TELFAIR STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 480 (at 246% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,400 beds
- Current Population
- 1,182
- Active Lifers
- 392 (33.2% of population) · Oct 2026 GDC report
- Life Without Parole
- 329 (27.8%)
What the courts held in Brown v. Plata, and how Georgia compares →
- Address
- 170 Longbridge Road, Helena, GA 31037
- Phone
- (229) 868-7721
- Fax
- (229) 868-6509
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 549, Helena, GA 31037
- County
- Telfair County
- Opened
- 1992
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
Security Classification
Last updated: October 2, 2026
1,042 of the 1,166 people held here are classified Close security (89.4%), as of September 23, 2026.
| Security level | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Close | 1,042 | 89.4% |
| Medium | 119 | 10.2% |
| Minimum | 5 | 0.4% |
| Total | 1,166 |
Earlier count (undated table, produced October 22, 2025): 1,163 of 1,273 Close (91.4%).
Restrictive housing beds
| Program | Beds | Occupied |
|---|---|---|
| Tier II | 117 | 117 |
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) | McFarlane, Andrew M | 2023-07-01 | 36 / 53 |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (facility deputy) | Keith, Tonja T | 2019-01-01 | 53 / 53 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Wilcox, Rickey W | 2023-11-22 | 28 / 28 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Foster, Denisha Gauze | 2025-01-16 | 21 / 21 |
| Deputy Warden of Administration (facility deputy) | Wooten, Darrell | 2026-07-16 | 1 / 1 |
About
Last updated October 25, 2026.(DS)
Telfair State Prison: Death, Depletion, and the Cage in the Sun
Telfair State Prison sits in McRae-Helena, in Telfair County, and opened in 1992 as a close-security prison for adult men. Its original design capacity was 480; its current rated capacity is 1,400, and GPS's facility records show a population of 1,182 — about 84 percent of rated capacity and roughly two and a half times what the plant was built to hold. The physical layout combines open-dorm housing with multiple double-bunked cell units and segregation and isolation cells for people the Department classifies as high-risk or hard to manage. Telfair is currently led by Warden Andrew M. McFarlane, who has held the post since July 2023; his deputies of record are Rickey W. Wilcox and Denisha Gauze Foster (Security), Tonja T. Keith (Care and Treatment), and Darrell Wooten (Administration). The facility's public record is dominated by four threads that this page takes in turn: a mortality count that runs to 59 people since January 2020, a staffing collapse documented in the state's own numbers and in the accounts of a former officer who worked the compound, a pattern of sanitation and hygiene failure that DPH food-safety scores do not capture, and a heat-exposure death that produced one of the largest liability payouts in the state's settlement ledger.
Fifty-Nine Deaths, Nineteen of Them Homicides
GPS's mortality registry records 59 deaths at Telfair State Prison since January 1, 2020. That figure is a floor, not a ceiling: GDC reports deaths to the public roughly two months late, so the count lags the actual toll. Of those 59, GPS's cause coding lists 19 as homicides, 15 as unknown or pending, nine as natural or medical, six as overdose, five as suicide, two as accidents, two as other, and one as medical neglect. The yearly distribution has not fallen: 11 deaths in 2020, three in 2021, five in 2022, eight in 2023, 11 in 2024, 14 in 2025, and seven already in 2026. For system-wide context, GPS has independently tracked 1,927 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.
The most recent 25 people in that registry, named here as GPS records them:
- Kwame Conte Mccombs died July 25, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 37.
- Antwane Shanfiel Robinson died July 13, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 46.
- Franciso Samuel Cruz-Castro died June 12, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 56.
- Timothy Wilson died June 7, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 48.
- Tavares Zavoyd Atwell died March 10, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 41.
- Eric Bernard Haynes died January 21, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Natural/Medical. He was 51.
- Kenneth George Hinton died January 2, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 41.
- Elvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco died December 29, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 38.
- Preston C. Phelps died December 13, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 28.
- Robert Baker died October 12, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Suicide. He was 45.
- Gary Chad Thomason died September 14, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 53.
- Robert Wayne Messer died September 11, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Overdose. He was 63.
- Henry L. Gadson died September 10, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 60.
- David Lane Campbell died July 22, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Overdose. He was 44.
- Malindzo Eddy Hatcher died July 21, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 42.
