Last updated November 1, 2026.(DS)

Augusta State Medical Prison: The System's Hospital and Its Body Count

Augusta State Medical Prison in Grovetown is where the Georgia Department of Corrections sends the people it can no longer care for anywhere else — the dialysis patients, the cancer cases, the men on feeding tubes, the psychiatric patients in crisis. Built in 1982 and opened in 1983, it combines general housing units with an on-site hospital that includes acute-care, long-term-care, crisis, and pre-/post-operative beds, and it carries the system's medical-hub and mental-health designations. It primarily houses men but can receive women for medical treatment. Its original design capacity was 535; its current rated capacity is 1,326, and GPS records a population of 1,149 — 86.7 percent of rated capacity. The warden is Deshawn B. Jones, who has held the post since June 2024.

What follows is the record of a facility that is simultaneously the system's last line of medical defense and one of its deadliest addresses: 398 GPS-tracked deaths since January 1, 2020, a documented pattern of staff abuse against disabled men, a federal court fight over email censorship that ended with a judge holding the Department in contempt, and a mortality-reporting apparatus that GPS's own analysis suggests cannot be taken at face value.

A Hospital That Buries Hundreds

GPS has recorded 398 deaths at Augusta State Medical Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. The yearly distribution is remarkably flat: 62 in 2020, 57 in 2021, 65 in 2022, 63 in 2023, 65 in 2024, 45 in 2025, and 41 so far in 2026. By cause category, GPS records 293 as Natural/Medical, 67 as Unknown/Pending, 17 as Suicide, 11 as Homicide, 9 as Accident, and 1 as Other. For context, GPS has independently tracked 1,928 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020.

The most recent deaths GPS has recorded at the facility, in reverse order, are these. Richard Atwood died September 18, 2026, at age 68; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Donnie Gene Poland died September 15, 2026, at 60, Natural/Medical. Alphonso Dade died September 14, 2026, at 70, Natural/Medical — a death GDC officially confirmed. Demilo Ponchorello Johnson died September 10, 2026, at 48, Natural/Medical. Dwight Bernard Freeman died August 28, 2026, at 69, Unknown/Pending. Jimmie Lee Dennis died August 17, 2026, at 64, Unknown/Pending. John Henry Tuff died August 8, 2026, at 75, Unknown/Pending. Anretoes Kenwood Wilkins died August 7, 2026, at 50, Unknown/Pending. Donald Hugh Young died August 5, 2026, at 49, Unknown/Pending — a death GDC has officially confirmed, though the cause remains pending and a GDC exact-ID lookup later returned not_found for his number. Phillip Curtis Walker died July 16, 2026, at 62, Unknown/Pending. Kolby Young died July 13, 2026, at 24, Unknown/Pending. Edouard Kamdem died July 12, 2026, at 77, Unknown/Pending. Joseph Daniel Bristol died July 11, 2026, at 73, Unknown/Pending. David James Vineyard died July 3, 2026, at 58, Unknown/Pending. Jerry Watson died July 2, 2026, at 75, Unknown/Pending. Wanique Marsay Odwin died June 29, 2026, at 44; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. David Meeks died June 20, 2026, at 62, Unknown/Pending. James Dean Wilkinson died May 28, 2026, at 69, Unknown/Pending. Jacobi Alandis Chomicki died May 22, 2026, at 23; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Frederick Raskin died May 12, 2026, at 84, Unknown/Pending. Henry Ross died May 11, 2026, at 56, Natural/Medical. Manuel Gomez died May 9, 2026; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Robert Bruce Green died May 5, 2026, at 69, Natural/Medical. Lemarcus Antonio Dunson died April 27, 2026, at 50, Natural/Medical. Walter Caldwell died April 25, 2026, at 49, Natural/Medical.

The full registry, which runs to 398 names, is published at GPS's facility death list.

