VALDOSTA STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 500 (at 214% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,312 beds
- Current Population
- 1,068
- Active Lifers
- 276 (25.8% of population) · May 2026 GDC report
- Life Without Parole
- 181 (16.9%)
Read: Brown v. Plata - A Legal Roadmap for Georgia's Prison Crisis →
- Address
- 3259 Val Tech Road, Valdosta, GA 31603
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 5368, Valdosta, GA 31603
- County
- Lowndes County
- Opened
- 1959
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
- Warden
- Curtis Carter
- Phone
- (229) 333-7900
- Fax
- (229) 333-5387
- Staff
- Deputy Warden Security: Charlie Marcus
- Deputy Warden Security: Delisha Bryant
- Deputy Warden C&T: Heather Davis
- Deputy Warden Admin: Len Gibson
About
Valdosta State Prison, a close-security facility in Valdosta, Georgia, has recorded some of the most severe violence, staffing failures, and institutional misconduct documented anywhere in Georgia's prison system. GPS has independently tracked 1,795 deaths across the GDC system since 2020, with Valdosta consistently implicated in confirmed homicides, staff-enabled contraband operations, evidence destruction, and conditions that federal courts have found constitute constitutional violations. With 80% of correctional officer positions vacant as of April 2024 and a population housed at 224% of original design capacity, Valdosta operates in a state of near-total institutional collapse.
Leadership & Accountability (as of 2025 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) | Carter, Curtis | 2025-07-16 | 19 / 22 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Bryant, Delisha L | 2025-03-16 | 19 / 19 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2025-01-01 | 64 / 64 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Marcus, Charlie J | 2025-01-01 | 45 / 45 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Davis, Heather Alice | 2025-01-01 | 52 / 52 |
Key Facts
- 224% Valdosta's population relative to its original design capacity of 500, as of GPS capacity analysis
- 11 Inmates charged with murder in the May 2024 death of Shane Griffith, who was beaten, burned, and tortured for hours while staff were absent
- Bad faith Federal judge's finding against GDC for destroying video evidence of Hakeem Williams' 2022 fatal stabbing at Valdosta; GDC sanctioned and held liable for any jury verdict
- $20M Georgia paid nearly $20 million since 2018 to settle claims involving death or injury to state prisoners across the GDC system
By the Numbers
- 52,801 Total GDC Population
- 301 Deaths in 2025 (GPS tracked)
- 2,530 Waiting in Jail (Backlog)
- 45 In Mental Health Crisis
- 40.99 Average Inmate Age
- 8,108 In Private Prisons
Mortality Statistics
70 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 10
- 2025: 15
- 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.
May 16, 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 nonprofit public advocacy organization, 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 (29)
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: Jan 21, 2025Shane Griffith was allegedly punched, kicked, stomped on, whipped with a belt and burned by 11 inmates over several hours before staff noticed he was dead.
"Shane Griffith, who was allegedly punched, kicked, stomped on, whipped with a belt and burned by 11 inmates, apparently over several hours, before the staff noticed he was dead at Valdosta State Prison in May."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025An officer allegedly placed Hakeem Olajuwon Williams in a cell while handcuffed, where he was attacked by a cellmate.
"A claim filed against the state alleged that an officer placed him in a cell while handcuffed and Williams was attacked by a cellmate."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Sep 5, 2024At least six correctional officers aided inmate Kydetrius Thomas in smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills and tobacco.
"Georgia prison officials were in the midst of that complex investigation when they stumbled upon another drug scheme they said was led by Valdosta State Prison inmate Kydetrius Thomas and aided by at least six correctional officers. According to arrest warrants, the officers were engaged in various illegal activities on Thomas' behalf, including smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills and tobacco."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025Officer Mannings allegedly procured pills for inmate Thomas, had over 400 phone conversations with him, and allegedly had sex with him.