- Thaddeus Jovell Perry died July 17, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 50.
- Tony Morales Adame died June 26, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Overdose. He was 32.
- Lester James Smith died June 2, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 45.
- William Clinton Worley died April 12, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 49.
- Ezra Dangelo Ford died March 25, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 21.
- Deandre Moody died January 28, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide.
- Guillermo Nava died December 27, 2024, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. He was 33.
- Aaron Joshua Smith died December 19, 2024, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 32.
- Eric Leigh Whitehead died September 18, 2024, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 29.
- Henry Earl Crump died September 2, 2024, at Telfair State Prison; the cause is listed as Homicide. He was 41.
The full registry for the facility is published at https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/facility/telfair-state-prison/.
The Killings the Department Confirmed
The homicide count is not an abstraction. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's death tracking and GDC's own announcements together document a run of killings at Telfair stretching back years. Cedric La'Troy Johnson Sr., 35, died March 13, 2020, by strangulation. Aldrich Norval Cain, 26, died April 23, 2020, of multiple stab wounds, with an incident report naming four other incarcerated people as involved. Marcus Derrelle Pearson Jr., 28, died May 29, 2020, of multiple stab wounds, with two others involved. Luis Garcia Palacio, 41, died July 28, 2020, of blunt impact injuries to the head. Juan Carlos Arguelles-Reveles, 37, died May 7, 2021, from a stabbing, with 11 other incarcerated people involved according to the incident report. Xavier LaMar Warren, 32, died December 28, 2022, from a stab wound to the torso, with four others involved.
The killings continued without pause. Kwesi Jamal Stultz, 24, died December 22, 2023, from multiple injuries to the head. Joey Lebron Kilgore, 46, died February 29, 2024, in a homicide. Zoumana Madiou Sarre, 23, died July 5, 2024, from multiple sharp force injuries to the neck and torso. Lamar Wilson, 32, died June 1, 2024, of injuries suffered during a fight. Henry Crump died September 2, 2024, and Eric Whitehead died September 18, 2024, both after fights with other incarcerated people, per the AJC's tracking. Preston Cato Phelps, 28, died December 13, 2025, after an altercation with multiple other incarcerated people; GDC's Office of Professional Standards investigated the death as a homicide and sent the body to the GBI Crime Lab. On July 21, 2025, GDC confirmed an incarcerated person was killed after a fight with another incarcerated person at Telfair — the registry records Malindzo Eddy Hatcher, 42, as a homicide that date.
The most recent confirmed killing in the record is Timothy Wilson, 48, who died June 7, 2026, following an altercation with another incarcerated person, per GDC. His body was sent to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy, and the Department's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation. GPS's registry still lists his cause as Unknown/Pending. A separate GDC account places a Telfair death in an altercation on July 21 — the same date the registry assigns to Hatcher's homicide.
A Cage in the Sun: The Death of Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano
The single most consequential death in Telfair's recent record is that of Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano, 27, who died July 20, 2023. As 13WMAZ reported, officers placed him in a roughly 12-by-8.5-foot fenced-in outdoor cage with no shade while the heat index reached about 105°F. He was left there roughly five hours and arrived at the hospital with an internal body temperature of 107°F. A separate 13WMAZ account records that an officer allegedly responded "if he dies, he dies" when the man pleaded for help in the extreme heat.
The state's own liability ledger reflects the consequences. The GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through open records, records a payout of $3,249,873 to the family or estate of Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano, tied to Telfair State Prison and to a documented death record. That figure dwarfs every other Telfair settlement in the ledger combined. The same ledger records smaller payouts across more than a decade: $8,311 to Shawn Wayne Whatley (2012), $2,500 to Ricardo Jamal Strozier (2016), $14,000 to Trevio Head (2018), $1,850 to David Morris, $5,361 to Darryl Thomas, and $2,600 to Derrell Ruth (all 2021), $1,750 to Ryan Frank DeMon and $500 to Deante Gholston (2023 and 2024 respectively). Read together, the ledger is a record of what the state has been willing to pay rather than contest.
Heat at Telfair is not a new theme. Solitary Watch reported in December 2010 that prison administration shut off heat at the facility when daytime temperatures were in the 30s, and that prisoners responded by screening their cells with blankets. The same outlet reported that month that tactical officers allegedly rampaged through Telfair, destroying incarcerated people's personal property and severely beating at least six prisoners — allegations attributed to inmate families and other sources.
