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SMITH STATE PRISON

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

Facility Information

Original Design Capacity
500 (at 215% capacity)
Bed Capacity
1,526 beds
Current Population
1,073
Active Lifers
288 (26.8% of population) · Oct 2026 GDC report
Life Without Parole
195 (18.2%)
Why design capacity matters: Adding beds to a prison does not increase medical facilities, educational programs, kitchen capacity, counseling services, or recreation areas. In Brown v. Plata (2011), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an order capping California's prisons at 137.5% of design capacity, after federal courts found that crowding was the primary cause of unconstitutional medical and mental-health care.
What the courts held in Brown v. Plata, and how Georgia compares →
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)

Security Classification

Last updated: October 2, 2026

945 of the 1,066 people held here are classified Close security (88.6%), as of September 23, 2026.

Security levelPeopleShare
Close94588.6%
Medium11410.7%
Minimum60.6%
High10.1%
Total1,066

Earlier count (undated table, produced October 22, 2025): 1,002 of 1,125 Close (89.1%).

Restrictive housing beds

ProgramBedsOccupied
Tier II11189
STEP2014

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.

RoleNameSinceDeaths
this facility / career
Warden (facility lead) Mims, Charles Michael2025-07-164 / 46
Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (facility deputy) Warren, Willesha2022-01-0123 / 23
Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) Carver, Keenan2024-01-017 / 7
Deputy Warden of Administration (facility deputy) Kennedy, Ashley L2024-01-017 / 7
Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) Edwards, Brianna2026-07-01— / —

About

Last updated November 8, 2026.(DS)

Smith State Prison: Deaths, Contraband, and the Collapse of a Close-Security Compound

Smith State Prison sits on Highway 301 North outside Glennville in Tattnall County, a close-security men's facility that opened in 1993 and was originally designed to hold 500 people. It now carries a rated capacity of 1,526 and, per GPS's facility records, a population of 1,073 — roughly 70 percent of rated capacity, with 88.6 percent of the people held there classified close custody. The plant combines cellblocks and dormitories with extensive segregation and special-management housing, including the state's Tier Segregation System: 111 Tier II beds (89 occupied) and 20 Tier III beds (14 occupied). It also hosts a residential substance-abuse and transitional program via a nearby center. The warden is Charles Michael Mims, who has held the post since July 2025; his deputies are Keenan Carver (Security), Willesha Warren (Care and Treatment), Brianna Edwards (Security), and Ashley L. Kennedy (Administration).

What follows is the record of what has happened inside those walls: a mortality count that runs to 38 deaths since January 1, 2020, a former warden under indictment, a gun that killed a civilian kitchen worker, and a staffing picture that outside investigators and former officers describe in the same terms.

Thirty-Eight Deaths, Eighteen of Them Homicides

GPS's mortality registry records 38 deaths at Smith State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a figure that is a floor, not a ceiling, because GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Of those, 18 are classified as homicides, 8 as suicides, 5 as unknown or pending, 3 as natural or medical, 2 as overdoses, and 2 as medical neglect.

The most recent deaths GPS has recorded include Dreeonnie Lee Hart, who died May 14, 2026, at Smith State Prison at age 25; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Dwayne Eric Albritton died March 12, 2026, at Smith State Prison at 65; the registry lists Medical Neglect. Nicholas Shafer died February 8, 2026, at Smith State Prison at 24; the registry lists Homicide. John Jacobs died October 25, 2025, at Smith State Prison at 77; the registry lists Natural/Medical.

Before them: Calvin Bernard Craft died December 14, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 34 (Unknown/Pending); Orlando Jordan died September 13, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 36 (Unknown/Pending); Richard Jermine Williams died September 7, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 43 (Overdose); Jaydrekus Cartez Hart died June 16, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 34 (Suicide); Gineli Antoine Gray died February 9, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 31 (Unknown/Pending); Donquerius Lamonte Mahone died February 4, 2024, at Smith State Prison at 37 (Homicide).