"One of the officers linked to Thomas, Lashonda Ty'Asia Mannings, allegedly procured pills of an unspecified nature for him and had more than 400 phone conversations with him. It's also alleged in the warrant that she had sex with him."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025Officer Peak allegedly conspired with inmate Thomas to obtain money to bond out another officer and attended the bond hearing, reporting findings to Thomas via cellphone.
"Another officer, Amber Nicole Peak, is alleged to have conspired with Thomas to obtain money that allowed yet another officer aligned with the inmate to bond out of jail on Dec. 1. According to the arrest warrant, Peak attended the bond hearing and reported the findings to Thomas via cellphone."
Read source →
Valdosta State Prison
Valdosta State Prison, a close-security men's facility in Lowndes County, has emerged as one of the most violent and operationally compromised institutions in the Georgia Department of Corrections. Between 2020 and 2024, at least nine men died there by homicide — by stabbing, ligature strangulation, blunt force trauma, and prolonged torture. During the same period, federal investigators dismantled a sprawling drone-and-staff contraband network that ran through the prison, a federal judge sanctioned both the GDC and one of its officers for destroying evidence and lying under oath, the warden was fired for unspecified misconduct, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the facility was operating with eighty percent of its correctional officer positions vacant. The threads running through these stories — staffing collapse, gang control, staff complicity in contraband, and a pattern of preventable in-custody deaths — are the subject of this analysis.
A Sustained Pattern of In-Custody Homicides
The killings at Valdosta State Prison form an unbroken sequence stretching back at least to 2020. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other outlets have documented the following deaths ruled or charged as homicides at the facility: Prince Leonard Blige, 54, died February 12, 2020, of a stab wound to the torso; Orvonta Tillman, 36, died June 16, 2020, of multiple sharp force penetrating trauma to the thorax; Bobby Carpenter, 31, died September 9, 2020, of a stab wound to the chest; Hakeem Olajuwon Williams, 27, died February 28, 2022, of a stab wound to the chest; Dexter Jarrod Burnett, 35, died September 16, 2022, of a stab wound to the torso, and a prisoner was indicted in February 2024 on a charge of killing him with a homemade knife; DyLance Montex Lampkin, 41, died July 30, 2023, of multiple stab wounds to the torso; Quoesent Lamont Bostwick, 35, died July 31, 2023, in a death ruled a homicide; Rufus Shawn Lane, 55, was found dead in his cell on January 13, 2024, of ligature strangulation, with GDC incident data indicating a gang member was involved; Ricky Bernard Harris, 39, died February 20, 2024, of sharp force face and neck trauma — the AJC reported he was stabbed at least thirty times in the neck and face with ink pens; Melvin Towns, 37, was stabbed to death with a homemade weapon on April 21, 2024; and Shane Griffith, 32, died May 30, 2024, of blunt force trauma.
The cluster of homicides in early 2024 — Lane in January, Harris in February, Towns in April, and Griffith in May — occurred during the same period in which, according to AJC reporting, eighty percent of correctional officer positions at the facility were vacant.
The Killing of Shane Griffith and the Question of Supervision
The death of Shane Griffith in May 2024 has become the central case in the public record on Valdosta State Prison. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Griffith was allegedly punched, kicked, stomped on, whipped with a belt, and burned by eleven inmates over the course of several hours in a barracks-style dorm before staff noticed he was dead. Warrants cited by the AJC describe attackers beating him with fists and a pole, kicking him, standing on his chest, and placing a burning object on his body. All eleven alleged attackers have been charged with murder, with video evidence cited in the warrants.
Griffith's family has filed a notice of intent to sue the state, alleging he was beaten, burned, dragged by a rope, and killed while staff failed to intervene, and that his body was not discovered until breakfast rounds at 6:30 a.m. The AJC further reported the family's allegation that Griffith had sought protective custody and was instead placed in a maximum-security prison's general population despite safety concerns, where he was killed the day after his transfer. The reporting raised the question of whether surveillance footage was monitored in real time during the hours-long assault.