Seventy-Nine Percent Vacant: Staffing Collapse in the State's Own Numbers
The AJC has documented Telfair's staffing crisis in figures the Department itself supplies. In March 2024, the newspaper reported that Telfair was missing 76 percent of its essential workforce, leaving only 36 correctional officers to supervise 1,400 prisoners. By May 2025, the picture had worsened: as of that March, 79 percent of correctional officer positions at Telfair were unfilled, leaving 32 officers for a facility requiring at least 153. The AJC placed Telfair inside a regional pattern it described as prison systems in Georgia and neighboring states imploding under the weight of corruption, mismanagement, and brutality, with rising body counts — and noted that guards, especially those caught smuggling contraband, are often young job jumpers with financial problems.
GPS has documented the systemwide version of this finding: officer vacancies across Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3 and 60 percent 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."
The on-record testimony matters here. Tyler Ryals, a former GDC sergeant forced out in 2024 after whistleblowing, told GPS he had personally been the only security person on the entire Telfair compound of roughly 1,250 maximum-security inmates. His account is carried in GPS's reporting "Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis," in which Ryals and a second former GDC commander independently describe the Department manipulating the staffing numbers it reports to the public. Ryals has also written publicly about the compound. In a Facebook post dated August 6, 2026, he described an incident in early 2021 when he and another officer heard an incarcerated man violently kicking the front door of dorm B-1, called for backup with fewer than 10 officers on compound including split shift, and entered to find one man unresponsive on the floor, blood across the dorm from front to back, and several other injured men — a fight between Ghostface Gangsters and Hispanic prisoners in which the unresponsive man died. In a November 24, 2025 post, Ryals described an April 2021 attack in which an incarcerated man armed with knives tied to both hands tried to take his life; Ryals later learned one of his vertebral discs had ruptured in the struggle. His account is his own, offered publicly, and GPS treats it as testimony rather than as a Department finding.
GPS records show a staffing-shortage signal cluster at Telfair across four months in 2026, with 12 distinct sources contributing and severities ranging from moderate to critical — a pattern consistent with the vacancy figures the AJC obtained.
Contraband, Smuggling, and the Sergeant Who Fed the Network
Telfair's staffing problem and its contraband problem are the same problem viewed from two angles. GPS's analysis of GDC's own published contraband reports ranks Telfair sixth among state facilities for incidents naming a staff-class person, with 23 staff-class people across 132 incidents — behind Dooly, Calhoun, Wilcox, and Valdosta state prisons, and ahead of Smith.
The clearest documented case is that of Sergeant Desiree Briley. The AJC reported that Briley helped prisoner James Dylon NeSmith smuggle methamphetamine into Telfair State Prison and distribute it for at least two years, and that she was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to her role in a massive drug trafficking network. The network itself was the target of an ongoing federal prosecution known as Operation Ghost Busted, which the AJC reported targeted a drug operation controlled by the Ghost Face Gangsters white supremacist gang and extended to at least 10 South Georgia counties both inside and outside prisons.
The violence that contraband produces is documented elsewhere in this page. In March 2024, the AJC reported that the warden at Telfair State Prison was stabbed by an incarcerated person during a shakedown by officials looking to unearth contraband in a dorm — an incident the newspaper said underscored the dire state of Georgia's prison system. That same month, the state Senate authorized the Senate Supporting Safety and Welfare of All Individuals in the Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee, headed by Sen. Randy Robertson, to conduct a deep dive into Georgia's prison system.
Sanitation, Hygiene, and the Gap Between Scores and Conditions
Telfair's DPH food-safety record is, on its face, unremarkable. The Georgia Department of Public Health inspected the facility repeatedly between September 2023 and March 2026, scoring 91, 78, 84, 96, 88, 81, 91, 74, 90, 89, 87, 99, 91, and 93 across those visits — a mix of A, B, and C grades, with the lowest a 74 (Grade C) on May 13, 2025, citing four violations including improper eating, tasting, drinking, or tobacco use, food not separated and protected, and improper cold holding temperatures. The most recent inspections, on March 26, 2026, scored 91 and 93, both Grade A, citing hot-holding and cooling-method violations.
GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture: tray-sanitizing dishwashers broken for sustained periods, sustained roach and rodent infestation in kitchen and serving areas, 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. High DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination. The Marshall Project independently reported the pattern on May 16, 2026, in an investigation by Schwartzapfel, "Rats, Insects and Mold," documenting rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities.
At Telfair specifically, the accounts are of hygiene rather than food. On October 11, 2026, a member of the Ga. Prisons Exposed Facebook group posting as GoldRabbit4079 wrote that trays for the hole at Telfair had been out waiting to be served since 4:30 that morning, that incarcerated people "barley get fed and now its cold," that their clothes "barley getting washed," and that they sleep with the same dirty blankets for months — asking "then yall wonder why there is a weird rash out break and diseases." That same day, an anonymous member of the same group wrote that C1 Block at Telfair had not had a shower in five days, with no washcloths, and that a brother was "living in his own filth." GPS records show a sanitation-failure signal cluster at Telfair concentrated in August through October 2026, with eight distinct sources contributing at high and moderate severity, and a phone-access-restriction cluster in October 2026 drawing five sources.
The same themes reached the streets. Stephanie Navarrete, a Georgia prison-reform advocate, wrote on Facebook on August 26, 2026, announcing a peaceful protest outside Telfair State Prison on August 29 and describing reports she had received: staph and scabies concerns including quarantine conditions, inconsistent sanitation procedures, trays allegedly filled in areas where contamination could be a concern, difficulty obtaining soap, and limited laundry access. She framed them explicitly as "reports and allegations being brought to advocates" that "deserve to be investigated—not ignored." Tyler Ryals, in an August 6, 2026 post, described what he said was an outbreak of staph infection in dorm A-2 at Telfair ongoing for nearly three weeks, with two incarcerated men transported to outside hospitals and roughly ten showing signs of infection — an account he attributed to what he had been told, and which GPS treats as his report rather than a confirmed finding.
Gang Control, Retaliation, and the Classification Problem
GPS has documented that 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 — and that DOJ and the Guidehouse 2024 consultant assessment independently concluded that gangs effectively run multiple facilities, controlling access to phones, showers, food, and bed assignments. Telfair's homicide record is consistent with that finding. The AJC reported that a claim filed against the state alleged De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd, 29, who died April 18, 2023, from exsanguination caused by a stab wound to the side of the neck, had renounced his gang affiliation while in prison, which made him a target of previous attacks — and that he was stabbed by several prisoners at a time when no prison staff were present in the dorm. The claim's allegations are the claimant's; the death is documented.
GPS's intelligence records show an assault-by-inmate signal cluster at Telfair running across eight months from October 2025 through October 2026, with 18 distinct sources contributing at critical, high, and moderate severity. GPS has received recurring reports of large-scale fights between rival groups in Telfair housing units, of chemical agents deployed into dorms during disturbances, and of at least one death in the facility's segregation unit in 2026. These are accounts GPS has received; they are not Department findings.
The most recent documented disturbance came in September 2026. GDC announced that a gang-related fight involving numerous offenders broke out at Telfair State Prison, was contained to a single dorm, and injured three incarcerated people who were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries before returning to the facility. The Department placed all GDC facilities under lockdown out of an abundance of caution; Telfair and Calhoun state prisons and specific dorms at Hancock and Wilcox prisons remained on lockdown as of that Friday afternoon. GDC's own account noted that the Telfair fight followed an inmate death in an altercation at the facility on July 21.
The Man Who Turned On the Heat
GPS's Tell My Story series carries a firsthand account from a man writing as Jacs, published April 6, 2026, under the title "The Man Who Turned On the Heat." Jacs describes working in the tier — a special lockdown unit in several Georgia prisons, with restricted ventilation and black metal plates over the windows that grow extremely hot in summer — during a July when it was 95 degrees outside and "probably 110 or higher" inside the cells. The heaters were on as well. Jacs says he told the officer on duty that people were going to die, and that when the unit manager, whom he names as Jacob Beasley, was asked about turning off the heat, Beasley said he knew it was on and had it turned on on purpose — that these men were supposed to be punished. Jacs writes that Beasley later left GDC, returned a year later, and years afterward became warden of Smith State Prison and then warden at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. GPS treats this as a firsthand narrative published with the author's voice preserved; the quoted statement is Jacs's recollection, which he himself flags as "not an exact quote, but it's pretty much what he said."
