CALHOUN STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 750 (at 221% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,677 beds
- Current Population
- 1,661
- Active Lifers
- 572 (34.4% of population) · Jun 2026 GDC report
- Life Without Parole
- 1 (0.1%)
Read: Brown v. Plata - A Legal Roadmap for Georgia's Prison Crisis →
- Address
- 27823 Main Street, Morgan, GA 39866
- Phone
- (229) 849-5000
- Fax
- (229) 849-5017
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 249, Morgan, GA 39866
- County
- Calhoun County
- Opened
- 1994
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
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) | Hudson, Charles Leonard | 2026-06-01 | — / 14 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Scott, Tracey | 2020-01-01 | 28 / 28 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Spencer, Gwendolyn A | 2024-01-01 | 14 / 14 |
| Deputy Warden of Security (facility deputy) | Johnson, Curtis Tyrone | 2025-01-01 | 7 / 7 |
About
Calhoun State Prison, a medium-security facility in Morgan, Georgia, is at the center of the state's classification crisis, holding nearly 30% close-security inmates. A mass transfer of 87 life-sentenced prisoners to Level 5 facilities in early 2026, documented by GPS, reveals a deliberate population swap toward a shor
Mortality Statistics
30 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 2
- 2025: 7
- 2024: 7
- 2023: 5
- 2022: 5
- 2021: 1
- 2020: 3
County Public Health Department
Food service and sanitation at CALHOUN STATE PRISON fall under the jurisdiction of the Calhoun 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
- Environmental Health Director
- Address
-
P.O. Box 56
Morgan, GA 31766 - Phone
- (229) 849-2515
- calhoun.eh@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.
June 9, 2026
RE: Request for Unannounced Public Health Inspection of Food Service Operations at CALHOUN STATE PRISON
Dear County Environmental Health Director,
I am writing to respectfully request that your office conduct a thorough, unannounced inspection of food service and sanitation practices at CALHOUN STATE PRISON, located in Calhoun 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
Georgia Department of Public Health
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 inspections
| Date | Score | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2026 | 98 | Routine | |
| Jul 23, 2025 | 99 | Routine | |
| Jan 8, 2025 | 98 | Routine | |
| Jul 25, 2024 | 99 | Routine | |
| Jan 10, 2024 | 98 | Routine | |
| Jul 19, 2023 | 97 | Routine |
January 7, 2026 — Score 98
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17C |
physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean 511-6-1.07(5)(a),(b) - good repair, physical facilities maintained; cleaning, frequency & restrictions, cleaned often enough to keep them clean (c) Repeat | 1 | Oberved worn and damaged floors throughout food prep areas. |
July 23, 2025 — Score 99
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17C |
physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean 511-6-1.07(5)(a),(b) - good repair, physical facilities maintained; cleaning, frequency & restrictions, cleaned often enough to keep them clean (c) | 1 | Observed damaged floors in need of repair. |
January 8, 2025 — Score 98
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17C |
physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean 511-6-1.07(5)(a),(b) - good repair, physical facilities maintained; cleaning, frequency & restrictions, cleaned often enough to keep them clean (c) Repeat | 1 | Observed damaged floors in need of repair throughout food preparation and dish washing areas. |
July 25, 2024 — Score 99
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17C |
physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean 511-6-1.07(5)(a),(b) - good repair, physical facilities maintained; cleaning, frequency & restrictions, cleaned often enough to keep them clean (c) | 1 | Observed damaged floors in need of repair throughout food preparation areas. |
January 10, 2024 — Score 98
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13A |
posted: permit/inspection/choking poster/handwashing 511-6-1.02(1)(d) - displaying of the inspection report (c) | 1 | Manager could not locate last inspection report during this inspection. |
| 17C |
physical facilities installed, maintained, and clean 511-6-1.07(5)(a),(b) - good repair, physical facilities maintained; cleaning, frequency & restrictions, cleaned often enough to keep them clean (c) | 1 | Observed damaged ceiling over prep tables in food prep rooms. |
July 19, 2023 — Score 97
Routine · Inspector: Ken Collins
| Code | Violation | Pts | Inspector notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 |
insects, rodents, and animals not present 511-6-1.07(5)(k) - controlling pests (pf, c) | 3 | Observed roaches in warehouse and kitchen. |
Analysis written on June 7, 2026.
A Medium-Security Prison Operating as Close Security
According to GDC data obtained by Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS), as of October 2025 Calhoun State Prison housed 487 close-security inmates—29.4% of its total population. With an original design capacity of just 750, the facility held 1,661 men, placing it among four medium-security prisons that GPS's investigation "The Classification Crisis: How Four Medium Security Prisons Are Killing People" identified as de facto close-security facilities. GPS analysis found that these four prisons—Calhoun, Dooly, Wilcox, and Washington—operate with homicide rates four to five times higher than properly classified prisons, a finding corroborated by the U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 investigation, which revealed that GDC systematically misclassifies homicides as unknown or undetermined deaths. At Calhoun, the DOJ specifically cited a 2022 homicide: DaQuavious Cachone Lackey, 21, was beaten to death by his cellmate after staff failed to follow classification and housing-assignment procedures when moving the assailant between segregation and general population.
