WARE STATE PRISON

Last updated August 23, 2026.(DS)

Ware State Prison

Ware State Prison, opened in 1990 in Waycross, Ware County, is a close-security men's prison with a rated capacity of 1,546 beds — more than triple its original design capacity of 500. The facility houses roughly 1,438 people, mixing dormitory housing with high-security cellblocks including Tier II special-management units, and maintains a CERT team and other tactical resources. Under Warden James Spann, Ware has become one of the deadliest facilities in the Georgia Department of Corrections system: GPS's mortality database records 85 deaths at Ware since 2020, including 21 homicides — a figure that places the facility among the most violent in the state. This page examines the intersecting crises that produced those numbers: a 2020 riot the state publicly minimized, a sustained pattern of inmate-on-inmate killings that prosecutors have largely declined to pursue, gang control over housing and movement, and a staffing collapse that GPS and federal investigators have both tied directly to the violence.

The August 2020 Riot and the State's "Disturbance"

On August 1, 2020, malfunctioning doors at Ware State Prison allowed incarcerated people to walk out of their rooms. Those prisoners took two guards hostage, beating and stabbing one; ultimately hundreds of inmates ransacked the prison. GDC records show 33 homemade weapons were used, 55 security staff were directly involved in the response, and a mass employee exodus followed. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that GDC publicly described the incident as merely a "disturbance," while internal records describe it as involving hostage-taking, escape attempts, assaults, and use of force.

GPS's own reporting has documented the riot and its aftermath, including a punitive lockdown with power cuts imposed during summer heat. The gap between the state's public characterization and the internal record is the analytical center of this section: a facility that experienced a mass hostage-taking and hundreds of inmates ransacking housing units was described to the public in the most anodyne terms available. That framing choice set a pattern for how Ware's violence would be discussed — or not discussed — in the years that followed.

Nineteen Men, No Prosecutions

GPS's investigation "At Least Nineteen: The Murders the State Didn't Prosecute" documented that at least nineteen men have been killed by other prisoners inside Ware State Prison since 2020. Georgia's own autopsies name a suspect in eleven of those deaths. GPS could find no record that anyone was ever prosecuted.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's homicide tracking has independently documented the individual deaths. Robert Lee Wilson III, 31, died July 17, 2020, from multiple stab wounds; an incident report shows 16 other inmates were involved, seven of whom were injured. Christopher Arnett Rawls, 32, died September 5, 2020, by strangulation. Christopher Eli Gresham, 39, died September 30, 2021, from stab wounds to the back and lower extremities, with three other inmates involved. Kyle Anthony Strother, 31, died June 5, 2022, from a stab wound to the chest. Va'Darian LaVianta Carr, 26, died September 18, 2022, from stab wounds to the chest and back. Alfonso Marquez Moore, 30, died June 19, 2023, from blunt impact injuries to the head. Thomas Jerome McCoy, 38, died October 7, 2023, from a stab wound to the chest, with three other prisoners involved. Leonardo Lamonte Anderson, 49, died April 20, 2024, from multiple stab wounds. Christopher Michael Drake Taylor, 33, died May 28, 2024, from a stab wound to the torso. Kojack Thomas Jr., 27, was pronounced dead on May 31, 2024; GDC's Office of Professional Standards is investigating the death as a potential homicide, and his body was sent to the GBI crime lab. Samuel Keith Ellis, 31, died August 1, 2024, from multiple sharp force injuries, with three inmates involved.

The AJC reported that ten inmates were killed at Ware between July 2020 and August 2024, with multiple inmates involved in several of the homicides according to GDC incident reports. GPS's mortality database records 21 homicides at Ware since 2020 — a number that continues to climb. In May 2026 alone, GPS records show Kojack Thomas Jr. (May 31), Justin Dean Pulley (May 20), and Anthony Terrell Grover (May 11) all died at Ware, all classified as homicides. The pattern is not merely historical; it is ongoing.

A Body Undiscovered for Days

DonTavis Mintz died at Ware State Prison, and his body was not discovered for days. When his remains were returned to his mother, Narissa Wright, she could only identify him by a single tooth. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported Wright's allegation that no counts or welfare checks were conducted at the facility, allowing her son's body to go undiscovered.

The Mintz case is the most visceral illustration of what happens when staffing and supervision collapse: a man dies, and no one notices for days. GPS has received recurring family accounts of deaths at Ware being classified in ways families dispute — including allegations that deaths were wrongly classified as suicides. The Ware County Coroner ruled one incarcerated person's death a suicide, according to records GPS has reviewed, while family members have alleged murder. These accounts are unverified, but they sit against a documented backdrop: GPS's mortality database records 12 suicides at Ware since 2020, alongside 21 homicides and 8 overdoses.

