Last updated October 18, 2026.(DS)

Dodge State Prison: A 1980s Plant, a 105.7% Population, and a Death Record That Keeps Growing

Dodge State Prison sits in Chester, in Dodge County, on a campus first opened in 1983 and expanded in 1989. It is a medium-security men's prison that houses its general population in large dormitory-style units, with single-cell isolation reserved for segregation and disciplinary confinement. Its original design capacity was 404; its current rated capacity is 1,236; and its population, per GPS's facility records, stands at 1,306 — 105.7% of rated capacity. Curtis J. Todd has served as warden since January 16, 2026, working alongside Deputy Warden of Administration Alicia Necole Ward, Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment Khalilah J. Williams, and Deputy Warden of Security Karen Thomas.

The threads that run through this page are the ones the record makes unavoidable: a population that exceeds the prison's rated capacity, a death registry that has logged 16 deaths since 2020, a contraband problem that has repeatedly reached inside the fence through staff and outside it through drones, and a food-service inspection record that reads far better than the conditions GPS has documented across the system's kitchens.

Sixteen Deaths Since 2020, Two of Them Homicides

GPS's mortality registry records 16 deaths at Dodge State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a final count, because GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Eight are coded Natural/Medical, three Suicide, two Homicide, one Overdose, one Other, and one Unknown/Pending.

The two homicides are the cases with the most public documentation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Hezekiah Sha'Nard Cuyler, 21, died on September 14, 2022, from blunt force trauma to the head. The same outlet reported that Douglas Anthony Forts, 57, died on June 2, 2022, from acute traumatic amputation of a finger sustained during a fight. Both deaths appear in GPS's registry with the same dates and homicide coding.

The three suicides span three years and three ages: Kenneth Brown died January 31, 2024, at 58; John August Comer died September 9, 2023, at 33; and Charles Dennis Casey died May 6, 2023, at 41. The natural/medical deaths include Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez, who died May 20, 2025, at 51; Arnold Merle Mcdonald, who died December 22, 2022, at 63; Hoke Smith Tarpley, who died August 7, 2021, at 57; Kenneth Lockett, who died October 9, 2020, at 57; William D Hughes, who died October 8, 2020, at 61; Tadrick Terrian Osborne, who died September 29, 2020, at 40; Caesar Dupree, who died September 12, 2020, at 64; and Cantrell Lavar Edge, who died August 17, 2020, at 41.

The most recent entries are Warren Peacock, who died April 28, 2026, at 70, with GPS's registry listing the cause as Overdose; Joseph Chatfield, who died June 13, 2025, at 62, with the cause listed as Unknown/Pending — GPS does not yet know the cause and does not guess one; and Stewart Myles Mitchell, who died December 7, 2021, at 36, with the cause listed as Other.

Contraband: Drones, Meth, and the Staff Who Carry It In

GDC's own published contraband reports — arrests as reported, not convictions, and GDC publishes no dispositions — show a facility repeatedly targeted from outside and occasionally compromised from within. The reports GPS has collected for Dodge run from 2012 through 2026, and the pattern has shifted over time: in the early 2010s the arrests were mostly visitors and staff; by the mid-2020s they are overwhelmingly civilians intercepted near the perimeter, often with drones.

On September 1, 2025, GDC officers observed suspicious activity near the facility and recovered a package containing 810 grams of marijuana, 1,009 grams of methamphetamine, 3,894 grams of tobacco, 22 packs of rolling paper, two cellphones, a drone, a drone controller, six batteries, and four AirTags. The Dodge County Sheriff's Department arrested two civilians, identified in GDC's report as Marcus Will and Renoka Joff, pending charges. Four days later, on September 6, GDC OPS stopped a suspicious vehicle near the facility and found a drone, five drone batteries, a controller, an iPad, shrink wrap, vacuum-seal packaging, zip ties, and a knife; four civilians were arrested. On November 25, 2025, the GDC Canine Unit detained a civilian near the facility and recovered a DJI Matrice drone, 592 grams of marijuana, four vapes, 1,177 grams of tobacco, and two cellphones; Willie Stephens was arrested by the Dodge County Sheriff's Office.