In 2023: James Adams died November 8 at 72 (Homicide); Lawrence Leon Woods died October 18 at 34 (Medical Neglect); Walter Russell Wright died September 26 at 64 (Natural/Medical); Quenton George Mayo died August 14 at 30 (Homicide); Justin Tyler Smith died July 28 at 37 (Homicide); Austin Jacob Witte died July 17 at 33 (Suicide); Shaquan Jahrel Boykins died May 11 at 31 (Homicide); Calvin Darrell Denson died April 26 at 31 (Homicide); Anthony Joseph Zino died April 5 at 71 (Homicide); Boris Ignacio Mejia died March 18 at 29 (Suicide); Randy Wynn died March 1 at 54 (Homicide).

In 2022: Juan Miguel Orduna died October 25 at 39 (Suicide); Nathan Michael Mahan died October 23 at 37 (Homicide); Manuel Villagomez died September 16 at 24 (Suicide); Jerome Tisdol died May 28 at 67 (Unknown/Pending).

The full registry, including the deaths from 2020 and 2021, is published at GPS's facility death list. For context on scale: GPS has independently tracked 1,928 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020.

What the Autopsies and Death Certificates Actually Say

The documentary record behind those deaths is unusually specific, and it does not always match the department's own coding.

Joseph Franklin Norris, 55, died February 12, 2020. The GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy, authored by Regional Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue at the Coastal Regional Lab in Pooler, certified the cause as hanging and the manner as suicide. The report describes Norris as the lone occupant of a single lockdown strip cell, placed there on February 7, 2020, attributed to drug use, and last known alive on February 11 at 2300 hours. At 0515 the next morning officers found him suspended from his pants, fashioned into a ligature affixed to the top rail of the bunk, having kneeled into the loop. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the coroner at 0700. The autopsy documented petechial hemorrhages of both sclerae, a slanting horizontal abrasion on the anterior neck, and multiple abrasions and bruises over the extremities and back; it also noted moderate coronary atherosclerosis with 50 percent occlusion of two arteries. Toxicology found methamphetamine at 0.30 mg/L. No note of intent was found. A GDC CID agent saw no suspicion of foul play.

Jerome Tisdol, 67, died May 28, 2022 — and no autopsy was performed. A GBI DOFS report dated May 31, 2022, signed by Edmund Donoghue, states: "This case has been reviewed by the medical examiner. Based on the information provided at this time, an examination by this office is not necessary." No cause and no manner of death is certified in that production.

Nicholas Shafer, 24, died February 8, 2026. The Georgia death certificate, certified by Tattnall County Coroner Herbert T. Brown on March 25, 2026, and filed May 22, 2026, lists the manner as homicide and the Part I cause as "Blunt head trauma and asphyxia," with the injury recorded as occurring that day at Smith State Prison and described as "Assaulted by another inmate." He was pronounced dead at 11:03 AM. GPS received a non-legal copy of the certificate from Coroner Brown on October 5, 2026, and upgraded its cause-of-death source from prisoner report to county coroner.

Justin Tyler Smith, 37, died July 28, 2023, in the emergency room at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah. The death certificate, certified by Coroner Bradley B. Anderson on August 25, 2023, lists the manner as homicide and the cause as epidural hematoma due to blunt force injury of the head, with the injury occurring July 27, 2023, at Smith State Prison, described as "Punched and fell to the ground, striking head."

Quenton George Mayo, 30, died August 14, 2023, at Smith State Prison and was pronounced at 14:56. The death certificate (State File 2023GA000062796), certified by Coroner Anderson on September 11, 2023, lists the manner as homicide and the cause as "Stab wounds of neck," the injury recorded at 14:29 and described as "Stabbed by other(s)."