The Coroner's Record: Cancer, Sepsis, and the Machinery of Natural Death

The Richmond County Coroner's Office has produced cause-of-death findings for a long run of these deaths, and the pattern they describe is the pattern of a hospital ward: metastatic cancer, sepsis, renal failure, cardiac disease. Johnny Robertson died of metastatic prostate and liver cancer, manner natural (case 20-AC00421). Willie James Bush died of complications of metastatic lung cancer. Robert Lee Robinson of metastatic bladder and lung cancer. Paul Stafford of complications of T-cell lymphoma. Tommy Hicks of sepsis. Peacory Ricoddo Mathis of metastatic laryngeal cancer. Isaac Johnson of complications of end-stage renal disease. Federico Sanchez of end-stage renal disease with dialysis. Charles Thomas White of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Marty Clinton Crawford of metastatic lung cancer (case 240729-481). Lewis Lane House of lung cancer with metastases to the brain (case 241105-747). Willie James Milledge of pancreatic cancer metastasized to the liver (case 22-AC00703). John Calvin Shadrick of metastatic lung cancer. Eric Deal of complications of lung cancer. Jason Andrew Mostella of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Joshua Cain Phillips of acute myeloblastic leukemia. Steven Wayne Glenn of acute myeloblastic leukemia. Ricky Martin of complications from acute myeloid leukemia. Enoc Barraza of complications of acute myeloid leukemia.

Not all of it is cancer. Sidney Dorsey, 86, died March 2, 2026, of complications of embolic cerebral infarction, manner natural (case 260303-92). Henry Ross died of hemorrhagic shock, manner natural (case 260511-791). Hanna died of hypothermia with altered mental status of unclear etiology complicating dementia and hypertensive heart disease, manner natural (case 250305-223). Darius Dorian Grant died of blunt force head trauma following a fall, manner accident, in a finding produced in response to an open-records request dated June 29, 2026. Trico Rocco Williams died of asphyxia, manner accident (case 241118-395). Keith Chaney died of the toxic effects of methamphetamine, manner accident (case 24-AC00277). And a cluster of men died by hanging — Chad Robert Bassant, whose certified manner was suicide by hanging and whose autopsy was performed by the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences under case DOFS 2023-1001914; Daryl Wayne Gordon, asphyxiation by ligature, manner suicide; Milton Cameron, ligature hanging, manner suicide, case 240905-479; and Stephen Prochaska, hanging, manner suicide, autopsy report ME-25-10286 / DOFS 2025-1001962.

The Cameron file is the one that most repays reading. Per the investigator narrative, Cameron was held in a psychiatric unit in a single cell, serving a life sentence. At 0522 on hourly rounds, staff found the cell door barricaded with bedding and clothing. He was found unresponsive on the cell floor with a ligature around his neck, first found seated. The ligature appeared to be a bedsheet presumed tied to an old shelf. 911 was called at 0531; the ligature was cut; resuscitation was attempted; he was pronounced at the scene at 0945. He had been last seen alive talking to staff at 0400 the previous day and was described as fine. DOC staff reported no known history of suicidal ideation or attempts — though the investigator narrative also records scars on his forearms presumed to be from past self-harm. No note was found.

Homicides: The Violence That Reaches the Medical Unit

Eleven of the 398 deaths GPS records at the facility are classified as homicides, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's running list of Georgia prison homicides documents the circumstances of most of them. The AJC reported that GDC incident report data shows a murder at the facility on June 8, 2024 — Lamar Wesson Phillips, 39, killed in an inmate-to-inmate assault. Thomas Preston Johnson, 56, died April 12, 2024; incident reports show a homicide. Randall Joey Futch, 61, died June 8, 2023, of delayed complications of blunt force head trauma. Amos Bennett Huff Jr., 60, was strangled on March 30, 2023; his 26-year-old cellmate was charged with his murder. Raphael Zachery Milligan, 41, died July 21, 2022, of blunt force injuries and strangulation; another prisoner was charged. William Taylor Bodge, 61, died February 5, 2022, of delayed complications of blunt force head injuries suffered weeks earlier, on January 20, 2022. Ali Lamont Tanner, 45, died July 2, 2021, of a stab wound to the neck. Terry Lee Bennett II, 43, died January 10, 2021, of blunt impact to the head.

Two cases stand apart. Rodarick Lee Hayes, 29, died May 25, 2024, of sharp force injury of the torso; the AJC reported that two prisoners and a correctional officer were charged with murder, with the officer accused of aiding in the attack, and that according to court records Hayes and other prisoners were allegedly attacking another prisoner, who stabbed Hayes. The AJC further reported that the Department of Justice investigation of Georgia prisons found Hayes had been attacked on multiple occasions before his death — a failure-to-protect finding attached to a man who died inside the state's medical facility.

The other is Thomas Henry Giles, 31, who died October 28, 2020, from inhalation of products of combustion after being left in his smoke-filled cell for hours while officers evacuated nearby inmates. The GBI ruled the death a homicide. The state agreed to pay his family $5 million to settle a lawsuit over his death, per the AJC; the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through open records, records a $3,000,000 liability payout tied to the facility and linked to a documented death record. Eddie Gosier, 39, died May 2, 2020, by ligature strangulation, hours after guards moved Daniel Luke Ferguson into his cell — a man with a prior history of strangling an inmate at Hays State Prison.

The Settlement Ledger: What the State Has Paid

The DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records a series of payouts tied to the facility across more than a decade: $517,000 in the Terry Anthony matter (2021 incident); $300,000 in the George Washington Hardy matter (2015); $100,000 in the Adrian Jenkins matter (2017); $17,500 in the Eugene Griggs matter (2017); $10,000 in the Montra Moss matter (2017); $9,500 in the Tangela Williams matter (2017); and $2,726 in the Justina Collins-Powell matter (2022). These are state liability payouts, not findings of fault in every instance — but they are the price the state has recorded for what happens inside the building.

Anthony Shedd, Bruce Smith, and the Abuse of the Powerless

The most detailed account of staff conduct at the facility concerns two disabled men, in the same medical wing, on consecutive days in February 2026.

Anthony Shedd is a quadriplegic patient housed at the facility (GDC ID 0000567033). According to reporting, on February 15, 2026, a CNA identified as Williams allegedly refused to help Shedd eat, refused to empty his catheter bag, cursed at him, and locked the door of his room. The day before, February 14, 2026, around dinnertime, Janette Shields — a 67-year-old certified nursing assistant — allegedly struck inmate Bruce Smith with an open hand in the prison's medical wing. Smith is disabled and requires assistance with daily living tasks and medical care; GDC records show his weight as 103 pounds, while the news article reported it as 111. Shields was arrested on February 14; GPS's own reporting describes her arrest on charges of simple battery and exploitation of an elderly or disabled person, and notes she was booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center and later released on bond. The source article characterizes the two consecutive-day incidents as establishing a pattern of staff misconduct.

The retaliation allegedly did not stop with the CNAs. According to reporting, the facility warden allegedly made threats of retaliation against Shedd for reporting Williams, communicated via a phone call to Cindy Robertson around February 20–21, 2026. GPS staff who reviewed the matter characterized a reported refusal to assist an incarcerated person with eating as a denial of basic medical care, and separately assessed that an incarcerated person's ability to use electronic messaging indicated intact cognitive function despite a physical condition — a detail that matters because cognitive capacity is the ground on which "he can speak for himself" gets turned into "he is malingering."

GPS records show a sustained pattern around these themes in the past twelve months: 8 medical-neglect signals at critical and high severity, 8 staff-misconduct signals, 4 family-safety-concern signals, 4 grievance-obstruction signals, and 4 mental-health-crisis-unattended signals concentrated in July 2026. GPS records 7 external-complaint signals in the period, with external entities named in those records including the DOJ Civil Rights Division, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. GPS has also received accounts of use-of-force incidents at the facility, and of an in-custody death attributed to a man never being moved from the dorm to medical care.

Benning v. Oliver: A Man at Augusta Takes On the Mailroom

Ralph Harrison Benning, an incarcerated man at the facility, filed a 2018 lawsuit challenging GDC restrictions and censorship on inmate email, including a limit of 12 email contacts tied to the in-person visitation log. In 2024, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted Benning a favorable ruling concluding GDC could not limit his email contacts to 12 individuals listed on his visitation log who had been cleared by a background check. In November 2024, Benning filed a motion claiming GDC was "willfully and intentionally" refusing to comply with the appellate order and that he "continues to be subject to email-contact restriction."

What followed is one of the more extraordinary episodes in recent Georgia corrections law. A federal judge in Middle Georgia — in a separate matter concerning a high-security prison wing near Jackson — had already found GDC in contempt, issuing a 100-page order finding state prison officials willfully disregarded requirements to improve deplorable conditions. On February 11, 2026, Judge Self held a 35-minute hearing in Macon, summoned GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to the witness stand, and scolded the department for failing to follow court orders on inmate email access. Judge Self found it "shocking" and "unbelievable" that GDC had ignored an order from the Eleventh Circuit, suggesting the department acts as if it is "above the law." Early in 2026, following the court's order calling for an explanation of non-compliance, GDC sent a directive to all prison wardens and superintendents to no longer enforce the portion of the policy limiting email contacts. The relationship graph records the February 10, 2026 event as Judge Self holding the GDC Commissioner in contempt for defying the court order.