The Williams Case, Federal Sanctions, and Destroyed Evidence
The 2022 stabbing death of Hakeem Olajuwon Williams has produced the most consequential litigation tied to the facility. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Officer Angela Butler locked a handcuffed Williams in a cell with cellmate Jonathan Bivens — without restraining or searching Bivens — and Bivens then stabbed Williams to death with a nine-inch makeshift metal knife. Bivens is now serving a life sentence without parole for murder and aggravated assault, according to court records.
Haley Mackrell, the mother of Williams' only child, sued former officer Angela Butler in January 2024, alleging Butler acted with deliberate indifference to Williams' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, ignored Williams' cries for help, and did nothing to stop his death. The AJC reported that Butler intentionally lied under oath by testifying she had handcuffed Bivens when in fact she had not, later admitting her actions violated department policy and led to Williams' death. The AJC also reported that the Georgia Department of Corrections destroyed video footage of the fatal stabbing after being notified, nine days after Williams' death, that the footage needed to be preserved; by November 2024, counsel confirmed the footage had rolled over and was lost.
Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Gardner sanctioned the Georgia Department of Corrections for destroying video evidence in bad faith and sanctioned Butler for lying under oath, ruling the jury would be informed of both acts and that GDC would be on the hook for any verdict against Butler. The AJC reported that Butler and her state lawyers were further alleged to have failed to correct Butler's false statements in a timely manner, with the judge weighing additional sanctions.
Operation Skyhawk and Staff Complicity in Contraband
The contraband economy at Valdosta State Prison was the central target of Operation Skyhawk, a two-year multi-agency investigation announced by Governor Brian Kemp on March 28, 2024. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the operation netted 150 arrests, 1,000 criminal charges, and $7 million in confiscated goods including 87 drones; phone taps allowed local authorities to stop more than 170 drone drops between November 2023 and March 2024, and wire taps foiled a murder-for-hire plot arranged by a prisoner, according to GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver.
The center of gravity in the staff component of the case was at Valdosta. The AJC reported that five Valdosta State Prison employees were arrested for allegedly helping an inmate move drugs and money, and that seven officers in total — six GDC correctional officers and one Grady County jailer — were arrested in connection with a contraband scheme run by Valdosta inmate Kydetrius Thomas. At least six correctional officers allegedly aided Thomas in smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills, and tobacco, handling financial transactions, and storing packages on his behalf. According to AJC reporting, Officer Walker allegedly conspired with Thomas to introduce contraband and traded information with him regarding law enforcement investigations and prison security; Officer Peak allegedly conspired with Thomas to obtain money to bond out another officer and attended the bond hearing, reporting findings to Thomas via cellphone; and Officer Mannings allegedly procured pills for Thomas, had over 400 phone conversations with him, and allegedly had sex with him. Correctional officer Alexandria Shadae Walker was arrested twice — first on December 1 on charges of improper dealings with an inmate and serving as a lookout for a drone drop, then again in February for allegedly conspiring with Thomas.
The drone supply side of the network ran through Robert Schwartz, the 65-year-old owner of Thunderdrones in Gwinnett County, who was arrested March 28, 2024, and charged under the state's RICO Act for alleged dealings with Valdosta inmate Joseph Broxton. The AJC reported Schwartz allegedly communicated with Broxton about the sale and repair of a drone altered to carry packages and programmed to mitigate no-fly zone software. Thunderdrones employee Nelda Leora Alber was also arrested March 28 and held without bond in Lowndes County jail. Separately, the AJC reported that three inmates used cellphones to run a crystal meth distribution network into metro Atlanta from Hancock and Valdosta state prisons, with fourteen others charged as brokers, distributors, and runners.
