Last updated November 1, 2026.(DS)

Georgia State Prison: A Closed Institution and the Record It Left Behind

Georgia State Prison stood in unincorporated Tattnall County, outside Reidsville, and was for decades the state's principal maximum-security institution. The main building was designed by the Atlanta firm Tucker & Howell in a Stripped Classical style, completed in late 1936 at a cost of about $1.5 million with Public Works Administration funding, and the prison opened in 1938. It held Georgia's death row until 1980. Martin Luther King Jr. was moved here from the DeKalb County jail in October 1960 and released on bond that month; the civil-rights organiser H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Al-Amin, was also held here. The Department of Corrections closed the prison on 19 February 2022. The building was not demolished — the state cited its historical value and has since used it for tours and as an emergency evacuation site for people held at other facilities.

What follows is an accounting of the record the facility left: the deaths GPS has tracked there, the gap between the Department's own cause coding and what medical examiners actually found, the federal litigation that once governed the place, and the settlements the state paid out.

The Deaths GPS Has Recorded

GPS's mortality registry records 46 deaths at Georgia State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. By GPS's cause categories those break down as 19 Natural/Medical, 12 Suicide, 7 Homicide, 4 Overdose, 2 Accident, 1 Medical Neglect, and 1 Other. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.

The most recent 25, as the registry reads them:

• Angelo Ortiz Roxbury died December 8, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Lamont Avery Morris died November 30, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Accident.
• Zachary Daniel Strudgeon died November 29, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Matthew Michael Cooney died November 6, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Troy Donald Harvey died September 12, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Fabian Mata Garcia died September 10, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Paul Kozachyn died August 24, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Ted Howard Screws died August 8, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Carlos Smith-Jones died July 14, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose.
• Charles Clifton died July 11, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Christopher Dcorro Ward died May 25, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Malik Pitts died May 21, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Calvin Lavert Lewis died May 5, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Other.
• John Kennedy Cope died April 12, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Collin Jackson Donaldson died April 10, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Roberto Garza Bazan died February 27, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Christopher Dewayne Mathis died February 26, 2021, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Demetrius Terrell Stubbins died December 21, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Tommy James Bullard died December 11, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Steve Neal Williams died December 1, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Brandon Allen Peters died November 23, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Medical Neglect.
• Joctavious Nmn Newsome died November 4, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Victor Vean Thompson died October 28, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Linward Adams died October 24, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Terrell Toshra Hamilton died October 20, 2020, at Georgia State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.

Homicides, and the Year the Violence Peaked

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's homicide tracking documented seven homicides at Georgia State Prison between 2020 and 2021, and the newspaper reported that the facility — where those seven deaths occurred — was closed in early 2022. The AJC's case-by-case record names Raul Garcia Bailon, 39, who died April 21, 2020, from positional asphyxia and suffocation due to assault, blunt trauma to soft tissues; Joctavious Artez Newsome, 25, who died November 4, 2020, from a stab wound; Demetrius Stubbins, 38, who died December 21, 2020, from a stab wound to the chest; Christopher Dewayne Mathis, 37, who died February 26, 2021, from blunt force trauma to the head; Christopher D'Corro Ward, 29, who died May 25, 2021, from carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation with methamphetamine toxicity noted, in an incident the report describes as involving fire; Fabian Garcia-Mata, 27, who died September 10, 2021, from multiple stab wounds; and Troy Donald Harvey, 34, who died September 12, 2021, from a stab wound to the chest.

The AJC also reported a 2020 case in which a prisoner at Georgia State Prison was found so malnourished that every bone in his spine was bruised, with a jaw fracture and human bite marks across his body; he reported being sexually assaulted by his cellmate and having his food stolen for months. In January 2025 the same outlet reported that officials failed to intervene and provide proper medical care to Brandon Peters, who suffered for days from severe symptoms before dying in his cell.

