Last updated November 1, 2026.(DS)

Hays State Prison: A Facility Built for 500 Holding 1,105

Hays State Prison sits in Trion, in Chattooga County, and opened in 1990 with a design capacity of 500. The Georgia Department of Corrections now rates it for 1,101 people and reports a population of 1,105 — 100.4 percent of rated capacity and more than double the population the plant was built to hold. It is a close-security men's facility that the Department describes as housing some of the state's "most challenging offenders." Its physical plant includes several general-population dorms, a Fast Track unit, multiple Tier II special-management dorms, an outside fire station and infirmary, and large numbers of Level-II mental-health beds. Gabriel Illa has served as warden since November 2023, with Jonathan D. Swinford as Deputy Warden of Administration and Alisa M. Hammock as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment.

What follows is an account of what GPS's records and the public record show about the facility: a mortality registry that runs to 35 deaths since January 2020, a homicide pattern that has continued through the 2020s, a coroner-file record of medical deaths that raise questions about care, a contraband problem that runs through staff as well as visitors, and a statewide gang conflict that repeatedly reaches Hays.

Thirty-Five Deaths Since 2020, Nine of Them Homicides

GPS's mortality registry records 35 deaths at Hays State Prison since January 1, 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Of those, GPS classifies nine as homicides, nine as natural or medical, four as suicides, two as accidents, and eleven as unknown or pending. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.

The most recent deaths GPS has recorded include Corey Anwar Dubose, who died March 23, 2026, at age 47, with the registry listing the cause as Natural/Medical; Melvin Gay Johnson, who died January 27, 2026, at 35, listed as a Homicide; Barcel Roylee Ward, who died November 28, 2025, at 39, with the cause Unknown/Pending; James Cannon, who died October 25, 2025, at 48, listed as a Homicide; Raymont Savion Farley, who died June 15, 2025, at 36, listed as Natural/Medical; and Tommy Joe Strickland, who died June 4, 2025, at 60, listed as Natural/Medical.

The registry continues with Ralph Carter, who died March 5, 2025, at 39, cause Unknown/Pending; Joey Griffin, who died December 26, 2024, at 54, Unknown/Pending; Thomas Johnson, who died October 24, 2024, at 82, Unknown/Pending; Lawrence L. Williams, who died October 24, 2024, at 30, listed as a Homicide; Mackendy Pierrette, who died September 13, 2024, at 50, Unknown/Pending; Keith Johnson, who died August 19, 2024, at 57, Unknown/Pending; Timothy Darmofal, who died May 22, 2024, at 58, Unknown/Pending; Freddie Lee Talley III, who died May 6, 2024, at 31, listed as a Homicide; Theron Morrell Hendrix, who died April 19, 2024, at 31, Unknown/Pending; and Jeremy Edward Price, who died March 2, 2024, at 36, listed as a Homicide.

Earlier entries include Talore Stihles Blackford, who died October 28, 2023, at 31, listed as a Homicide; Randoulf Gutierrez, who died October 19, 2023, at 42, Unknown/Pending; Ronnie Joe Criswell, who died August 15, 2023, at 67, Natural/Medical; Robert Millan Cook, who died July 17, 2023, at 57, Natural/Medical; Quane Laquaus Johnson, who died January 15, 2023, at 33, listed as an Accident; Robert Lee Burton, who died December 13, 2022, at 58, Natural/Medical; Tony Christopher Williams, who died October 14, 2022, at 34, listed as a Suicide; John Terrell Bohannon, who died September 20, 2022, at 79, Unknown/Pending; and Quintez Deshon Smith, who died August 29, 2022, at 25, listed as a Homicide.

The Stabbing Deaths the News Record Documents

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has tracked a series of killings at Hays going back years. Anthony L. McGhee Jr., 34, died March 29, 2020, from complications of blunt force head trauma and sharp force trauma of the torso and extremities, the AJC reported. Jorge Renberto Ventura-Cabrera, 35, died June 5, 2021, from stab wounds to the neck, torso and upper extremities; the incident report showed two other inmates were involved. Quintez Smith, 25, died August 29, 2022, from multiple sharp force injuries. Talore Stihles Blackford, 31, died October 28, 2023, from multiple stab wounds to the neck.

Jeremy Edward Price, 36, died March 2, 2024, from stab wounds to the neck and chest — classified as a homicide in incident reports and confirmed by his death certificate. His mother, Tammy Price, told the AJC she still does not know what happened to her child. In a separate January 2025 report, the AJC documented Tammy Price's allegation that GDC is hiding its inability to protect prisoners from harm by omitting manner-of-death information from its mortality reports.