Staff Misconduct Beyond the Contraband Scheme
The arrests under Operation Skyhawk were not the full extent of staff misconduct surfaced in 2024. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 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. In July 2024, Warden Ralph Shropshire was fired; his personnel file states he was terminated for "misconduct," though the AJC reported the GDC declined to elaborate, citing an open investigation.
Staffing Collapse and the Conditions It Enables
Underneath every other failure documented at Valdosta State Prison is a staffing crisis that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported had reached eighty percent vacancy among correctional officer positions as of April 2024 — a level the paper described as making it virtually impossible to supervise the inmate population. The AJC's reporting on the Griffith case noted Valdosta's status as "the GDC's most understaffed and potentially most dangerous prison," and underscored the consequence in Melvin Towns' case: Towns could have served his probation-violation sentence in a county jail under court order but was instead sent to Valdosta, where he was killed twelve days before his scheduled release.
Advocates have additionally raised concerns about housing conditions at the facility, including reports of caged housing without toilet access. News reporting has separately described gang control of kitchen operations with staff complicity, and extortion of inmates for basic food items. On April 2, 2026, news reports documented gang-related fights at Smith, Wilcox, Hays, and Valdosta State Prisons that resulted in five inmates being sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Family Voices and the Pattern of Non-Notification
Coverage by WALB and the AJC has consistently surfaced the experience of families left without information by the GDC. WALB reported on the case of William Springer, who was stabbed multiple times in his face and head at Valdosta State Prison; doctors told his family he was brain-dead on arrival at a Macon hospital, where an honor walk was held before his body was sent to Atlanta and his organs donated. According to WALB, Springer's family — represented in coverage by Sara Sharpe — alleged that GDC failed to contact them after their loved one was attacked, and that inmates reported jailers did not respond to the stabbing for several hours.
Family members of other men killed at Valdosta — including Darrell Stone, Tonya Herndon, and Denise Robinson — have also been quoted in news coverage of the facility, alongside GDC spokesperson Joan Heath. The earliest publicly documented case of staff non-response cited in coverage of the facility is the December 2017 suicide of Jenna Mitchell, a young transgender prisoner held in solitary confinement who suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues; according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, her threats of suicide were ignored.
Sources
This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WALB; federal court filings, including the sanctions order issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Gardner and the Mackrell v. Butler complaint; the notice of intent to sue filed by Shane Griffith's family; GDC personnel and incident records referenced in news coverage; and accounts collected by GPS staff.
Timeline (63)
Source Articles (25)
Former leadership
Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.
| Role | Name | Tenure | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 1 (facility lead) | Carter, Curtis | 2025-01-01 → 2025-07-15 | 19 / 22 |
| Warden (facility lead) | Odum, ROY Matthew | 2024-10-16 → 2025-07-15 | 10 / 57 |
| WARDEN 3 (facility lead) | Emmons, Shawn F | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | 12 / 72 |
| WARDEN 3 (facility lead) | Emmons, Shawn F | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | 12 / 72 |
| WARDEN 3 (facility lead) | Emmons, Shawn F | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | 12 / 72 |
| WARDEN 1 (facility lead) | Emmons, Shawn F | 2018-07-01 → 2018-12-31 | 12 / 72 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Bryant, Delisha L | 2025-01-01 → 2025-03-15 | 19 / 19 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | 64 / 64 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Davis, Heather Alice | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | 52 / 52 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Marcus, Charlie J | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | 45 / 45 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | 64 / 64 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Marcus, Charlie J | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | 45 / 45 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Davis, Heather Alice | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | 52 / 52 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Davis, Heather Alice | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | 52 / 52 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Beasley, Jacob | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | 7 / 54 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | 64 / 64 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Pineiro, Aaron Thomas | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | 12 / 79 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Gibson, LEN Thomas | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | 64 / 64 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Mims, Charles Michael | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | 8 / 35 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Pineiro, Aaron Thomas | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | 12 / 79 |
Location
Aerial View
Architecture documents what the building was designed to hold. See the system-wide receipts at gps.press/warehouse.