When the Department's Coding and the Autopsy Disagree

The most analytically significant pattern in this facility's record is not any single death but the divergence between how GDC coded deaths and what forensic examination found. GPS's own analysis identified 10 deaths at Georgia State Prison across 2020–2021 in which GPS's cause-of-death coding conflicts with GDC's coding; in 8 of those 10, GDC coded the death as "Natural" even though a medical examiner or coroner attributed it to violence, overdose, suicide or accident.

The individual records show the mechanism. GDC's own coding in the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset — obtained by open records request covering 2015–2021 — classified James Patrick Hartzog's death as "Suicide," but that classification was not an autopsy finding, and no pathologist examined the body for that determination. In fact a GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy (DOFS 2020-6001533), authored by Joni B. Skipper, M.D., did examine Hartzog: it certified hanging as the cause and suicide as the manner, and found a ligature furrow encircling the neck, facial and conjunctival petechiae, and methamphetamine at 0.35 mg/L in femoral blood. The autopsy history noted Hartzog had a history of depression and previous suicide attempts; the investigator narrative, reporting the Tattnall County Deputy Coroner, stated he was last known alive by his cellmate when they were smoking methamphetamine.

In other cases the state never examined the body at all. The GBI Division of Forensic Sciences declined to examine the deaths of William Richard Fullerton, Timothy Jodie Chambley, Jarriett Guy Brewster, Freddie Alan Mullins, Terry Louis Thomas, Steve G. Hugley, Linward Adams, Steve Neal Williams, Tommy James Bullard, Roberto Bazan, Charles Clifton and Victor Thompson, stating in each instance that an examination by that office was not necessary. In those productions no cause and no manner of death is certified — yet GDC's own coding assigned "Natural" to Brewster, Mullins, Thomas, Hugley, Adams, Williams, Bullard, Bazan, Clifton and Thompson alike. GPS's analysis is that a GDC "Natural" coding is a record classification, not an autopsy finding.

Where an autopsy did occur, it sometimes contradicted the Department outright. The GBI Medical Examiner certified Onani Hishim Walker's manner of death as Accident and the cause as methamphetamine intoxication, while GDC's own coding for Walker's death reads "Natural." The autopsy listed moderately severe coronary atherosclerosis with focal 70–80% occlusion of the left anterior descending artery, pulmonary congestion and edema, and methamphetamine at 0.83 mg/L.

Suicide, Overdose, and What the Cells Held

Twelve of the 46 deaths in GPS's registry are suicides, and the autopsy record describes a facility where ligature points were ordinary fixtures. Rickey Upshaw, 25, was found unresponsive hanging by a sheet in his cell and pronounced dead at the scene; the autopsy found a cloth ligature, a circumferential furrow, petechiae and cerebral congestion, with no evidence of natural disease or inflicted trauma. Stephen Ray White, 38, was housed in a one-man general-population cell and found at 1710 on July 19, 2020, partially suspended by a bedsheet; per the investigator narrative reporting the Tattnall County deputy coroner, other inmates bringing a dinner tray found him and alerted guards. White had been transferred from Rogers State Prison a few weeks earlier and was described as a level 3 mental health inmate.

Zachary Daniel Strudgeon, 27, was found at about 0640 on November 29, 2021, with a ligature of bedsheet and part of a t-shirt attached to the window bar; he was not fully suspended, his legs bent touching the floor, and no note of intent was found. A later entry in the record says a white powdery substance was found in his cell and that he had requested not to be in general population. Terrell Toshra Hamilton, 40, was in a single-man lockdown cell for mental health issues when staff found him hanging at about 0800 on October 20, 2020; it was believed he used a bed sheet from the dormitory common area, but no officer could confirm this.

Overdose deaths appear alongside. Jonathan Corey McLoon, 35, was found face down on the floor of a single-man lockdown cell on September 4, 2020, and pronounced by phone at 2201 hours; the autopsy certified toxic effects of methamphetamine at 1.3 mg/L, manner accident, and the investigator narrative noted known mental health issues and known methamphetamine use. Carlos Smith-Jones, 33, was doing push-ups and sit-ups at about 12:15 on July 14, 2021, asked an officer for ice, and was found unresponsive shortly after; the autopsy certified toxic effects of fentanyl at 7.9 ug/L, manner accident.