A second Tell My Story account, "Seventy Dollars," published March 12, 2026, under the name Forever19, describes arriving at Telfair at 19 years old and, in his first week, seeing a man hit in the head with a combination lock over a gambling debt. He spent about three years at Telfair, he writes, "dealing with constant assaults, intimidation, and sexual exploitation," before being moved to Smith State Prison. His account of what happened to him there — an older prisoner coercing him into sex for nearly a year — is his own testimony, offered publicly and for the first time.
What the Record Shows
Telfair State Prison was built for 480 men and now holds more than twice that. It has recorded 59 deaths in GPS's registry since January 2020, 19 of them homicides, and the yearly toll has risen rather than fallen. Its officer vacancy rate reached 79 percent by March 2025. Its most consequential single death — Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano, left roughly five hours in an outdoor cage at a heat index near 105°F — produced a $3.25 million liability payout from the state. Its DPH food-safety scores sit in the A and B range while families, advocates, and a former officer describe showers withheld for days, laundry limited, and staph spreading through a dorm. The threads are not separate problems. They are the same facility, under the same conditions, described from four directions at once.
Sources
This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 13WMAZ, Solitary Watch, and The Marshall Project; on Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; on the Georgia Department of Corrections' own public announcements and published contraband reports; on the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; on public Facebook posts by former GDC sergeant Tyler Ryals and advocate Stephanie Navarrete, and by members of the Ga. Prisons Exposed group; on firsthand narratives published in Georgia Prisoners' Speak's Tell My Story series; on GPS's mortality registry, facility records, and intelligence-signal records; and on GPS's own investigative reporting, including "Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis." Accounts collected by GPS staff from incarcerated people, family members, and anonymous sources inform the framing throughout but are not quoted individually.
Mortality Statistics
62 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 9
- 2025: 15
- 2024: 11
- 2023: 8
- 2022: 5
- 2021: 3
- 2020: 11
County Public Health Department
Food service and sanitation at TELFAIR STATE PRISON fall under the jurisdiction of the Telfair 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
- Victoria Thornton
- Address
-
P.O. Box 55328
McRae, GA 31055 - Phone
- (229) 868-7404
- Victoria.Thornton@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.
October 30, 2026
RE: Request for Unannounced Public Health Inspection of Food Service Operations at TELFAIR STATE PRISON
Dear Victoria Thornton,
I am writing to respectfully request that your office conduct a thorough, unannounced inspection of food service and sanitation practices at TELFAIR STATE PRISON, located in Telfair 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 26, 2026 | 93 | Routine | |
| Oct 21, 2025 | 87 | Routine | |
| May 13, 2025 | 90 | Routine | |
| Aug 8, 2024 | 81 | Routine | |
| Mar 19, 2024 | 88 | Routine | |
| Oct 16, 2023 | 84 | Followup | |
| Sep 19, 2023 | 78 | Routine |
March 26, 2026 — Score 93
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11A |
proper cooling methods used: adequate equipment for temperature control 511-6-1.04(6)(e) - cooling methods (pf, c) Corrected | 3 | Cut cabbage in the walk in cooler was covered and not cooling faster as it should.CA: Cooling shall be accomplished in accordance with the time and temperature criteria by loosely covered or uncovered if protected from overhead contamination during the cooling period to facilitate heat transfer from the surface of the food.COS: Uncovered during inspection. |
| 12C |
wiping cloths: properly used and stored 511-6-1.04(4)(m) - wiping cloths, use limitation (c) Repeat | 3 | Observed 3 wiping cloths at the baking station wet and not stored in a bucket of sanitizer.CA: Wiping cloths must be stored in a sanitizer bucket in between uses. |
October 21, 2025 — Score 87
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1A |
proper cold holding temperatures 511-6-1.04(6)(f) - time/temperature control for safety; cold holding (p) Corrected | 9 | Box of single carton milks sitting on the counter in the baking stating temperature at 63F-65F. Several milks stored in the walk-in of the baking area at 45F. Time/temperature control for safety food must be cold held at 41F or below. COS: Milks discarded. |
| 12C |