John Jacobs, 77, died October 25, 2025, at East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro. The Tattnall County coroner record (case 2025-084), prepared by Deputy Coroner Daniel Bennett, certifies cardiorespiratory arrest due to sepsis with multiorgan failure, arising from recurrent intra-abdominal abscesses following duodenal perforation and surgical repair, with peptic ulcer disease as the underlying condition; the manner is natural. Jacobs had been admitted October 20 with worsening abdominal pain, confusion, and rectal bleeding, following abdominal surgeries in September 2025. Pronouncement came after five cardiopulmonary arrests, 10 minutes of ACLS, and three doses of epinephrine. No autopsy was performed; the GBI medical examiner declined based on available clinical information. The record documents that Coroner Anderson took initial notification and released the body without informing Deputy Coroner Bennett, who later learned of the death from a GBI ME contact while working another case, then subpoenaed the full hospital chart and refused to rely solely on GDC's internal investigation. Bennett stated on the record that in his professional opinion any death in GDC custody warrants independent third-party review of all records for transparency and to preserve public confidence and family trust.

Other autopsy findings in the record: Manuel Villagomez, 24, died September 16, 2022 — hanging, suicide (DOFS case 2022-6005485). Juan Miguel Orduna, 39, died October 25, 2022 — hanging, suicide (case 2022-6006390), resolving a prior unknown/pending classification. Boris Ignacio Mejia, 29, died March 18, 2023 — hanging, suicide. Michael Lee Canty, 35, died March 20, 2021 — hanging, suicide. Christopher Darnell Heath, 43, died December 11, 2020 — hanging, suicide. Lawrence Leon Woods, 34, died October 18, 2023 — acute peritonitis due to probable perforated gastric peptic ulcer, manner accident (case 2023-6006392). Richard Jermine Williams, 43, died September 7, 2024, at 17:32 — toxic effects of MDMB-4en-PINACA, manner accident (case 2024-6005477). One DOFS report (R000401-071026) lists cause of death as methamphetamine and synthetic cannabinoid toxicity complicating coronary atherosclerosis, manner accident (case 2022-6002829); another lists cardiac dysrhythmia with cardiomegaly and hypertension as contributing conditions, manner natural (case 2023-6005982).

The Gun in the Kitchen: June 16, 2024

The event that drew national attention to Smith State Prison happened in the kitchen at roughly 4:30 a.m. on June 16, 2024. Jaydrekus Hart, an incarcerated man, shot and killed 24-year-old Aureon Shavea Grace, an Aramark food service employee, then turned the gun on himself. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the shooting; Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that investigators allege someone used a drone to smuggle in the firearm. GDC put all of its prisons on lockdown and cancelled visitations; roads into the facility were closed and officers in tactical gear were stationed at the entrance. Corrections officials said a personal relationship existed between the two and called it an isolated incident.

Nearly two years later, testimony in Tattnall County Superior Court described something considerably larger. GDC CID Special Agent Justin Fountain testified that a gun was inside Smith State Prison for a year before the murder-suicide. He testified that a woman known to CID for about two years facilitated the gun with at least three others, that she was involved with an inmate, and that CID traced her involvement through contraband phones seized from that inmate between 2020 and 2024. The package containing the gun, he said, was thrown over the fence between June 30 and July 10, 2023, and contained tobacco, clothing, and suspected drugs. The coordinating inmate — serving life — sent photos of the gun on a contraband phone as early as January 1, 2024, and the gun was smuggled to organize an escape. When the coordinator and a second inmate went to segregation for contraband, they entrusted Jaydrekus Hart and another inmate to keep the gun moving. Fountain testified that GDC, CID, and police knew about the gun's existence on June 13, 2024 — three days before the shooting.

Deshonda Hagins, Grace's mother, filed a wrongful-death suit against GDC in Fulton County State Court demanding a jury trial. The complaint alleges that warnings about the gun came from inmates and were provided directly to multiple GDC officials, including during official investigations, and that no lockdown, extensive search, or protective measures were taken afterward. Attorney Brent Savage stated there were no guards in the area when Grace was shot. Hagins alleges Hart was not authorized to be in the kitchen, was favored by GDC staff, and was permitted to violate rules with impunity. GDC accused Grace of helping Hart get the gun inside; her family denies it, asserting the gun was present before she started work — she was hired in January 2024. Hagins learned of her daughter's death from inmates posting on contraband phones. She is raising Grace's two children.