What the Mortality Numbers May Not Show

GPS's own analysis of the facility's death records raises a structural caution about the "Natural/Medical" category. An internal GPS analysis found that a GDC "natural" cause-of-death designation at the facility was not an autopsy finding, and that no pathologist examined the body for that determination. In a comparison of 10 cause-of-death coding conflicts between GPS and GDC at the facility during 2020–2021, 8 involved GDC coding as "Natural" a death that a medical examiner or coroner attributed to violence, overdose, suicide, or accident. GPS also identified a cluster of four deaths at the facility within a two-day span in 2021, where GPS and GDC coding disagreed in both directions.

Against an external academic dataset (the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project series), GPS validated 200 records in which it already held a cause of death and found agreement about 84.5 percent of the time; where the two disagreed, GPS's coding was most often more specific than GDC's "Undetermined" classification. GPS also found that the spreadsheet's date-of-death column in one mortality dataset contained an invalid sequential placeholder series rather than actual dates, requiring dates to be taken from the official mortality report instead — and a 2026 correction to Thad Junior Thomas's recorded date of death (from 2024-11-04 to 2024-10-28, then restored) traced to a misaligned row read of the GDC CY2024 mortality PDF. Thomas, 71, died at the facility on November 4, 2024, per the official report.

Infrastructure, Heat, Food, and the Medical Documentation Standard

The facility's DPH food-safety inspections are, on paper, strong: 100 on April 11, 2025; 99 and 90 on August 15, 2025; 91 and 98 on February 26, 2026; 97 and 95 in December 2024; 100 and 96 in June 2024; 100 in December 2023. Inspector Derek Buzhardt conducted the recent rounds. GPS has documented a systemic pattern in which DPH scores systematically fail to capture kitchen sanitation failure — broken tray-sanitizing dishwashers, roach and rodent infestation, meals served on contaminated trays — because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. The contradiction between high scores and sustained witness reports is the analytical center of GPS's investigation "Dunked, Stacked, and Served."

The nursing documentation standard in use at the facility is specific and, read closely, damning by implication. The Infirmary/OPHU Nurse Round Progress Note form (I006.1) was last revised May 24, 2022, with Karina Purcell listed as form owner. The form's vital-sign alert thresholds require contacting a health care provider for oxygen saturation below 90 percent, temperature above 101°F, respirations persistently at or below 10 or at or above 20, pulse at or above 110 or at or below 60, and blood pressure with systolic at or above 180 or at or below 90, or diastolic at or above 110 or at or below 60. Those are the tripwires. Whether they were pulled is a question the records themselves cannot answer from the outside.

GPS records show 4 inadequate-climate signals and 3 sanitation-failure signals at the facility in the past twelve months, alongside 5 staffing-shortage signals. GPS has documented that officer vacancies across the system have run between 49.3 and 60 percent for multiple years against a national standard of no more than 10 percent, and that the October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded GDC leadership had "lost control of its facilities." At a facility where the population is, by definition, the sickest in the system, a staffing collapse is not an abstraction.

Pups in the Pen, and What the Facility Offers

The facility runs a dog-fostering and training program called Pups in the Pen, in which incarcerated men foster and train rescue dogs. Over a little more than two years, the initiative has helped place more than 120 dogs in homes, per GDC. One of them, Hope, was discovered near a trash can, emaciated and barely alive; a veterinarian recommended euthanasia, but she was sent to the program and has since been adopted into a permanent home.

Beyond that program, the public record of what the facility offers the people held there is thin. GPS has received recurring reports that educational programming is effectively unavailable, with staff citing facility policy as the justification. That absence is itself a finding: at the system's flagship medical prison, the documented programming is a dog program and not much else that the record reflects.

Sources

This analysis draws on GPS's mortality registry and its internal validation of cause-of-death coding against the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project series; the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; Richmond County Coroner's Office case summaries and GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports produced through open-records requests; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; GDC official mortality reports and forms, including the Infirmary/OPHU Nurse Round Progress Note (I006.1); federal court filings and hearing records in Benning v. Oliver and related Eleventh Circuit and district court proceedings; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including its running list of Georgia prison homicides and its two-year investigation into GDC corruption and understaffing; GDC program reporting on Pups in the Pen; GPS-authored reporting on staff arrests and abuse allegations at the facility; and inmate, family, and staff accounts collected by GPS.