AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON

Analysis written on August 9, 2026.

The State's Medical Hub, Under Extreme Strain

Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) in Grovetown occupies a unique and contradictory position in Georgia's prison system. Built in 1982 and opened in 1983, it is the state's primary close-security medical facility, providing level-V specialty medical and mental-health care to the most seriously ill and high-acuity incarcerated people from across the system. Its on-site hospital includes acute-care, long-term-care, crisis, and pre-/post-operative beds. The facility's original design capacity was 535, but it now holds 1,150 people — 86.7 percent of its expanded 1,326-bed capacity, though the fundamental infrastructure remains the smaller 1980s footprint. ASMP primarily houses men but can receive women for medical treatment. The warden is Deshawn B. Jones, who has held the position since June 2024; his deputies include Latasha Harris, Orbey Harmon, Michael Paschal (security), Barbra Colon (care and treatment), and Samantha Denise Carter (administration). Since 2020, GPS has tracked 385 deaths at ASMP — the heaviest mortality burden of any Georgia facility — painting a picture of a terminal-care hub that has become a recurring scene of violence, neglect, and institutional failure.

A Concentration of Deaths

The numbers are stark. Of the 385 deaths GPS has recorded at ASMP since 2020, 280 were classified as natural or medical, 72 remain unknown or pending, 13 were suicides, 10 were homicides, and 9 were accidents. The annual toll has remained consistently high: 62 in 2020, 57 in 2021, 65 in 2022, 63 in 2023, 65 in 2024, 45 in 2025, and 28 in the first eight months of 2026. The high proportion of natural deaths reflects ASMP's role as the terminal-care destination for aging and chronically ill prisoners across Georgia. But that designation, combined with severe understaffing, has also produced conditions in which avoidable deaths occur. In just the first half of 2026, three of the deaths were homicides: Jacobi Alandis Chomicki, 23, died on May 22 (cause undetermined but classified as homicide); Wanique Marsay Odwin, 44, on June 29; and Jerry Wayne Merritt, 59, on January 20. Another recent death, that of Donald Hugh Young on August 5, is pending investigation. The sheer volume of deaths has attracted federal attention: the Department of Justice's October 2024 findings report, cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, described horrific violence and a culture of indifference within GDC. ASMP's mortality rate alone makes it a facility of urgent concern.

Violence and Homicide in the Medical Prison

ASMP is not meant to be a violent facility — it is designed for medical care — yet the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has documented at least ten homicides there since 2020. The cases reveal a pattern of inmate-on-inmate killings facilitated by staff failures. On May 2, 2020, Eddie Gosier, 39, was strangled to death by ligature hours after guards moved inmate Daniel Luke Ferguson into his cell, despite Ferguson having a known history of strangling an inmate at Hays State Prison. That same year, on October 28, 2020, Thomas Henry Giles, 31, died from smoke inhalation after officers evacuated nearby cells but left Giles in his smoke-filled room for hours; the GBI ruled it a homicide. The state ultimately paid his family $3 million to settle a lawsuit, according to the Georgia Department of Administrative Services settlement ledger, though the AJC reported the total at $5 million. In 2021, two inmates were killed by blunt trauma and stabbing (Terry Lee Bennett II, 43, and Ali Lamont Tanner, 45). In 2022, William Taylor Bodge, 61, died from delayed complications of blunt force head injuries suffered weeks earlier, and Raphael Zachery Milligan, 41, was killed by blunt force and strangulation. In 2023, Amos Bennett Huff Jr., 60, was strangled by his young cellmate, and Randall Joey Futch, 61, died from delayed complications of blunt force head trauma. The violence continued in 2024: Thomas Preston Johnson, 56, was killed in April; Lamar Wesson Phillips, 39, was murdered by an inmate-on-inmate assault in June; and Rodarick Lee Hayes, 29, was stabbed to death in May — a case in which two inmates and a correctional officer were charged with murder, the officer accused of aiding the attack. The AJC's reporting found that the DOJ investigation concluded Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his death, suggesting a failure to protect him. GPS records across the past 12 months reflect 15 separate sources alleging inmate-on-inmate assault at ASMP, many at critical severity, with months-long clustering in April and May 2026. The violence is not episodic; it is structural.

