia2022-01-01 → 2022-12-315 / 5
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Brown, Vashti J2019-01-01 → 2020-12-315 / 5
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Smith, Tarmarshe A2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31— / 36

View full GDC Leadership Accountability page →

Location

9676 Hwy 301 North, Glennville, GA 30427 31.97303, -81.91568

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Aerial View

Aerial view of SMITH STATE PRISON

Architecture documents what the building was designed to hold. See the system-wide receipts at gps.press/warehouse.

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