A Warden Indicted: The Saint Laurent Squad

Brian Adams, the warden who preceded Jacob Beasley, was arrested in February 2023 and bonded out of the Tattnall County Jail on February 9, 2023, on charges including bribery, criminal attempt — Georgia RICO Act, false statements and writings, and concealment of facts. On May 12, 2026, a Tattnall County grand jury returned a true bill against Adams on six felony counts: violation of RICO, making false statements, two counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of violation of oath by a public officer. The case was presented by the Georgia Attorney General's Office before a special call-back grand jury after 39 months. The Georgia Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal from Adams and former officer Ireon Moore, citing lack of jurisdiction due to an incorrect appellate procedure after a new direct-appeal statute took effect.

Prosecutors allege Adams took bribes from the Yves Saint Laurent Squad gang to allow contraband into Smith State Prison and to move the gang's leader out of solitary confinement. The AJC reported that Adams is alleged to have received U.S. currency through a pattern of racketeering activity associated with the Saint Laurent Squad scheme, and that GBI agents alleged he provided false statements in an April 13, 2022 interview when he said he had not been solicited or bribed by a GDC inmate in the past 10 years. The Georgia Virtue reported that Adams allegedly participated in a RICO organization associated with the enterprise run by inmate Nathan Weekes.

Weekes is at the center of a second cluster. The AJC reported that Weekes, an inmate at Smith State Prison, is accused of orchestrating the murder of 88-year-old Bobby Kicklighter and ordering two other murders from inside the prison using a contraband cell phone. Kicklighter was shot to death in his bed in the middle of the night in Glennville in 2021 in what investigators determined was a case of mistaken identity — Weekes allegedly ordered a hit on a correctional officer who had lived next door. Weekes and his associates have been charged with three murders related to the contraband operation. A wrongful-death suit filed by Kicklighter's family alleges that Adams and former officer Ireon Moore facilitated a criminal enterprise that led to his murder in a botched murder-for-hire scheme; the suit alleges Moore was paid to participate, with financial arrangements carried out through text message, and that Adams should have noticed contraband including cell phones, narcotics, weapons, designer brand clothing, jewelry, and tobacco. The Georgia Virtue reported that Adams remained as warden even after GDC learned of at least two murders alleged to have been orchestrated from behind the walls, some eighteen months before his eventual termination.

The contraband economy at Smith has also drawn in civilians. Court documents cited by The Georgia Virtue allege that on August 22, 2026, Jennifer Lynn Thrasher carried four bundles of methamphetamine into Smith State Prison; she is accused of smuggling methamphetamine for her incarcerated husband over a three-year period. The Atlantic Circuit District Attorney's Office filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $115,710.36 from her.

The AJC's broader accounting: 425 GDC employees arrested for on-the-job crimes since 2018, with many escaping prison time and some never prosecuted; during a year-long stretch ending in June 2024, the department arrested 69 staff members, 204 inmates, and 554 civilians and tallied over 430 reports of drones. The AJC also reported that GDC does not research the credit or financial histories of applicants, unlike the federal system. GPS's own analysis of contraband reports ranks Smith State Prison among the facilities whose reports most often name GDC's own staff — 20 staff-class people across 105 incidents, behind Dooly, Calhoun, Wilcox, Valdosta, and Telfair.

Two-Thirds Vacant: Staffing at Smith

The staffing picture is the thread that runs through nearly everything above. The AJC reported in January 2025 that two-thirds of correctional officer positions at Smith State Prison were unfilled, leaving only 53 officers at a facility designed for 160. The Marshall Project, in a January 2024 account, described officer Andrew Phillips as the sole officer assigned to an area housing 600 men, with no functioning fire extinguishers, when inmates set mattresses on fire; Phillips worked 11 consecutive days before being called to escort a stabbing victim to the hospital. He resigned from Smith but was convinced to stay in another position for a few months before leaving permanently in February 2023.