That classification drift took a dramatic turn in early 2026 when Warden Kendric Jackson oversaw what GPS reporting documented as a systematic purge of life-sentenced prisoners. Over a three-month period, 87 lifers were transferred out, with 79.3% sent to Level 5 close-security facilities including Hancock, Hays, Telfair, and Ware State Prisons. The final week of March saw a concentrated wave of 36 transfers. GPS's analysis of GDC records reveals that the transferred men were overwhelmingly Black, many over age 60, convicted of murder, and parole-eligible—often with clean disciplinary records and active program participation. In their place, Calhoun received a surge of short-sentence prisoners being reclassified downward from close-security facilities, a population swap that GPS data indicates is shifting the prison away from a stable, long-term medium-security model toward a short-term throughput operation. Multiple inmate witnesses and family accounts shared with GPS described a deliberate effort by the administration to remove lifers, and one family member reported that a person with a medium-security classification was transferred into the facility despite that designation.
Death, Neglect, and the Federal Investigation
The DOJ's findings highlighted a specific case at Calhoun in which an incarcerated person died of dehydration after staff shut off his water, closed his door flap, and did not deliver meals for two days. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the 24-year-old, who died in February 2023, suffered dehydration with renal failure; federal investigators concluded the death was retaliatory after the man threw water through his cell flap. A separate grievance alleging gang extortion and violence was rejected as untimely with no follow-up, WALB reported. Across the facility, the DOJ found that fewer than 10% of fights, less than 23% of inmate-on-inmate assaults, and fewer than 6% of weapon incidents were forwarded for investigation.
GPS's mortality database records 28 deaths at Calhoun State Prison, including Jimmy McMullen, 67, in January 2026, and Matthew Len Nutt, 37, in December 2025, the latter classified under cause category 3—a designation that external reviews have linked to suspicious or unconfirmed circumstances. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented that Kenneth Piper, 37, was killed in an inmate-on-inmate assault in May 2024, and Gonzalo Colmenero, 54, died in another assault two months later. In October 2023, Martel Dorsey, 34, was stabbed after being chased out of a dorm. Willie Andrew Willis Jr. died of sepsis after a fall from a balcony at the prison; his family alleged he was thrown and that nearly an hour passed before he was airlifted for treatment. WALB reported that the family challenged a nurse's account that Willis had walked to get Tylenol, noting he was paralyzed and on a ventilator.
A Collapse in Evidence Handling: The Hot Pockets Scandal
In February 2020, correctional officers Corlethia Lattimore and Imani Ferguson arrived for their shifts with Hot Pockets packages allegedly containing methamphetamine and tobacco, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Both were fired, and GDC investigator Ruby Long obtained arrest warrants—but the drug evidence was never submitted to the GBI crime lab for testing. In July 2023, the charges were dismissed. An AJC investigation revealed that between 2018 and 2021, nearly two dozen Calhoun-related drug smuggling cases were dismissed because evidence was never tested, including charges against five prison employees and dozens of suspected smugglers. The Calhoun County Sheriff's Department similarly failed to submit evidence in 12 cases, despite the sheriff's claim that deputies had sent samples to the state lab. District Attorney Joe Mulholland dismissed the cases, citing a lack of forensic reports.
This systemic failure did not stop the flow of contraband. In 2019, Officer Temperess Johnson was sentenced to five years in federal prison for attempting to smuggle 2.6 pounds of meth and eight cellphones into Calhoun in a GDC van. Incarcerated individuals like Edwin Murillo brokered major meth sales from the prison and later directed a torture-murder; Jonathan Alvin Pope led a multi-county drug ring; and Pedro Barragan Valencia coordinated over 250 kilograms of meth. Two inmates were convicted of running a nationwide wire fraud and extortion scheme that targeted 119 victims across six states using contraband cell phones. GPS's reporting shows that GDC installed a $50 million Managed Access System (MAS) at 34 prisons, including Calhoun in mid-2025—after the major frauds had already been perpetrated. GPS has criticized the blocking technology as "deaf by design," noting that monitoring capabilities already exist and could have detected ongoing crimes.
Staffing Deficits and Reliance on Off-Duty Sheriffs
Statewide, correctional officer vacancies have exceeded 50% for years, with some facilities reaching 80% by 2024, GPS has documented. At Calhoun, understaffing has forced GDC to pay the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office for off-duty perimeter patrols. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the agency paid nearly $127,000 to Sheriff Josh Hilton and eight deputies at $45 per hour, the AJC reported. The DOJ investigation noted that EMS teams inside Georgia prisons face average delays of 30 minutes due to understaffing—a lag that can be fatal, as several deaths at Calhoun underscore.