Medical Neglect, Fire, and the Deaths That Raise Their Own Questions

GPS's registry classifies Brandon Allen Peters's death as Medical Neglect. The AJC's reporting describes a man who suffered for days from severe symptoms before dying in his cell while officials failed to intervene.

Lamont Avery Morris, 33, died November 30, 2021, after guards on rounds at 1533 hours found his cell filled with smoke; per investigative information he appeared to have set fire to his mattress and papers, was pulled from the cell, and was pronounced at Optim Medical Center in Reidsville at 1623. The autopsy certified carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation, manner accident, with methamphetamine toxicity as another significant condition and a carboxyhemoglobin saturation of 35%. Morris was a mental health level inmate and the lone occupant of his cell.

John Kennedy Cope, 60, was last known alive at 0445 on April 12, 2021, when escorted to the medical ward for routine medication, where he voiced no complaints — but he completed a Sick Call Form stating his stomach and chest were hurting and that he felt as though he would pass out. He was found unresponsive face down in his cell about 0630 and pronounced dead at the scene. The autopsy certified hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, manner natural, with a 540-gram heart and diffuse severe calcific atherosclerosis of three coronary arteries.

Al Rico Mapp, 43, was found unresponsive under his bunk on September 11, 2020, holding a homemade knife on his chest, with a rope necklace around his neck and his cell trashed and flooded. He had seen a cardiologist on September 3 for benign hypertensive heart disease, chest pain, palpitations and syncope — and a doctor appointment for him that day had been rescheduled for lack of staff to escort him. The autopsy certified toxic effects of methamphetamine, manner accident.

Federal Oversight, the 1978 Riot, and the Settlements

Georgia State Prison's modern history runs through the federal courts. GPS's own reporting describes the Guthrie v. Evans litigation, filed in 1972 by Black inmates at the prison, which produced 13 years of federal court oversight and comprehensive remedial decrees — reforms that were later dismantled after Congress changed the rules and a federal judge allowed the state to walk away. GPS's reporting also describes a 1978 riot at the prison that left three people dead and was followed by a federal court order re-segregating the facility by race. GPS has documented that the Department of Justice's 2024 investigation found constitutional violations in Georgia prisons of the same kind identified decades earlier.

The state's own settlement ledger records what it paid. According to the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records, the state paid $2,998,994 in a 2021 matter tied to Georgia State Prison involving Khalid Mouton; $1,000,000 in a 2014 matter involving Nicholas Baldwin; $750,000 in a 2020 matter involving Brandon A. Peters, linked to a documented death record; $625,000 in a 2021 matter involving Collin Jackson Donaldson, also linked to a documented death record; $115,000 in a 2018 matter involving Seth Rouzan; $62,500 and $5,000 in separate matters involving Jermarae Herbert; $35,000 involving Jamaal Wright; and smaller sums across a dozen other cases stretching back to 2010.

A Note on What the Record Can and Cannot Show

Two cautions belong on any page about this facility. First, GPS's registry counts are floors: GDC reports deaths roughly two months late, and the 46 figure is the 2020-onward registry, not an all-time count. Second, a GDC cause coding is not a finding. Where GPS obtained a medical examiner, coroner or autopsy determination, that determination supersedes the Department's coding — and at Georgia State Prison, in case after case, the two did not agree.

GPS records show three due-process-violation signals at this facility across two months in the past year, spanning critical, high and moderate severity. GPS has additionally received accounts of parole decisions reversed after an incarcerated person had been told he would be released and had given away his property, and of a mental health request that went unanswered the day before a death.

Sources

This analysis draws on GDC mortality records and the Department's own cause-of-death coding as obtained by the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project through open records request covering 2015–2021; GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports and toxicology results obtained through GPS open records requests, including the work of regional medical examiners Joni B. Skipper, Edmund Donoghue and Samantha Evans; the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Georgia Virtue; federal court records in Guthrie v. Evans; and GPS's own investigative reporting and mortality registry.