A former corrections officer told the AJC that the prison's back gate, used to bring in supplies, lacks a metal detector. In a November 2025 YouTube interview, Tyler Ryals — a former GDC CERT commander — said that at Smith State Prison an inmate was moving around the compound with a pistol. In an October 11, 2026 Facebook post, Ryals wrote that Correctional Officer Robert Clark was escorting inmates around Smith State Prison alone when he was stabbed, that "there wasn't a single officer nearby to help Mr. Clark as he was being stabbed," and that another inmate who tried to intervene was stabbed in the process. Clark, 42, died October 1, 2023, of multiple stab wounds after being attacked by an inmate. Ryals wrote that Smith State Prison "was allowed to continue 'operating' with a fraction of the staff required to secure the prison," and that a few months later a civilian kitchen worker was shot dead inside the same facility.

Rauf Latham, who was incarcerated in GDC for over 12 years, said in a July 2026 YouTube interview with Ryals that his first experience of staffing problems came in 2010-2011 at Smith State Prison, when Warden Stanley Williams arrived, shook up the atmosphere, and caused a number of officers to quit — and that sergeants and lieutenants, including a Lieutenant McFarland he says is now a warden, had to work the dormitories.

GPS's systemic reporting places this in a wider frame: officer vacancies across Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3 and 60 percent systemwide for multiple years against a national standard of no more than 10 percent, the hiring pipeline cannot close the gap, and Georgia ranks 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.

Violence, Classification Drift, and the Record of Assaults

The homicide count is not abstract. Hiwatha Abdulcah Hakeem Jr., 26, died April 12, 2021, of multiple stab wounds; an incident report shows four other prisoners were involved, and a lawsuit alleges the attackers had a history of violence and that officials failed to provide timely medical care. Desmond Hill, 35, died April 9, 2021, of strangulation; a family member reported he had called his mother the day before saying his cellmate threatened to kill him. Justin Nathaniel Wilkerson, 25, died January 5, 2021, of asphyxia due to neck compression; his mother testified at a Georgia Legislature hearing about his mental health diagnoses and prior prison attacks. Anthony Joseph Zino III, 71, died April 5, 2023, of asphyxia due to neck compression — the local coroner noted the body was badly decomposed and he had likely been dead for days. Christopher Michael Redwine, 45, died September 27, 2021, of asphyxia due to manual strangulation. Christopher Ray Reynolds, 38, died July 1, 2021, of blunt and sharp force injuries to the head and neck. Derrick Dionte Deshun Harvey, 26, died June 25, 2021, of a stab wound to the chest. John Bretleir Reyes Cardona, 24, died April 20, 2020, of exsanguination due to a stab wound to the neck. Taylor Harrison Brooks, 26, died April 10, 2020, of multiple stab wounds. Nathan Michael Mahan, 37, died October 23, 2022, of stab wounds. Calvin Darrell Denson Jr., 31, died April 26, 2023, of a stab wound to the chest; GDC said seven inmates were involved in a fight. Shaquan Jahrel Boykins, 31, died May 11, 2023, of blunt impact injuries to the head. James Adams Jr., 72, died November 8, 2023, of blunt force trauma to the head and neck. Donquerius Lamonte Mahone, 37, died February 3, 2024, from homicide. Randy O'Neal Wynn, 54, died March 2, 2023, from homicide, with the death certificate listing the investigation as pending.

The AJC's 2020 reporting described a Smith State Prison case in which 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 assault fell out of his body. GPS's systemic reporting on sexual violence cites that 2020 Smith case among documented clusters, alongside the DOJ's October 2024 conclusion that sexual assault in GDC facilities is "rampant" and that of 456 sexual-abuse allegations recorded in 2022, only 35 were substantiated.

Classification is part of the mechanism. GDC's own data show Smith State Prison at 88.6 percent close custody. GPS has documented classification drift across Georgia's medium- and close-security prisons — facilities operating at higher security levels than designated, without the staffing or infrastructure to match. The facility profile describes Smith as designed for some of Georgia's highest-custody prisoners, with extensive segregation and special-management housing; the Tier II occupancy figure of 80.18 percent and Tier III of 70.00 percent are the department's own numbers.

