VALDOSTA STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 500 (at 198% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,312 beds
- Current Population
- 990
- Active Lifers
- 267 (27.0% of population) · Oct 2026 GDC report
- Life Without Parole
- 174 (17.6%)
What the courts held in Brown v. Plata, and how Georgia compares →
- Address
- 3259 Val Tech Road, Valdosta, GA 31603
- Phone
- (229) 333-7900
- Fax
- (229) 333-5387
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 5368, Valdosta, GA 31603
- County
- Lowndes County
- Opened
- 1989
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
Security Classification
Last updated: October 2, 2026
811 of the 1,098 people held here are classified Close security (73.9%), as of September 23, 2026.
| Security level | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Close | 811 | 73.9% |
| Medium | 156 | 14.2% |
| Minimum | 13 | 1.2% |
| High | 16 | 1.5% |
| Standard | 78 | 7.1% |
| Warrant | 1 | 0.1% |
| Not recorded | 23 | 2.1% |
| Total | 1,098 |
Earlier count (as of September 18, 2026): 811 of 1,100 Close (73.7%).
Earlier count (undated table, produced October 22, 2025): 866 of 1,137 Close (76.2%).
Restrictive housing beds
| Program | Beds | Occupied |
|---|---|---|
| Tier II | 129 | 80 |
Source: Georgia Department of Corrections records produced to GPS under the Open Records Act (R031471-090226, R033095-110726, 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) | Jackson, Kendric | 2026-06-01 | 4 / 23 |
| Deputy Warden of Administration (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2016-01-01 | 60 / 60 |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (facility deputy) | Davis, Heather Alice | 2022-01-01 | 48 / 48 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Marcus, Charlie J | 2023-11-22 | 32 / 32 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Bryant, Delisha L | 2025-03-16 | 22 / 22 |
| Assistant Warden (facility deputy) | Foulks, Rodney | 2026-08-27 | — / 7 |
About
Last updated November 8, 2026.(DS)
Valdosta State Prison: Deaths, Depletion, and a Facility Running on Paper
Valdosta State Prison sits on Val Tech Road in Lowndes County, a close-security men's institution with an attached annex whose main compound holds ten general-population units, multiple mental-health units, isolation and acute-care beds, and a Crisis Stabilization Unit, while the annex adds open dorms including a residential substance-abuse unit. GPS's standing record dates the institution to 1989, though a GDC statement reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution places its construction in 1959, later renovated. Its rated capacity is 1,312; its population, per GPS's current facility data, stands at 990 — about 75.5 percent of rated capacity, even as the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) describes a facility so short-staffed that a June 2026 roster showed seven people on shift to supervise more than 1,000 incarcerated people across 114 posts.
What follows traces four threads that converge at Valdosta: a mortality record GPS has tracked at 70 deaths since January 1, 2020; a staffing collapse documented in GDC's own records and corroborated on the record by former officers; a physical plant failing in ways that internal GDC audits have logged for years; and a food-service operation whose inspection scores sit uneasily beside what inspectors actually wrote down.
The Dead: Seventy Names Since 2020
GPS's mortality registry records 70 deaths at Valdosta State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Of those, 33 carry a cause GPS lists as Unknown/Pending, 17 as Homicide, 13 as Suicide, 6 as Natural/Medical, and 1 as Overdose. The full registry is published at GPS's facility death list.
The most recent 25, as GPS records them:
- James Edward Loren died August 13, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 54.
- Ramon Daniel Ortiz died July 4, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 33.
- Steven Bryant died June 23, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 49.
- Antavious Bailey died June 21, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 40.
- Kevin James Flamer died May 28, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 26.
- Jeremiah Alan Brown died May 26, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 40.
- Dontarious Lamonta Burke died April 19, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 23.
- Robert Jordan Watkins died March 18, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 38.
- Robert Louis Johnson died March 8, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 60.
- Sergio Hernandez died February 26, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 39.
- Ronnie Jackson died February 15, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Natural/Medical. He was 62.