The staff side of the record is smaller but persistent. GDC's reports show staff-class actors in incidents at Dodge across nearly every year from 2012 through 2026, with roles printed as "Officer" (nine actors), "Correctional Officer" (five), and "Contractor" (two). On May 4, 2025, following an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, Officer Alisha Coleman was arrested by the Dodge County Sheriff's Office with pending charges. On April 30, 2026, during a routine search of vehicles, contraband consisting of a small bag of THC, a bag of a white crystal-like substance, and two cans of Michelob ULTRA was found in a vehicle belonging to Contractors David Tootle and Daniel Brown; both were arrested by the Dodge County Sheriff's Department and transported to the Dodge County jail pending charges.

Food-Service Scores That Don't Match the Kitchen

The Georgia Department of Public Health has inspected Dodge's food service repeatedly, and the scores are, on their face, strong: 100 (Grade A) on June 24, 2026; 90 (Grade A) and 84 (Grade B) on November 20, 2025; 94 (Grade A) and 84 (Grade B) on June 5, 2025; 100 (Grade A) and 87 (Grade B) on November 21, 2024; 91 (Grade A) and 89 (Grade B) on June 20, 2024; and 99 (Grade A) and 95 (Grade A) on December 29, 2023. The violations cited across those inspections are the ordinary vocabulary of commercial food service — date marking, wiping-cloth storage, cold and hot holding temperatures, backflow devices, ventilation.

GPS has documented a systemic pattern that complicates those numbers. Across GDC kitchens, GPS's reporting describes tray-sanitizing dishwashers broken for sustained periods, sustained roach and rodent infestation in kitchen and serving areas, and meals served on visibly contaminated trays — conditions GPS attributes to the fact that DPH inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. The Marshall Project's May 16, 2026 investigation of Georgia prison food, by Schwartzapfel, independently reported rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across state facilities. GPS treats the coexistence of high DPH scores and sustained witness reports of equipment failure as the analytical center of its food-service investigation. The Dodge scores should be read in that light: they are a record of what a scheduled inspection saw, not a certification of what the kitchen does between inspections.

A 1980s Plant Inside a System Under Strain

Dodge's physical plant — dormitory housing, single-cell segregation, an expansion now nearly four decades old — is the same vintage as most of the GDC estate. GPS has documented that most GDC facilities are 30 to 40-plus years old, with deferred maintenance producing systemwide infrastructure failures: broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, broken kitchen sanitization equipment, and pest infestations. The DOJ's October 2024 findings, the Guidehouse 2024 assessment, and Commissioner Oliver's public "end of life" statements all corroborate that pattern. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, and mortality crises it has documented facility by facility.

The staffing picture is part of the same story. GPS has documented officer vacancies running between 49.3% and 60% systemwide for multiple years against a national standard of no more than 10%, a hiring pipeline that cannot close the gap, and a state that ranks last of 50 for correctional-officer pay. The DOJ's October 2024 findings letter concluded that GDC leadership "has lost control of its facilities" and faulted the Department for placing "too much blame on gangs and insufficient emphasis on understaffing." GPS treats staffing collapse and gang assumption of facility control as the integrated structural finding behind the per-facility violence and mortality narratives — the frame in which Dodge's 16 deaths, its two homicides, and its three suicides belong.

A Settlement and a Record Still Being Written

The state's own risk-management ledger records a $16,000 liability payout tied to Dodge State Prison in 2025, in the matter of Kimyania Smith, per the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records. It is a small figure against the scale of the system, but it is the kind of entry that marks where the state has conceded, in dollars, that something went wrong.

What the public record does not contain is as telling as what it does. GPS's registry is a floor; GDC reports deaths late; and the causes coded "Unknown/Pending" and "Other" are placeholders, not answers. For a prison holding 1,306 people in a plant rated for 1,236, the analytical question is not whether the record will grow, but what the next entries will say.

Sources

This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records for Dodge State Prison; GDC's own published contraband arrest reports; the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the deaths of Hezekiah Sha'Nard Cuyler and Douglas Anthony Forts; The Marshall Project's May 16, 2026 investigation of Georgia prison food; the U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 findings letter on Georgia prisons; the Guidehouse 2024 consultant assessment; and GPS's own mortality registry, facility records, and prior investigative reporting on infrastructure, staffing, and food service across the GDC system.