High Inspection Scores Mask Deeper Food Insecurity
Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections at Calhoun have consistently returned scores of 96 to 100 (Grade A) from 2023 through 2026, with minor violations for handwashing facilities or cleanliness. Yet GPS's systemic food investigation, "Dunked, Stacked, and Served," found that such scores systematically fail to capture persistent equipment failures, roach and rodent infestation, and service on visibly contaminated trays. GDC's own budget reflects a food spend of roughly $1.69 per person per day, or under a dollar per meal, far below the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of about $10 per day for an adult male's nutritionally adequate diet. The Marshall Project's May 2026 investigation independently documented rats in kitchens, insects in food, and visible malnutrition across Georgia prisons, linking chronic underfeeding to the violence pattern the DOJ identified. At Calhoun, GPS's finding of a regulatory-capture dynamic—where scheduled walkthroughs by small-county inspectors mask routine failures—mirrors the discrepancy between the facility's high inspection grades and the lived reality of starvation and contamination.
Ongoing Safety Crisis: Aggregate Signals
GPS's intelligence system recorded a relentless stream of high-severity reports from Calhoun over the past twelve months. Between June 2025 and May 2026, the system logged 10 external complaints filed with entities including the DOJ Civil Rights Division, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and federal investigators; 8 death-in-custody reports; 8 allegations of medical neglect; and multiple inmate-on-inmate assault and staff misconduct allegations at critical and high severity. February 2026 saw a spike, with 7 external complaints, 4 medical neglect reports, and 3 death reports, coinciding with the Willis case and renewed public attention to the DOJ findings. These aggregate signals, layered atop the documented deaths, dismissed drug cases, and the classification-driven violence, paint a picture of an institution in profound and persistent crisis.
Sources
This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WALB, and Georgia Prisoners' Speak; the U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 investigative findings; GDC administrative data and inspection records; the Georgia Department of Public Health; federal court filings; and internal GPS mortality, signals, and transfer databases. Inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff provided context for the wave of lifer transfers and the conditions described.
Recent reports (26)
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, 2025The DOJ report alleged that staff failed to follow procedures when moving Lackey's assailant between segregation and general population, leading to Lackey being housed with and killed by his cellmate.
"The DOJ report said he was killed after staff moved the assailant out of segregation to general population and then back to segregation without following procedures. There, he was housed in a cell with another prisoner. That prisoner asked to be moved because the two weren't getting along. The next day, an orderly saw the victim being beaten by his cellmate with a fan motor in a net bag, the DOJ reported."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Sep 5, 2024Murillo ordered the murder of a woman because the business relationship he had with her had collapsed and he no longer trusted her, resulting in her torture, murder and dismemberment.
"In September 2023, the drug ringleader was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to directing the 2021 torture, murder and dismemberment of a woman kidnapped from Plaza Fiesta Shopping Mall in DeKalb County. According to news reports, Murillo ordered the woman's murder because the "business relationship" he had with her had collapsed and he no longer trusted her."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: Jan 21, 2025Prison staff cut off a prisoner's food and water as retaliation, leading to his death from dehydration and renal failure.
"At Calhoun State Prison in 2023, a prisoner died of dehydration with renal failure. According to the DOJ, prison staff had cut off his food and water after he had thrown water through the flap in his cell door."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to WALB Published: Feb 13, 2026Willie Andrew Willis Jr.'s family alleges he was thrown from a balcony by other inmates and that it took nearly an hour before he was airlifted for treatment.
"Willis told his family he had been thrown from a balcony and left unable to move. The family said they still don't know how the incident happened or why it took nearly an hour before he was airlifted for treatment."
Read source → - ALLEGATION According to WALB Published: Feb 13, 2026Family alleges nurses gave a conflicting account of Willis's condition, claiming he came to get Tylenol and returned to his dorm before collapsing, while the family states he was paralyzed from the waist down and on a ventilator.
""Then we heard a different story where the nurses say he came and got a Tylenol, and then he went back to his dorm and fell out and couldn't move anymore. My son was on a ventilator; he couldn't breathe, couldn't move his body, and couldn't walk away. He was paralyzed from the waist down.""
Read source →
Timeline (60)
Source Articles (18)
Former leadership
Officials who previously held leadership roles at this facility.
| Role | Name | Tenure | Deaths this facility / career |
|---|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 1 (facility lead) | Jackson, Kendric | 2024-12-16 → 2025-12-31 | 7 / 18 |
| WARDEN 1 (facility lead) | Smith, Tarmarshe A | 2018-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | — / 36 |
| WARDEN 1 (facility lead) | Ford, Benjamin | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | — / 35 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN (facility deputy) | Peoples, Delvin Rasaunn | 2019-01-01 → 2024-08-31 | 19 / 45 |
| Chief Counselor (specialty lead) | Spann, James Clarence | 2009-01-01 → 2009-12-31 | — / 50 |
Location
Aerial View
Architecture documents what the building was designed to hold. See the system-wide receipts at gps.press/warehouse.