- Dequontist Marquez Lucas died December 25, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Overdose. He was 41.
- Jevion Andrez Benham died December 24, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Homicide. He was 21.
- Jessie James Kilgore died December 23, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 56.
- Arthur Nekita Burks died November 28, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 61.
- Paul Hampton died October 12, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 66.
- Garrett Paul Schmidt died September 21, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 40.
- William Stacey Springer died September 16, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Homicide. He was 36.
- Jason Frank Jordan died June 1, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 45.
- Anthony Vashern Prothro died April 7, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Suicide. He was 34.
- Brandon Dominique Mcgee died April 2, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Homicide. He was 33.
- Chet Elliott Kent died March 16, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. He was 45.
- Ryan Cornelius Rumph died March 11, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Homicide. He was 34.
- Eric Lee Schermerhorn died March 4, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Suicide. He was 40.
- Sinjuan Harmon died January 12, 2025, at Valdosta State Prison; cause Homicide.
The Southern Center's October 1, 2026 letter to GDC counted 25 deaths at the prison between January 1, 2025, and August 13, 2026 — a period that overlaps the registry above — and said at least 14 of the dead were men aged 40 or younger. SCHR reported that GDC classified about 12 of those deaths as alleged homicides and 6 as alleged suicides, a classification the organization characterized as derived from limited information. The AJC reported that GDC incident reports covering most of the 25 deaths are heavily redacted.
Benham: Two Days Undiscovered, and a Certified Homicide
The death that has come to stand for Valdosta's failures is Jevion Andrez Benham's. The GBI Office of the Medical Examiner (Dry Branch) issued autopsy report ME-25-40986 / DOFS 2025-4011377, certifying the cause of death as ligature asphyxia and the manner as homicide. The autopsy documented a 24 cm ligature furrow completely encircling the neck, level without upward canting, and a 0.5 cm white shoestring tightly encircling the neck, secured with multiple knots, with black zip ties affixed to the string. The complete autopsy was performed December 30, 2025; the report was certified April 26, 2026 after peer review, authored by Kimberly M. Johnson, M.D.
The GBI medical examiner's narrative records that Benham was pronounced dead on December 24, 2025 at 18:00, and that the roommate said he killed the decedent on Monday, December 22. The medical examiner's opinion states Benham was found decomposing in the cell he shared with his cellmate; the GBI MEO case report describes the body as in an extremely decomposed state with major skin slippage, flies, and bloating. GDC Special Agent Thomas Bisdorf is leading the investigation, and the case report lists the Lowndes County Coroner, the Southern Judicial Circuit, the Lowndes County District Attorney, and DOC-Valdosta State Prison among related agencies. The report also states that prison medical staff refused to cooperate with a request for the decedent's medical history, and that Deputy Coroner Tommy Willis said he would submit a subpoena for the records.
The Lowndes County Coroner, Austin Fiveash, told a local news outlet — as quoted in SCHR's letter — that no one deserves to lie dead in prison for two days and begin to decompose, and that the prison needs help and action from Atlanta. The AJC reported that many cells at Valdosta are without working lights, leaving men in virtual darkness; SCHR's review of medical records found more than 70 notes reflecting a lack of electricity and light across just four sets of records, including nurses recorded as unable to visualize every patient due to "no lights," "poor lighting," and "power outages."
Staffing: Seven on Shift, and the People Who Said So
The staffing picture at Valdosta is documented in GDC's own records and corroborated by people who worked there. SCHR, citing GDC records obtained through the Open Records Act, reported that the correctional officer vacancy rate was over 73 percent as of May 2026; that a June 5, 2026 roster showed seven people on shift to supervise more than 1,000 incarcerated people across 114 staff posts; that a January 27, 2026 record showed only two officers on duty for the entire prison compound; and that GDC's 2025 audit found 72 of 106 cell locks it checked (68 percent) non-compliant. The AJC reported that as of April 2025, 80 percent of correctional officer positions at Valdosta were vacant.