Gang Control of Housing and Movement

GPS has documented a systemic pattern at Ware in which gang-affiliated incarcerated people exercise control over housing assignments and entire dormitories. Multiple inmate witnesses report that gang members monopolize single-occupancy cells, refuse assigned cellmates, and restrict other incarcerated people's access to certain housing areas. Non-affiliated incarcerated people report being displaced to sleeping on dayroom floors or confined multiple people to a single small cell. Weapons — including large knives — are reported to be widely carried among the incarcerated population.

These accounts are corroborated at scale in GPS's intelligence records: over the past 12 months, GPS records show 20 distinct sources contributing assault-by-inmate signals at Ware across 9 cases spanning 5 months, with a concentration of critical-severity signals in May 2026. GPS's internal analysis has identified Gangster Disciples presence and inter-gang conflict at Ware as an area warranting dedicated intelligence monitoring. Inmate witnesses report that violent incidents are more frequent during periods of reduced staffing — particularly weekends, when administrative staff are reported to be unavailable and gang members are reported to exercise greater control over housing units.

The staffing collapse that enables this is systemic. GPS has documented that officer vacancies in Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3% and 60% systemwide for multiple years, against a national standard of no more than 10%. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter explicitly 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." Approximately 31% of the system's ~49,000 incarcerated population are validated members of 315 different security threat groups — more than double the national average. DOJ and the Guidehouse 2024 consultant assessment independently concluded that gangs effectively run multiple facilities, controlling access to phones, showers, food, and bed assignments.

Food Safety Scores and the Contradiction

Ware State Prison's kitchen has received consistently high scores from Georgia Department of Public Health inspections: 95 in April 2023, 95 in November 2023, 94 in May 2024, 94 in November 2024, 98 in March 2025, 97 in August 2025, and 98 in March 2026 — all Grade A. The violations cited are routine: physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean; insects, rodents, and animals not present; adequate ventilation and lighting.

Yet 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 Marshall Project independently reported in May 2026 on rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities. GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food — under 60 cents per meal — versus the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for an adult man's nutritionally adequate diet.

At Ware specifically, GPS has received family reports of undercooked or raw food being served, significantly smaller meal portions than required by state guidelines, and a formal complaint filed in 2026 about food safety and meal portions. A family member requested an immediate health inspection of the Ware kitchen. These accounts are unverified, but they sit against the documented systemic pattern: high DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination. The contradiction is the analytical center of GPS's investigation "Dunked, Stacked, and Served."

Liability Payouts and the Cost of Custody

The State of Georgia has paid out at least five liability settlements tied to Ware State Prison incidents, according to the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records. David Michael Slaughter (2015): $2,500. Christopher Stewart (2016): $50,578. Denard Brown (2019): $10,000 — linked to a documented death record. Bennie James Johnson (2021): $2,500. Jimmy Mack Rice (2023): $20,000.

These payouts are not large by civil-rights litigation standards, but they represent the state's own acknowledgment — through its risk-management arm — that something went wrong at Ware in each of those cases. The Denard Brown settlement, tied to a documented death, is the most significant: the state paid $10,000 to resolve a claim arising from a death at the facility.

The Broader Pattern

Ware State Prison is not an outlier in the Georgia system; it is a concentrated expression of failures GPS has documented across the state. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that sexual assault is "rampant" in GDC facilities and that GDC does not reasonably protect incarcerated people from sexual harm. Most GDC facilities are 30-40+ years old, with documented patterns of deferred maintenance that have produced systemwide infrastructure failures: broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, broken kitchen sanitization equipment, and pest infestations. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, gang-control, and mortality crises documented at the facility level.

At Ware, the force multiplication is visible in the numbers: 85 deaths since 2020, 21 of them homicides. Nineteen men killed by other prisoners, with autopsies naming suspects in eleven cases — and no prosecutions GPS could find. A riot the state called a "disturbance." A body undiscovered for days. Gang members controlling housing while non-affiliated men sleep on dayroom floors. Kitchen scores of 98 while families report raw food and short portions.

GPS has independently tracked 1,863 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020. Ware State Prison accounts for 85 of them.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and The Marshall Project; Georgia Department of Public Health inspection records; GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledgers obtained through open records; GDC incident reports and public statements; federal court findings including the October 2024 DOJ investigation; GPS's own investigative reporting including "At Least Nineteen: The Murders the State Didn't Prosecute" and "Dunked, Stacked, and Served"; GPS's mortality database; and inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff.