Last updated November 8, 2026.(DS)

Dodge State Prison: A Medium-Security Prison at 105.7 Percent of Capacity

Dodge State Prison sits on Old Bethel Church Road in Chester, in Dodge County, a medium-security men's facility that opened in 1983 and was expanded in 1989. It was built for 404 people; GDC now rates it for 1,236, and it holds 1,306 — 105.7 percent of rated capacity, according to GPS's facility records. Its general population lives in large dormitory-style housing, with single-cell isolation used for segregation and disciplinary confinement. Curtis J. Todd has served as warden since January 2026, with Alicia Necole Ward as deputy warden of administration, Khalilah J. Williams as deputy warden of care and treatment, and Karen Thomas as deputy warden of security.

What follows draws on Dodge County Coroner records produced in 2026, GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia prison homicides investigation, Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections, GDC purchasing and contraband records, and the staffing matrices filed by the state's medical and mental-health contractors. Together they describe a prison where the deaths are individually documented and individually explicable — and where the conditions that produced them are structural.

Sixteen Deaths, and What the Records Say About Each

GPS's mortality registry records 16 deaths at Dodge State Prison since January 1, 2020. Eight are coded Natural/Medical, three Suicide, two Homicide, one Overdose, one Other, and one Unknown/Pending. The system-wide figure is far larger: GPS has independently tracked 1,928 deaths in GDC custody since 2020, a count that is always a floor because GDC reports deaths roughly two months late.

The two homicides were both men killed in fights. Hezekiah Cuyler died September 14, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, and he was 21. He sustained an injury at Dodge on August 31, 2022, described in coroner records as resulting from a "fight w/ another"; he was air-evacuated to Navicent. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia prison homicides investigation reported his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, and the coroner recorded the manner as homicide. Douglas Anthony Forts died June 2, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, and he was 57. He was found supine in cell A4-206 and pronounced dead at 17:16; the coroner's injury note read "unknown - fight w/ another," the manner of death was left blank, and the AJC reported the cause as acute traumatic amputation of a finger sustained during a fight.

Three deaths were suicides by hanging. Charles Dennis Casey died May 6, 2023, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide, and he was 41. He was found hanging and classified by the coroner as a suicide. John August Comer, 33, died September 9, 2023, in a double-occupant cell in level 2 mental housing; his cellmate awoke at 0525 to find him hanging from a bed sheet tied to the window bars, and the GBI autopsy — DOFS 2023-1024543, performed by Samantha Mattox, D.O. — certified hanging as the cause and suicide as the manner, with toxicology positive for methamphetamine at 0.58 mg/L and amphetamine at 44 ug/L. No video of the incident existed. Kenneth Brown died January 31, 2024, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide, and he was 58. He was found hanging; the GBI autopsy (DOFS 2024-1002607, Kari Broder, D.O., supervised by Natasha Grandhi, M.D.) certified hanging and suicide, with methamphetamine at 0.49 mg/L and amphetamine at 35 mcg/L, and listed sternum and rib fractures under evidence of medical therapy. The investigator narrative recorded no suicide note, no expressed suicidal ideation, no camera footage, and a recent parole hearing at which parole was denied.

The natural and medical deaths trace a different pattern — chronic disease managed late or not at all. Hoke Smith Tarpley died August 7, 2021, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 57. He was pronounced dead at 09:24, and the certified cause was diabetic ketoacidosis. Kenneth Lockett died October 9, 2020, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 57. He complained of rib pain, collapsed in a hallway, and was transported to DCH-ER in full arrest, with hypertension and renal insufficiency in his history. William D Hughes died October 8, 2020, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 61. Tadrick Terrian Osborne died September 29, 2020, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 40. Caesar Dupree, 64, died September 12, 2020, an in-patient ICU death with COVID-19 listed as a finding and asthma, COPD and hypertension noted; his examination was external only. Cantrell Lavar Edge, 41, died August 17, 2020, also an ICU death associated with COVID-19, with hypertension and hydrocephalus noted. Arnold Merle Mcdonald died December 22, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 63. He fell on December 17, 2022, developed a subdural hematoma, and died five days later; the coroner left the manner blank and indicated the fall as a possible accident. Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez died May 20, 2025, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, and he was 51. He reported feeling "worked out, agitated, low back pain" before collapsing and was pronounced dead at 23:03. Joseph Chatfield died June 13, 2025, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, and he was 62. He was pronounced dead at 09:20 after an external exam only; the coroner left the cause blank and it remained Unknown pending a final determination. Warren Peacock died April 28, 2026, at Dodge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Overdose, and he was 70. He was last seen alive at a guard round about 1600, found unresponsive at 2050, and pronounced dead in his cell at 2243 by Coroner Joe Smith. Stewart Myles Mitchell, 36, died December 7, 2021, with GDC coding the cause as "Undetermined."

Two of these records carry a documentary contradiction worth naming. In Peacock's case the coroner's record states the body was released to the GBI with autopsy and toxicology pending — while a GBI Open Records response dated August 1, 2026 (request R000142-070426) stated it could locate no responsive records and closed the request. GPS's internal analysis treats such responses as possibly a timing artifact of GBI's intake backlog rather than proof the records do not exist; the discrepancy is unresolved either way.

The Medical Contract: 40 Physician Hours and 1.8 Mental-Health FTEs

The staffing matrices filed by GDC's health contractors put numbers on what the death records describe. Centurion Amendment 1 lists 40 estimated weekly primary care physician hours for Dodge at $144 per hour. MHM Amendment 13 lists a total mental-health staffing of 1.80 FTE and 72.00 hours per week at an annual cost of $170,987 — a psychologist at 0.15 FTE (6.00 hours weekly), a psychiatrist at 0.15 FTE (6.00 hours weekly), one mental-health counselor at 1.00 FTE, and a half-time clerk. The matrix lists the MH Unit Manager, Clinical Director, Activity Therapist and MH Nurse Practitioner at 0 FTE.