wiping cloths: properly used and stored 511-6-1.04(4)(m) - wiping cloths, use limitation (c) Repeat | 3 | Wiping cloth chlorine sanitizing solution not at proper minimum strength. |
May 13, 2025 — Score 90
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2B | proper eating, tasting, drinking, or tobacco use Corrected Repeat | 4 | Observed open personal drinks on the prep line; observed multiple opened drinks in the kitchen and back walk-in cooler. COS - Discussed designated areas for personal drinks. Drinks removed. |
| 12C |
wiping cloths: properly used and stored 511-6-1.04(4)(m) - wiping cloths, use limitation (c) | 3 | Wet wiping cloth not stored in sanitizing solution between uses. |
| 17D |
adequate ventilation and lighting; designated areas used 511-6-1.07(4)(b) - designated areas for employee activity, located to prevent contamination of food, equipment, utensils, linens, & single service articles (c) | 1 | Personal coats stored on top of boxes in dry storage; personal items must be stored in designated areas. |
August 8, 2024 — Score 81
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2B |
proper eating, tasting, drinking, or tobacco use 511-6-1.03(5)(k)1&2 - eating, drinking, or using tobacco (c) Corrected | 4 | Observed open personal drinks on the prep line; observed multiple opened drinks in the kitchen and back walk-in cooler. Personal drinks must be in a cup with a lid and straw in food preparation areas. COS - Drinks discarded. |
| 2D |
adequate handwashing facilities supplied & accessible 511-6-1.07(3)(a) - handwashing cleanser, availability (pf) Corrected | 4 | Observed multiple handwash sinks without soap and papertowels. COS - Soap and papertowels provided by PIC. |
| 2D |
adequate handwashing facilities supplied & accessible 511-6-1.07(3)(b) - hand drying provision (pf) Corrected | 4 | Observed multiple handwash sinks without soap and papertowels. COS - Soap and papertowels provided by PIC. |
| 2A |
food stored covered 511-6-1.04(4)(c)1(iv) - packaged & unpackaged food, food stored covered(c) Corrected | 4 | Biscuit mix found stored in dry storage found uncovered and subject to contamination. COS- The damaged bags were discarded at the time of inspection. |
| 2 |
proper date marking and disposition 511-6-1.04(6)(g) - ready-to-eat time/temperature control for safety food, date marking (pf) Corrected Repeat | 4 | Found food in the vegetarian cooler stored past disposal dates in June. Potentially hazardous food must be discarded by the 7 day discard date or use-by day, whichever first. COS - Food discarded. |
| 2 |
proper date marking and disposition 511-6-1.04(6)(g) - ready-to-eat time/temperature control for safety food, date marking (pf) Corrected | 4 | Bologna in the walk-in cooler not datemarked. Time/temperature control for safety food must be properly dated if held over 24 hours. COS - Person-in-charge did know the items were prepared yesterday and dated accordingly. |
| 12A |
contamination prevented during food preparation, storage, display 511-6-1.04(4)(q) - food storage (c) | 3 | Box of food in the vegan cooler on the floor; box of broccoli in the walk-in freezer on the floor. Food must be 6" off of the floor. |
| 16B |
plumbing installed; proper backflow devices 511-6-1.06(2)(r) - system maintained in good repair (p, c) Corrected | 2 | Walk-in cooler storing eggs and milk has water all over the floor from leaking/broken pipes. Plumbing must be maintained in good repair. |
March 19, 2024 — Score 88
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2B |
food-contact surfaces: cleaned & sanitized 511-6-1.05(6)(n) - manual and mechanical warewashing equipment, chemical sanitization-temperature, ph, concentration, hardness (p,pf) Corrected | 4 | Chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength for manual warewashing. COS - PIC put correct concentration at time of inspection. Dishes sent back to dishwashing. |
| 2 |
proper date marking and disposition 511-6-1.04(6)(h) - ready-to-eat time/temperature control for safety food, disposition (p) | 4 | Found food in the vegetarian cooler stored past disposal dates in February. Found milk in the other walk-in cooler dated 3-15-24 discard date. Potentially hazardous food must be discarded by 7 day discard date or use-by day, whichever first. COS - Food discarded. |
| 12B |
personal cleanliness 511-6-1.03(5)(g) - jewelry (c) Repeat | 3 | Observed an inmate preparing food while wearing jewelry (watch) other than a plain ring on their hands/arms. |
October 16, 2023 — Score 84
Followup · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1B |
proper hot holding temperatures 511-6-1.04(6)(f) - time/temperature control for safety; hot holding (p) Corrected | 9 | Observed hot potentially hazardous food (fish) not held at 135F or above. COS - Fish made in the last two hours quickly reheated to above 165F for hot holding. |
| 2 |