Staffing Collapse, Gang Control, and Institutional Neglect

The DOJ's 2024 findings determined that GDC leadership has "lost control of its facilities," a conclusion echoed by former assistant warden Russell Zirkle. In on-record testimony published by GPS, Zirkle described Georgia prisons running officer vacancy rates of 70 to 80 percent. Systemwide, vacancies have ranged between 49 and 60 percent for years, against a national standard of no more than 10 percent. At ASMP, multiple family members and incarcerated witnesses reported to GPS that severe understaffing has allowed gang members to function as de facto authority figures, controlling access to showers, food, and bed assignments. Guards are reportedly assigned singly to entire buildings and often congregate away from their posts, leaving housing units unmonitored for hours — an allegation that families say has contributed to deaths going undiscovered until well after the fact.

GPS has additionally received multiple reports of gang leadership coordinating violence across facilities, including situations in which a gang leader allegedly obtained information about an incarcerated person's medical status before directing assaults against them. Anonymous tips describe a facility where policy enforcement is negligible: inmates cover cell windows, construct tents in open-bay dormitories, produce alcohol, and use drugs with little effective intervention, while officers are instructed only to observe and report violations that are rarely acted upon. Lockdowns, which have occurred repeatedly, are described as periods of extreme privation — no outdoor time for weeks to a month, limited meals, no air conditioning, and non-functional email kiosks that force reliance on contraband phones as the only reliable means of communication. The grievance system is widely characterized as non-functional; families report that personal property lost or destroyed during shakedowns is never replaced, and that staff have told incarcerated people that any formal complaint will result in a disciplinary report, transfer, or prolonged solitary confinement.

Medical Neglect and Staff-on-Inmate Abuse

ASMP's identity as a medical prison makes the accounts of direct staff abuse and denial of care particularly damning. GPS has documented multiple detailed incidents from early 2026. On February 14, 2026, around dinnertime, certified nursing assistant Janette Shields allegedly struck disabled inmate Bruce Charles Smith with an open hand in the prison's medical wing. Smith, who requires assistance with daily living tasks, weighed either 103 pounds (per GDC records) or 111 pounds (per the news report). The following day, February 15, a CNA identified as Williams allegedly locked the door of quadriplegic patient Anthony Shedd's room, cursed at him, refused to help him eat, and refused to empty his catheter bag — a combination that GPS staff assessed as denial of basic medical care with potentially life-threatening consequences for a person entirely dependent on staff for feeding and catheter management. Shedd (GDC ID 0000567033) had been housed at ASMP since at least October 2024. After the incidents, according to family members and news reports, the ASMP warden allegedly made threats of retaliation against Shedd for reporting CNA Williams, communicating via phone that any cursing or negative attitude toward staff would result in a disciplinary report and that any complaint would be met with a DR.

The Shedd and Smith incidents were only the most visible in a documented pattern. GPS staff observed a pattern of staff abuse allegations involving multiple incidents in close succession in 2024–2025, including refusing to assist with eating, catheter management, and the use of surveillance footage to cast doubt on patients' reported symptoms. Multiple inmates reported that medical staff reviewed camera footage to document their movements and support a narrative that they were exaggerating or malingering, and that neurological referrals, lab reviews, and physical therapy plans were delayed or not acted upon after abnormal findings. One witness described being cleaned with dampened chux pads because wipes were unavailable. Another reported that pills were regularly found after medication administration, but no change in method was made. These accounts cohere with GPS's broader systemic finding that GDC food and medical systems are chronically under-resourced and that disciplinary pressures discourage staff from acknowledging care failures.