Two former GDC commanders have spoken on the record about how those numbers are produced. GPS's reporting on their accounts is the subject of a GPS investigation, "Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis," which the corpus records as published but whose specific findings this page does not restate. Separately, Tyler Ryals — a former GDC CERT commander who says he served as CERT lieutenant at Valdosta and transferred there as a lieutenant in November 2017, staying until November 2019 — described in recorded interviews and YouTube livestreams what he witnessed at the facility: people cutting their bodies, hanging themselves, and beating their heads against walls until bleeding; more bloodshed at Valdosta than elsewhere, largely from self-harm; a man who cut his throat with blood pouring out from under the cell door; a man who self-injured and packed feces into the cuts; and a man who ate part of his own arm in front of him. Ryals also said in a recorded interview that an incarcerated man at Valdosta had the top part of his ear bitten off during an incident in which three people jumped him and began biting him. He described Valdosta as a level five close-security facility and the only close-security mental health level three camp, and said many people there already have mental health diagnoses.
A former Ware State Prison officer identified as Officer Mondragon, in an April 2026 YouTube interview, described working inside Valdosta for about two weeks as part of a "Tiger Team" sent because the facility was short-staffed. She said inmates were walking around freely with no officers present; that during her two weeks there was a large breakout in one of the yards, with all four dorms on that yard opened and people stabbing each other with shanks; that an inmate grabbed her ponytail and told her she was going to let him out of the dorm; and that the Valdosta captain told visiting officers to stay in the dorm and control rooms and not do anything. She also said staff were forging documents to show they were doing count when they were not, and wanted her to sign the paperwork — which she refused.
GPS records show a staffing-shortage signal across 10 distinct sources over five months in the past year, and a staff-misconduct signal across seven sources, several of them naming individuals, over four months in 2026.
The Plant: Locks, Lights, Water, and Heat
SCHR's 14-page October 1, 2026 letter told GDC that conditions at Valdosta are unconstitutional and amount to a humanitarian crisis, and asked for a response by October 30, 2026. The organization said most cells in at least eight housing units — B2, D2, E1, E2, F1, H1, J2 and K1 — have no working lights; that many cells have no running water or working toilets; that cells are infested with mold and vermin; and that cell temperatures regularly exceeded 100 degrees with no air conditioning. A 2026 GDC record cited in reporting indicates 14 housing units at Valdosta — about 70 percent — lack air conditioning.
SCHR reported that GDC auditors found Valdosta "non-compliant" with minimum lighting requirements in fiscal year 2024, that the facility claimed corrective action, and that the fiscal year 2025 audit again found it non-compliant, with auditors noting lack of adequate lighting and exposed wiring throughout the prison. The organization reported that in many housing units there are no lights in most cells, and that people have no light by which to eat, read, or carry out daily activities except for a few hours a day when sunlight filters through cell windows. One incarcerated person reported having enough sunlight to read for only four hours per day.
On water and sanitation, SCHR reported that a shocking number of cells lack functioning sinks or toilets, so people urinate in bottles and defecate in bags; that cells flood roughly once or twice a week with water contaminated by urine and feces; and that a 2025 GDC audit walkthrough found inoperable showers, sinks, and toilets in every dorm. A 2025 audit noted a black substance on the walls in the dishwashing area and in multiple shower areas, and called for closer supervision of the facility's pest control contractor. At least six incarcerated people reported extensive mold on walls, ceilings, air vents, and showers in their dormitories.
SCHR reported that 13 of the 15 men it spoke with saw people held in telephone-booth-sized holding cages with no toilet, sink or bed for anywhere from two or three days to two or three weeks. SCHR attorney Alison Ganem said the Southern Center has heard reports of people having to urinate in bottles and defecate on trays or in bags because they have nowhere to relieve themselves in the cages. GDC auditors also found, per SCHR, that clinician rounds were not being made and documented weekly; that licensed health care staff do not make daily rounds in segregation; that 30-minute security checks were not documented frequently enough to satisfy policy; and that people in lockdown and Tier II units were not receiving the minimum five hours per week of out-of-cell exercise. SCHR reported that auditors found 60 percent of the grievances they reviewed were not addressed in a timely manner.