GPS records show, over the past twelve months, 10 assault-by-inmate signals at critical or moderate severity, 8 staffing-shortage reports, 7 family-safety concerns, 6 death-in-custody reports, and 12 staff-misconduct allegations naming an individual — a body of reports that tracks the documented record rather than departing from it.

Food, Sanitation, and the Kitchen That Keeps Failing Inspection

The kitchen where Aureon Grace was killed has its own record. Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections at Smith State Prison scored 83 (Grade B) on August 12, 2026, with four violations including proper cold holding temperatures and contamination prevention during preparation and storage; 72 (Grade C) on February 16, 2026, with nine violations; 85 (Grade B) on June 27, 2025, with six; 82 (Grade B) on January 19, 2024, with six; and 84 (Grade B) on June 29, 2023, with six. The February 2026 Grade C is the outlier and the lowest in the series.

Aramark assumed responsibility for food service operations at Smith State Prison effective October 1, 2023, under the Correctional Food Service contract — a date moved from September 1, 2023 by Amendment 5. GPS has documented a systemic pattern in which DPH scores fail to capture food-service sanitation failure, because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. GPS's systemic reporting also notes that 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 an FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for an adult man's nutritionally adequate diet.

Medical and Mental Health Staffing by Contract

Centurion's proposed staffing matrix for Smith State Prison totals 784 weekly hours (19.60 FTE), including a Medical Director at 248 weekly hours (6.20 FTE), an NP/PA at 72 hours (1.80 FTE), and an RN at 96 hours (2.40 FTE). MHM's matrix allocates 3.65 mental health FTEs at 146 hours per week for an annual cost of $409,549 — 0.25 FTE Psychologist, 1.00 FTE MH Unit Manager, 2.00 FTE Mental Health Counselors, and 0.40 FTE Psychiatrist — and 3.00 dental FTEs at 120 hours per week for $425,617. Three positions carry rate cards but no allocated FTE or cost: an MH Nurse Practitioner, an Activity Therapist, and a Floating Dentist.

Against a population of 1,073, those are the contract's own numbers. GPS's registry records two deaths at Smith classified as Medical Neglect — Lawrence Leon Woods in October 2023 and Dwayne Eric Albritton in March 2026 — and two more as Natural/Medical.

Settlements, Suits, and the Cost of the Record

Georgia's DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records payouts tied to Smith State Prison: $1,450,000 in the Christopher Heath matter (2020), $450,000 in the Julia Roberts matter (2023), $75,000 in the Ricardo Tavera Jaramillo matter (2014), $15,000 in the Rufus Newberry matter (2018), and $3,472 in the Micki Antonio Brown matter (2022).

Beyond the Hagins and Kicklighter suits, a Tattnall County State Court action seeks damages from former Warden Brian Adams and former officer Ireon Moore, alleging they allowed contraband including cell phones, narcotics, and weapons and facilitated a criminal conspiracy to kill a non-complicit correctional officer. The Southern Center for Human Rights sued GDC over prison conditions in 2021, as reported by The Marshall Project. GPS records show three lawsuit-filed signals concentrated in May 2026, and three external complaints filed to oversight bodies in October 2026.

A Facility Under Pressure

On April 1, 2026, an altercation at Smith State Prison — officials believe it was gang-related — sent two inmates to local hospitals by airlift. The altercation was contained to one dorm, and GDC placed all of its facilities on lockdown out of an abundance of caution until further notice. WTOC reported the system-wide lockdown. GPS records show assault-by-inmate signals clustering in April and June 2026 at critical severity, and staffing-shortage reports clustering in October 2026.

In 2023, seven shakedowns inside Smith State Prison yielded 1,509 weapons, 694 cell phones, 854 phone chargers, 7.55 kilos of marijuana, and 12.53 kilos of tobacco. The same year, Georgia set a record for prison homicides with 37 deaths, including the killing of a correctional officer at Smith. In fiscal year 2023, department records show 40 homicides and 38 suicides across Georgia state prisons.

GPS has received accounts of use-of-force and in-custody-death allegations at Smith State Prison, and recurring reports of gang-coordinated retaliation against staff. These are registered as reports, not findings.