Dental staffing under the same amendment totals 2.50 FTE and 100.00 hours per week at $303,778 annually: one dentist at $101.64 per hour, a half-time hygienist, and one dental assistant. MHM's FY23 table carried the same dental total at $303,777.84.

Those figures matter against the record of Comer's death. He was housed at level 2 mental in a double-occupant cell and had a known mental-health history; the autopsy report notes a history of suicidal ideation, method unknown. The investigator narrative in his case records that social and medical history was not known at the time because nursing staff were off for the weekend. Six psychiatrist hours a week is the contractual allocation for a prison holding 1,306 people.

Drones, Contractors, and the Contraband Perimeter

GDC's own contraband reports, as published by the agency, record 47 incidents at Dodge. The recent pattern is aerial. On September 1, 2025, GDC OPS 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; Marcus Will and Renoka Joff were arrested by the Dodge County Sheriff's Department. Five days later, a suspicious vehicle stop yielded a drone, five batteries, a controller, an iPad, shrink wrap, vacuum-seal packaging, zip ties, a knife and a carabiner, with four civilians arrested. On November 25, 2025, the GDC Canine Unit detained Willie Stephens near the facility; his vehicle held a DJI Matrice drone, 592 grams of marijuana, four vapes, 1,177 grams of tobacco, 27 rolling papers and two cellphones.

The state has spent real money on the countermeasure. GDC issued purchase order 624068 on June 18, 2024, for drone detection at Dodge totaling $494,895.00 — four AirWarden RF sensors at $16,655.10 each, a direction-finder module, installation costs of $150,446.25, and three-year subscriptions including $94,080 for sensor subscriptions and $58,800 for the control server. The vendor was DG Investment Intermediate Holdings 2 of Norcross, with Convergint as contact; the PO was marked COMPLETED, with all line items due 06/28/2024.

Staff and contractors appear in the same record. On April 30, 2026, a routine vehicle search turned up THC, a white crystal-like substance and two cans of Michelob ULTRA 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. On May 4, 2025, following an Office of Professional Standards investigation, Officer Alisha Coleman was arrested by the Dodge County Sheriff's Office with pending charges. Across the published series, GDC's reports list nine actors printed as "Officer," five as "Correctional Officer," and two as "Contractor." GDC publishes no dispositions; an arrest is not a conviction.

Food Service: Scores That Move

DPH food-safety inspections at Dodge show a kitchen that swings between perfect and marginal. The most recent, on June 24, 2026, returned scores of 100 and 100, both Grade A. Before that: 90 and 84 on November 20, 2025 (the 84 citing cold-holding and hot-holding temperature violations and food-contact surfaces not cleaned and sanitized); 84 and 94 on June 5, 2025; 100 and 87 on November 21, 2024; 91 and 89 on June 20, 2024, the lower score citing hot and cold water availability and backflow devices; and 99 and 95 on December 29, 2023.

GPS has documented a systemic pattern in which DPH scores fail to capture sustained food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens — broken tray-sanitizing dishwashers, roach and rodent infestation, and meals served on contaminated trays — because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. The Marshall Project's May 2026 investigation independently reported rats in kitchens, insects in food and moldy trays across Georgia facilities. The Dodge scores should be read against that finding rather than as a clean bill.

Classification Drift and the Close-Custody Count

Dodge's close-custody population rose from 46 to 66 between October 2025 and September 2026 — a 43 percent increase in a single year at a facility classified medium-security. GDC's own Exhibit 3-B lists Dodge with a physical capacity of 1,141 offenders and on-site X-ray capability, a figure that sits below the 1,236 institution capacity GDC states elsewhere.

The prison's internal-audit calendar shows repeated scrutiny: audits in April 2022, on January 17 and January 23, 2024, and a three-day block scheduled for February 24–26, 2026. Dodge also appears on GDC's accreditation schedule. What those audits produced is not in the public record available here.

Accountability, in Payouts and in Testimony

The state's risk-management settlement ledger records a $16,000 liability payout tied to Dodge State Prison in 2025, in the matter of Kimyania Smith, with an incident date of May 26, 2025. It is a small sum by the standards of custodial-injury settlements, and the ledger entry does not describe the underlying incident.

Tyler Ryals, a former GDC CERT commander, told Russell Zirkle in an August 2026 interview that he was offered the captain position at Dodge State Prison at age 22 while he was stationed at Valdosta — and turned it down because he did not want to go past lieutenant at that time. The anecdote is a small window onto how the department fills supervisory posts: a 22-year-old offered a captaincy at a 1,300-person prison.

GPS has received accounts of staff injuries at Dodge that resulted in medical retirement, and recurring reports tied to the facility's staffing and medical conditions. Those accounts are not corroborated in the public record and are noted here only as reports GPS holds.

Sources

This analysis draws on Dodge County Coroner open-records productions dated June 30, 2026; GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports (DOFS 2023-1024543, 2024-1002607, and ME-26-11321 / DOFS 2026-1014137); the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia prison homicides investigation; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; GDC purchasing records including purchase order 624068, contraband arrest reports, internal-audit calendars and capacity exhibits; the Centurion and MHM contract amendments and staffing matrices; the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; a GBI Open Records response dated August 1, 2026; and an August 2026 interview by Russell Zirkle with former GDC CERT commander Tyler Ryals. Mortality figures come from GPS's own death registry, which is a floor rather than a complete count.