GDC told the AJC on October 19, 2026 that it is reviewing the allegations and that $107 million has been allocated to maintenance and improvements at Valdosta since fiscal year 2021, of which about $3.2 million has been spent. A GDC spokesperson said the agency is aware of the issues raised in the Southern Center's letter and is reviewing the specific allegations, and that significant efforts have been made to improve the facility. Ganem said little has been done in response to the issues recognized in GDC's own internal audits.
GPS records show sanitation-failure signals across nine sources over two months in the past year, equipment-failure signals across eight sources, and inadequate-climate signals across five — with the Southern Center named as an external party in the sanitation and climate categories.
The Kitchen: Roaches, Rodent Feces, and a 96
The Georgia Department of Public Health inspects two Aramark-operated kitchens at Valdosta — the Corrections Primary kitchen under permit FSP-092-000985 and the Corrections Annex kitchen under FSP-092-000984 — and the inspection record is a study in how a high score and a serious finding can coexist.
At the Primary kitchen, a DPH inspection on May 21, 2024 documented a massive roach infestation in all areas of foodservice, recorded as a repeat violation, and noted the facility's person in charge was to develop a plan to control the infestation. The inspection scored 95, grade A. On May 14, 2025, a DPH inspector observed a major roach infestation in the main room, marked a repeat violation, and also recorded rodent feces in the food storage room as a new violation; that inspection scored 96, grade A. The last pest control visit before that inspection was May 7, 2025. On November 14, 2025, DPH again found roaches throughout the facility, cited under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-6-1.07(5)(k) as a repeat violation, and scored the kitchen 96, grade A.
The record runs back further. A September 2, 2021 inspection found a massive roach and rodent infestation and recorded rodent feces in the main storage room; the inspector's remarks recommended the facility be renovated — discarding old unused equipment, fixing leaks, closing off roach habitation areas — and noted that spraying did not seem to be enough. A May 20, 2022 inspection cited "mouse scat in multiple area of the main kitchen" as a new violation and a "massive roach infestation in the main kitchen" as a repeat violation, both corrected on-site, and scored 93. A November 17, 2023 inspection recorded live roaches in the dish and pot room and throughout the facility, and live roaches and mice in the dry storage room, scoring 97.
The Annex kitchen has its own record: 86, grade B, on November 14, 2024, with a repeat cockroach violation stating roaches were "still an issue" and a better treatment plan was needed; and 96, grade A, on May 14, 2025, citing a major roach infestation in the main room as a repeat violation. The May 14, 2025 Annex addendum states no cooling or hot hold equipment was available to test and no foods were in the facility at the time of inspection.
DPH received complaint ID 73921884 against Aramark Corrections Primary on May 6, 2025, submitted by email to DPH's ReportFraud address on May 1, 2025 at 3:30 PM under the subject line "Fraudulent Distribution Of Budgetary Funds VSP/GDC." The complaint record marks imminent health hazard as NO and lists the complaint as taken by Shannon Walker — the same name that appears as the signing inspector on multiple Valdosta reports.
GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture, because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. High DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained reports of equipment failure and contamination; the contradiction is the analytical center of GPS's investigation "Dunked, Stacked, and Served."
Violence, Contraband, and the Record of Prosecutions
The homicide record at Valdosta is long and specific. The AJC reported that Hakeem Olajuwon Williams, 27, was stabbed to death by his cellmate Jonathan Bivens with a 9-inch makeshift metal knife in February 2022, after officer Angela Butler locked a handcuffed Williams in the cell with an unrestrained and unsearched Bivens; a claim filed against the state alleged the same. Haley Mackrell, the mother of Williams' only child, sued Butler in January 2024, claiming deliberate indifference to Williams' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The AJC reported that GDC failed to preserve video footage of the stabbing after being notified nine days after Williams' death that it needed to be preserved; by November 2024, counsel confirmed the footage had rolled over and was lost.