The people held at Smith State Prison have described it in their own words. In a Tell My Story account published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak, an author writing as Forever19 — who spent seven years at Smith and Hays — describes arriving at Smith after three years at Telfair and being coerced into a sexual relationship by an older prisoner: "I felt like if I didn't do it, I would've gotten hurt. I've never told anyone this before." He describes Smith as "a place that bred violence. Still is, I imagine. It was understaffed back in the early '90s, so I can only guess how bad it is now." In another Tell My Story account, an author writing as Jacs describes a unit manager named Jacob Beasley — later warden of Smith State Prison, now warden at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — who, when told the heat was on in the tier cells in July, said he knew and had turned it on on purpose.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting, WTOC, The Georgia Virtue, The Marshall Project, and In These Times; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; Georgia Department of Corrections purchase orders, contract amendments, staffing matrices, and Tier Segregation System data; GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports and Georgia death certificates obtained through open-records production and county coroner requests; Tattnall County coroner records; the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger; federal and state court filings, including the Hagins wrongful-death action and the Kicklighter wrongful-death action; on-record testimony in Tattnall County Superior Court and public statements by former GDC personnel; Tell My Story narratives published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak; and GPS's mortality registry, facility records, and intelligence signals.

Mortality Statistics

38 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.

Deaths by Year

  • 2026: 3
  • 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: 83 (Aug 12, 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
Aug 12, 202683Routine
Feb 16, 202672Routine
Jun 27, 202585Routine
Jan 19, 202482Routine
Jun 29, 202384Routine

Recent reports (66)

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: Oct 26, 2026
    Jennifer Lynn Thrasher is accused of smuggling methamphetamine into Smith State Prison for her incarcerated husband over a three-year period.
    "The Atlantic Circuit District Attorney's Office has filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $115,710.36 from Jennifer Lynn Thrasher, 50, of Macon, who is accused of smuggling methamphetamine into Smith State Prison for her incarcerated husband, Jamaine Thrasher, according to the article."
    Read source →
  • ALLEGATION According to The Georgia Virtue Published: Oct 26, 2026
    Court documents allege that on August 22, 2026, Jennifer Lynn Thrasher carried four bundles of methamphetamine into Smith State Prison.
    "Court documents cited in the report allege that on August 22, 2026, she carried four bundles of methamphetamine into…"
    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 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 →

Timeline (143)