proper date marking and disposition 511-6-1.04(6)(g) - ready-to-eat time/temperature control for safety food, date marking (pf) Corrected | 4 | Observed bologna sandwiches prepared last Saturday without a date of preparation or discard date. COS - Sandwiches discarded. Time/temperature control for safety food must be properly dated if held in the facility over 24 hours. |
| 12C |
wiping cloths: properly used and stored 511-6-1.04(4)(m) - wiping cloths, use limitation (c) | 3 | Wiping cloth bucket had no sanitizer in it. Wet wiping cloths must be a bucket of sanitizer between uses. |
| 12C |
wiping cloths: properly used and stored 511-6-1.04(4)(m) - wiping cloths, use limitation (c) | 3 | Wiping cloth bucket had no sanitizer in it. Wet wiping cloths must be a bucket of sanitizer between uses. |
September 19, 2023 — Score 78
Routine · Inspector: Victoria Thornton
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2A |
food stored covered 511-6-1.04(4)(c)1(iv) - packaged & unpackaged food, food stored covered(c) Corrected | 4 | Flour and oatmeal found uncovered and subject to contamination. Food must be stored covered. COS - PIC informed and items covered. |
| 1A |
proper cold holding temperatures 511-6-1.04(6)(f) - time/temperature control for safety; cold holding (p) Corrected | 9 | Observed formally frozen potentially hazardous food (turkey)(eggs) slacking and cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. The walk-in cooler they are stored in is not working. COS - Out of temperature items discarded. |
| 11C |
approved thawing methods used 511-6-1.04(6)(c) - thawing (c) | 3 | Observed potentially hazardous food (turkey/chicken) thawed in an improper manner (in a cooler that is not holding at 41F or below). |
| 12B |
personal cleanliness 511-6-1.03(5)(g) - jewelry (c) | 3 | Observed an inmate serving food wearing jewelry (bracelets) other than a plain ring on their hands/arms. |
| 18 |
insects, rodents, and animals not present 511-6-1.07(5)(k) - controlling pests (pf, c) | 3 | Observed roach activity as evidenced by live roaches found. |
Recent reports (28)
Source-attributed observations and allegations from news coverage and reports submitted to GPS. Each entry credits its source.
- ALLEGATION According to Yahoo.com Published: Aug 26, 2026Stevens is accused of making a bomb threat against an Atkinson County school in an effort to disrupt school operations.
"An inmate serving a life-without-parole sentence is accused of making a bomb threat against a school, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to 13WMAZ Recorded by GPS: Jun 29, 2026An officer allegedly responded 'if he dies, he dies' when the inmate pleaded for help while suffering in extreme heat.
"the lawsuit alleges an officer responded "if he dies, he dies.""
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025A claim filed against the state alleged that De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd was stabbed by several prisoners at a time when no prison staff were present in the dorm.
"A claim filed against the state said he was stabbed by several other prisoners at a time when no prison staff were in the dorm."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025A claim filed against the state alleged that De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd had renounced his gang affiliation while in prison, which made him a target of previous attacks.
"The claim also says he had renounced his gang affiliation while in prison, which made him a target of previous attacks."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Mar 25, 2024Guards, especially those caught smuggling contraband, are often young job jumpers with financial problems.
"A powerful series of stories written by the AJC's Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins found that guards — especially those caught smuggling in contraband — are often young job jumpers with financial problems."
Read source →
Timeline (73)
Source Articles (32)
Former leadership
Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.
| Role | Name | Tenure | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warden (facility lead) | White, Jermaine M | 2020-01-01 → 2023-06-30 | 23 / 23 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Stewart, Veronica M | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | 16 / 41 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Beasley, Jacob | 2019-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | 14 / 47 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Jackson, Kendric | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | 8 / 23 |
| Deputy Warden (facility deputy) | Wooten, William Darrell | 2023-11-22 → 2026-08-27 | — / — |
| Clinical Chaplain (specialty lead) | Land, Henry T | 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.