The AJC reported that Shane Griffith, 32, died on May 30, 2024, from blunt force trauma to the head, torso, and extremities, after being attacked by 11 other prisoners who beat him with fists and a pole, kicked him, stood on his chest, and placed a burning object on his body. Warrants described a beating lasting potentially six or more hours in a barracks-style dorm with no intervention, raising questions about whether surveillance footage was monitored in real time. All 11 men were charged with murder. Griffith's family filed a notice of intent to sue the state, alleging he was beaten, burned, dragged by a rope, and killed while staff were absent.
The AJC also reported that Melvin Towns, 37, serving a six-month probation violation sentence and due for release in 12 days, was stabbed to death with a homemade weapon on April 21, 2024; that Ricky Bernard Harris, 39, was stabbed at least 30 times in the neck and face with ink pens on February 20, 2024; and that Rufus Shawn Lane, 55, was found dead in his cell on January 13, 2024, from ligature strangulation, with GDC incident data showing a gang member was involved. Earlier, the AJC reported the deaths of Quoesent Lamont Bostwick, 35, on July 31, 2023; DyLance Montex Lampkin, 41, on July 30, 2023, from multiple stab wounds to the torso; Dexter Jarrod Burnett, 35, on September 16, 2022, from a stab wound; Bobby Carpenter, 31, on September 9, 2020; Orvonta Tillman, 36, on June 16, 2020; and Prince Leonard Blige, 54, on February 12, 2020.
The AJC reported that William Springer was stabbed multiple times in his face and head at Valdosta; doctors told his family he was brain-dead upon arrival at the hospital. GPS's registry records Springer's death on September 16, 2025 as a homicide, at age 36.
Staff have been prosecuted too. The AJC reported that seven officers — six GDC correctional officers and one Grady County jailer — were arrested in March 2024 in "Operation Skyhawk," a contraband scheme run by Valdosta inmate Kydetrius Thomas; at least six correctional officers were reported to have aided Thomas in smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills and tobacco. Five Valdosta employees were arrested for allegedly helping an inmate move drugs and money as part of the scheme, which involved drone deliveries. The AJC reported that Lieutenant Lyric Oliver resigned in March 2024 and was arrested in June 2024 after an investigation found she had improper dealings with inmate Alfred Jones, allegedly receiving $1,880 in payments and sending him sexually explicit videos of herself. And Warden Ralph Shropshire was fired in July 2024; his personnel file states he was terminated due to "misconduct," though GDC declined to elaborate citing an open investigation.
In May 2026, the AJC reported that Luis Ramirez, an inmate at Valdosta, and six others were arrested and indicted for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, with law enforcement seizing 35 kilograms of suspected crystal methamphetamine, three and a half kilograms of suspected fentanyl, and $145,000.
GPS's contraband analysis found that Valdosta's reports name 25 staff-class people across 56 incidents — a rate of staff involvement in contraband that places it among the highest in the state by proportion, behind Dooly, Calhoun, and Wilcox by raw count.
The Paper Trail: Records Requests and What Came Back
GPS's own records work at Valdosta has produced both documents and gaps. GDC produced one incident report, IR_430297, on August 26, 2026 in response to records request R030514-072526. That report identifies the facility as Valdosta State Prison, codes the incident as "DEATH, HOMICIDE," records no use of force, notes eight staff were directly involved, and shows the warden reviewed it on December 29, 2025. Its incident-detail block is redacted under 50-18-72(a)(25)(A)(iv). Four requested categories were not produced at all — camera-coverage records, any after-action review, and the welfare and round-check logs for December 19 through 25 among them — and no exemption was cited for their withholding. Pages 3 through 6 were withheld under exemptions 42-5-36(b) and 50-18-72(a)(4) and (8).