November 2, 2026
Shawan Wyatt commented on Facebook on November 2, 2026: "Richie Henslee Bailey praying for you all my son was found dead at Washington state prison on January 9 2026 which started the riot on the 11th that the warden is still trying to cover up he was getting out March 24 2026 after serving 10 years they got him 2 months shy of DAJHMERE LADAVEON HALL WAS HIS NAME IM TORN AND I CONSTANTLY PRAY FOR US ALL My sons father was murdered at Smith state prison 3 years ago Author Wimbush and my son told us if anything happened to him at Washington do not trust anything the warden said I believe it was tied to his fathers death they were both 2 months shy of coming home I will keep us all in prayer" report
October 27, 2026
Civil forfeiture complaint seeking $115,710.36 from Jennifer Lynn Thrasher lawsuit $115,710
The Atlantic Circuit District Attorney's Office filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $115,710.36 from Jennifer Lynn Thrasher, who is accused of smuggling methamphetamine into Smith State Prison for her incarcerated husband.
October 26, 2026
Jennifer Lynn Thrasher is accused of smuggling methamphetamine into Smith State Prison for her incarcerated husband over a three-year period. report
October 26, 2026
Court documents allege that on August 22, 2026, Jennifer Lynn Thrasher carried four bundles of methamphetamine into Smith State Prison. report
October 11, 2026
Tyler Ryals, a former GDC officer, wrote on Facebook on October 11, 2026: "Let's not forget that this happened while he was escorting inmates around Smith State Prison ALONE (purported to be "Close Security"). There wasn't a single officer nearby to help Mr. Clark as he was being stabbed. From what I was told at the time, One of the other inmates actually stepped in trying to stop the attacker and was stabbed in the process. Sadly, Officer Clark had already been fatally injured. RIP. I was still working for GDC when this happened, and I was present at Officer Clark's funeral. I was thinking that GDC would do something to adress their collapsed/gang controlled prisons after this, but I thought wrong. Smith State Prison was allowed to continue "operating" with a fraction of the staff required to secure the prison. A few months later... a civilian kitchen worker was shot dead (with a pistol) by an inmate inside Smith State Prison. After he shot her he turned the gun on himself. Still... nothing. Over 1,880 inmate deaths in custody since 2020. Inmates being victimized, extorted, and tortured daily. Family members being extorted by inmates inside. Civilians being scammed by inmates forced to do online scamming all day to "pay rent" to the gangs. Officers being harmed regularly, including several female officers who've been assaulted while working the lockdown unit ALONE at male prisons (something that never would have happened even 10 years ago). One female officer was stabbed in the neck and had to be lifeflighted to the hospital from Johnson State Prison in 2021 (working a lockdown unit alone without a booth officer). More recently, a female officer was stabbed at Telfair State Prison this year while WORKING A LOCKDOWN POST ALONE. If you're an Officer, Inmate, or civilian in Georgia... The GDC is deliberately indifferent to you're safety and welfare. They refuse to change course, call for aid, and secure the prisons... despite the immense suffering that is caused by allowing this crisis to continue. Prison staff, inmates, and civilians of Georgia The GDC doesn't care about any of y'all. #NeverForget @highlight" report
September 11, 2026 (approx.)
Inmate Kelvin Rogers sentenced to 96 months other $500
Kelvin Rogers, an inmate at Smith State Prison, was sentenced to 96 months and a $500 fine.
Source: WGXA
August 22, 2026
Alleged smuggling of methamphetamine into Smith State Prison incident
Court documents cited in the report allege that on August 22, 2026, Jennifer Lynn Thrasher carried four bundles of methamphetamine into Smith State Prison.
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 Articles (40)

Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis
The Game They Learned: How GDC's Closed Promotion Pipeline Made Its Own Wardens — and Its Own Indictments
El juego que aprendieron: cómo el cerrado sistema de ascensos de GDC creó a sus propios carceleros, y sus propias acusaciones
Dunked, Stacked, and Served: Why Georgia Prison Trays Are Making People Sick
The Man Who Turned On the Heat

Former leadership

Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.

RoleNameTenureDeaths
this facility / career
Warden (facility lead) Adams, Brian Dennis2019-10-01 → 2023-02-0817 / 17
WARDEN 3 (facility lead) Beasley, Jacob2023-11-22 → 2024-12-316 / 48
CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT (facility lead) Todd, Curtis J2025-01-01 → 2025-01-31— / 1
Warden (facility lead) Mims, Charles2026-07-05 → present— / —
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) McFarlane, Andrew M2019-01-01 → 2022-12-3117 / 53
Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) Henderson, Marcus2019-01-01 → 2023-01-0117 / 17
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Foulks, Rodney2023-11-22 → 2025-12-317 / 7
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 / 12
DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) Smith, Tarmarshe A2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31— / 36
Clinical Chaplain (specialty lead) Hill, Bernard2023-11-22 → 2026-08-27— / —

View full GDC Leadership Accountability page →

Location

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

Aerial View

Aerial view of SMITH STATE PRISON

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

Aerial photo of SMITH STATE PRISON, March 9, 1983
March 9, 1983USGS aerial photo (NHAP NC1NHAP830049027)
Aerial photo of SMITH STATE PRISON, February 28, 1988
February 28, 1988USGS aerial photo (NAPP 658-203)
Aerial photo of SMITH STATE PRISON, February 1, 1993
February 1, 1993USGS aerial photo (NAPP 6543-263)
Aerial photo of SMITH STATE PRISON, February 13, 1999
February 13, 1999USGS aerial photo (NAPP 11170-099)
Aerial photo of SMITH STATE PRISON, Today
TodayEsri World Imagery

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.