Food Safety Scores Conceal Deeper Crises

On paper, ASMP's kitchens perform well. Georgia Department of Public Health inspection scores since 2023 have been consistently high — 100, 96, 97, 95, 100, 99, 91, 98 — all Grade A. But GPS's systemic investigation, "Dunked, Stacked, and Served," has identified a pattern across GDC kitchens in which high inspection scores mask serious sanitation failures: tray-sanitizing dishwashers broken for months, roach and rodent infestations in kitchen and serving areas, meals served on visibly contaminated trays, and food left unrefrigerated before distribution. At ASMP, anonymous tips indicate that special-diet sandwiches containing perishable meats are prepared in advance and left at room temperature until serving, that officers are expected to distribute unrefrigerated food, and that housing units have severe pest problems including large roaches. The Marshall Project corroborated the systemwide pattern in a May 2026 investigation that found rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities. GPS has documented that the state spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food — under 60 cents per meal — while spending roughly 14 times more on medical care than on nutrition for the same population. The contradiction between high inspection scores and witness accounts is the analytical center of GPS's food-safety investigation, and ASMP's experience aligns with it.

Legal Settlements and a Pattern of Institutional Defiance

State liability records obtained through open-records requests show that since 2015, Georgia has paid at least $3.95 million to settle seven claims tied to deaths and injuries at ASMP. The largest single settlement was the $3 million paid for the death of Thomas Henry Giles, left to die in a smoke-filled cell. Other settlements include $517,000 for the death of Terry Anthony in 2021, $300,000 for George Washington Hardy (2015), $100,000 for Adrian Jenkins (2017), and smaller payouts for Montra Moss, Eugene Griggs, Justina Collins-Powell, and Tangela Williams. These sums, while substantial, represent only the cases that reached settlement; they do not account for the uncounted deaths and injuries that never entered litigation.

The facilities' legal entanglements extend beyond individual damages. Since 2018, ASMP has been the center of the Benning v. Oliver litigation over inmate email access. Inmate Ralph Harrison Benning, housed at ASMP, challenged GDC's policy limiting email contacts to 12 individuals tied to the in-person visitation log. In 2024, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, concluding the restriction violated the First Amendment. GDC, however, failed to comply. In November 2024, Benning filed a motion alleging that the department was willfully and intentionally refusing to enforce the appellate order. On February 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Tilman Self held a 35-minute hearing in Macon, summoned GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to the witness stand, and scolded the department for defying a federal court ruling. Judge Self ultimately granted summary judgment for Benning, declaring the email-contact restriction unconstitutional and ordering GDC to cease enforcing it. The case, along with a prior finding that GDC was in contempt for willfully disregarding a court order to improve conditions in a high-security wing near Jackson, illustrates a department-wide posture of institutional defiance that has drawn repeated judicial rebuke.

Parole Promises That Never Materialized

In 2025, members of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles visited ASMP and interviewed a small group of long-serving incarcerated individuals for possible parole consideration. According to multiple family members and anonymous reports collected by GPS, a Board member told the selected individuals they "should be proud" of having been chosen by the warden, and staff characterized the process as an effort to demonstrate active work toward releasing people who had served decades. The people interviewed had served 30 years or more, often on life sentences. Yet as of early 2026, none had been released. Families reported that the process felt performative — a public-relations exercise rather than a genuine parole review — and that the selection was controlled by facility administration rather than an independent assessment. The episode mirrors broader GPS reporting on Georgia's opaque and arbitrary parole system, which a federal judge in March 2026 refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging, finding that the state's juvenile lifer parole procedures may constitute an unconstitutional sham.

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; GDC settlement ledgers obtained through open-records requests; federal court filings in Benning v. Oliver; GPS's mortality database and staff observations; incarcerated witness and family accounts collected by GPS; and on-record testimony from former GDC assistant warden Russell Zirkle published by Georgia Prisoners' Speak. GPS's systemic findings on staffing, food safety, violence, and classification drift provide the analytical framework.