For Jessie James Kilgore, who died December 23, 2025, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Division of Forensic Sciences declined to examine the death under case number 2025-4011366.
GPS's mortality registry also carries a caution that runs through every figure on this page: GDC's own cause-of-death coding is an administrative classification, not an autopsy finding, and where a medical examiner, coroner, or autopsy determination is later obtained, that determination supersedes the GDC coding. The registry's Unknown/Pending entries — 33 of the 70 — reflect that GPS does not yet know the cause, not that no cause exists.
Accountability and the Current Command
The current warden at Valdosta is Kendric Jackson, in post since June 1, 2026. The deputy wardens of security are Charlie J. Marcus and Delisha L. Bryant; Heather Alice Davis is deputy warden of care and treatment, and LEN Thomas Gibson is deputy warden of administration. Ralph Shropshire, fired in July 2024, is a former warden and does not hold the post.
SCHR's letter asked GDC to staff every post with at least one officer, to provide sufficient correctional, medical, and mental health staff to conduct rounds and checks at required intervals, to cease housing people in small holding cages for more than a few hours, to allow daily outdoor recreation and at least thrice-weekly showers including in segregation, to install air conditioning, to repair showers, to ensure all cells have working toilets and sinks, to remediate exposed wiring and lighting, to intensify sanitation and pest control, to address flooding so no one is exposed to human waste, to provide law library access and legal supplies, to staff a full-time grievance coordinator, and to work with the Board of Pardons and Paroles to release parole- and clemency-eligible people to alleviate overpopulation and understaffing. The letter asked whether the State of Georgia will continue to "bury its head in the sand while more people die, or will it finally be moved to action."
GPS records show external complaints filed to the Coroner Austin Fiveash's office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Lowndes County Coroner's Office, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division across the past year — eight distinct sources across five months. GPS has additionally recorded 15 death-in-custody signals across eight months, 11 assault-by-inmate signals across six months, and five family-safety-concern signals at this facility in the past year.
Sources
This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Public Health food-service inspection reports for the Aramark Corrections Primary and Annex kitchens at Valdosta State Prison; GBI Office of the Medical Examiner autopsy and case reports, including ME-25-40986 / DOFS 2025-4011377 and the toxicology and investigative records associated with several deaths at the facility; GDC incident reports and open-records productions, including IR_430297 and the exemptions cited in withholding; the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger; MHM and Centurion staffing matrices and contract exhibits; the Southern Center for Human Rights' October 1, 2026 letter to GDC and the reporting on it by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; AJC coverage of individual deaths, prosecutions, and staffing at Valdosta; WTOC reporting; recorded interviews and public statements by former GDC CERT commander Tyler Ryals and former Ware State Prison officer Mondragon; public Facebook posts by Ryals, MiaAnn Crump, and Janice Hope Loren; GPS's own mortality registry, contraband analysis, and food-service investigations; and inmate, family, and staff accounts collected by GPS.
Mortality Statistics
70 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 11
- 2025: 14
- 2024: 17
- 2023: 9
- 2022: 7
- 2021: 4
- 2020: 8
County Public Health Department
Food service and sanitation at VALDOSTA STATE PRISON fall under the jurisdiction of the Lowndes 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 County Manager
- Name
- Kyle Coppage, MPH
- Address
-
P.O. Box 5619
Valdosta, GA 31603 - Phone
- (229) 245-2314
- Kyle.Coppage@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.
November 14, 2026
RE: Request for Unannounced Public Health Inspection of Food Service Operations at VALDOSTA STATE PRISON
Dear Kyle Coppage, MPH,
I am writing to respectfully request that your office conduct a thorough, unannounced inspection of food service and sanitation practices at VALDOSTA STATE PRISON, located in Lowndes 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
No inspection records are on file with the Georgia Department of Public Health for this facility. GPS has filed an open records request asking where these records are maintained.
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 reports (51)
Source-attributed observations and allegations from news coverage and reports submitted to GPS. Each entry credits its source.
- ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Oct 20, 2026SCHR alleges conditions at Valdosta State Prison are illegal and unconstitutional, citing non-functioning sinks and toilets, waste and sewage on floors, extreme heat without air conditioning, and non-working lights.
"The Southern Center for Human Rights released a report describing conditions at Valdosta State Prison as a "humanitarian disaster unfolding," saying they are illegal and violate the U.S. Constitution. According to the report, many cells lack functioning sinks or toilets, floors are covered with waste and sewage, temperatures can exceed 100 degrees without air conditioning, and many cells have no working lights."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Oct 20, 2026Some inmates reported being held for long periods in cages about the size of telephone booths.
"Some inmates reported being held for long periods in cages about the size of telephone booths."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Recorded by GPS: Oct 19, 2026The Southern Center for Human Rights alleges that inhumane conditions at Valdosta State Prison have led to suffering and death.
"Inhumane conditions have led to suffering, death at Valdosta State Prison, Southern Center for Human Rights law group alleges in report."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Southern Center for Human Rights (letter to GDC, Oct. 1, 2026) Recorded by GPS: Oct 19, 2026In a 14-page letter dated October 1, 2026, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) told the Georgia Department of Corrections that conditions at Valdosta State Prison are unconstitutional and amount to a humanitarian crisis, and asked for a response by October 30, 2026. SCHR says most cells in at least eight housing units (B2, D2, E1, E2, F1, H1, J2 and K1) have no working lights, many cells have no running water or working toilets, cells are infested with mold and vermin, and cell temperatures regularly exceeded 100 degrees with no air conditioning. Citing GDC records it obtained through the Open Records Act, SCHR says the correctional officer vacancy rate was over 73 percent as of May 2026; a June 5, 2026 roster shows seven people on shift to supervise more than 1,000 incarcerated people across 114 staff posts; a January 27, 2026 record shows only two officers on duty for the entire prison compound; and GDC's 2025 audit found 72 of 106 cell locks it checked (68 percent) non-compliant. SCHR says 13 of the 15 men it spoke with saw people held in telephone-booth-sized holding cages with no toilet, sink or bed for anywhere from two or three days to two or three weeks. It counts 25 deaths at the prison between January 1, 2025 and August 13, 2026, at least 14 of them men aged 40 or younger, and says GDC classified about 12 as alleged homicides and 6 as alleged suicides. GDC told the AJC (October 19, 2026) that it is reviewing the allegations and that $107 million has been allocated to maintenance and improvements at Valdosta State Prison since fiscal year 2021, of which about $3.2 million has been spent.
"We write to notify you of the humanitarian disaster unfolding at Valdosta State Prison (VSP). At least eight housing units, and possibly more, have no functioning lights in most of the cells, so people live in virtual darkness. A shocking number of cells have no running water or functioning toilets, so people urinate in bottles and defecate in bags. As of May 2026, the correctional officer vacancy rate was over 73 percent."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to WRDW Published: Jul 23, 2026The Georgia Department of Corrections alleges an inmate staged a flooded cell video.
"The Georgia Department of Corrections stated that a viral TikTok video showing a flooded cell at Valdosta State Prison was staged by an inmate, who they said flooded his own cell after being placed in lockdown for possessing contraband cell phones."
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Timeline (131)
Source Articles (26)
Former leadership
Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.
| Role | Name | Tenure | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warden (facility lead) | Shropshire, Ralph W | 2023-03-01 → 2024-10-15 | 21 / 21 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Emmons, Shawn F | 2018-07-01 → 2022-02-28 | 15 / 62 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Carter, Curtis | 2025-07-16 → 2026-05-31 | 14 / 17 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Odum, ROY Matthew | 2024-10-16 → 2025-07-15 | 10 / 68 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Pineiro, Aaron Thomas | 2019-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | 12 / 85 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Mims, Charles Michael | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | 8 / 46 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Beasley, Jacob | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | 7 / 48 |
| Chaplain (specialty lead) | Miller, James Patrick | 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.