Freddie Lee Talley, 31, died May 6, 2024, from a stab wound to the chest; the incident report records a murder involving four other prisoners and multiple sharpened weapons ranging from 10.5 to 22 inches. The AJC reported that officers recovered seven weapons ranging in length from 9 to 22 inches, and that three inmates received disciplinary reports but had not been charged.

Coroner Files: Medical Deaths and What the Record Shows

GPS obtained death-investigation files from the Chattooga County Coroner's office through Open Records requests, produced in June 2026 under Coroner Jeremy McElhaney. They document a set of deaths that the GDC's own coding does not fully capture.

Tommy Joe Strickland was transferred to Hays on May 29, 2025, from Johnson County for palliative care at the prison infirmary for advanced AIDS. He went unresponsive on May 31 and was emergently taken to Atrium Floyd, where laboratory testing found fungal meningitis. He was admitted to the ICU on comfort care and accompanied around the clock by Hays officers until his death. The coroner's file lists the cause of death as AIDS with fungal meningitis as a contributing condition, and the manner as natural. No autopsy was performed and no medical examiner consultation was conducted. The date of death is recorded as June 4, 2025, in GDC-canonical records and the coroner's narrative, though the coroner's findings block shows June 5 — an internal inconsistency in the record.

Raymont Savion Farley was found deceased in a single-occupant cell during the 0630 check — cold and stiff, with dried vomit on his face — having last been seen alive at 2200 the prior night. A GBI autopsy was performed by Dr. Lehman, case ME-25-11964. The coroner's file lists epilepsy as the cause and natural as the manner, describing the findings as SUDEP-consistent. Farley had been prescribed phenytoin (Dilantin) and levetiracetam (Keppra). The coroner found two packets of daily medications on the cell floor at the entrance and noted they were possibly undelivered or untaken medications for a known seizure patient. Farley had been in custody approximately five years for armed robbery.

Melvin Gay Johnson was found unresponsive in an open dorm with a population of 64. A GBI autopsy performed by Dr. Reynolds, case ME-26-10301, found stab wounds to the upper back, neck, and left side of the head, and a CT scan showed a penetrating injury through the left temporal bone. The coroner determined the cause to be multiple sharp force injuries and the manner homicide, characterized as "stabbed by other(s)." Brain death was confirmed at 1147 hours on January 27, 2026. No suspect and no weapon were located. Johnson's kidneys and liver were donated through Lifelink. GDC investigator Ty Hutchins is associated with the case.

James Cannon's death is recorded in the coroner's file as case 25-090. The file lists the cause as pending final medical examiner pathology, with strangulation/asphyxia under consideration, and the manner as homicide. A GBI autopsy was performed by examiner McCuller, case ME-25-13412. The findings noted purplish neck marks, petechiae to the whites of the eyes, a possible fingernail puncture to the chest, and blood in the left ear. The warden reported to the coroner that the decedent's cellmate confessed to manually strangling him. GDC bagged the decedent's hands, and a documented fight with the cellmate had occurred within the two weeks prior to death. The date of death is October 25, 2025.

Barcel Roylee Ward was found nude in cardiac arrest on his cell floor; staff said he was last known alive approximately 30 minutes before and had complained of shortness of breath. He had a history of asthma and depression and was on Seroquel, Buspirone, and an albuterol rescue inhaler. A GBI autopsy was performed by Dr. Samantha Mattox, case ME-25-13754. As of the coroner file, the cause and manner were pending awaiting GBI toxicology, histology, and medical records; the file noted no trauma or foul play. The front pages list November 29 as the date of death, but based on the morgue cooler intake time of 0105 on November 29, the file concludes death occurred the evening of November 28 — the date GPS keeps as canonical.

Corey Anwar Dubose died March 23, 2026, at 47. EMS was called to the Hays medical ward for a diabetic emergency; Dubose suffered a myocardial infarction en route and was treated in a catheterization lab with an Impella device. A femoral-artery injury occurred during Impella re-placement and was repaired. He declined and died in the cardiac care unit. No autopsy was performed; the GBI Medical Examiner declined to accept the decedent, and hospital cardiologist Dr. J.C. Merritt signed the death certificate. Toxicology was negative, and the coroner's file noted no signs of foul play, suicide, or trauma. The coroner's file lists the cause as acute myocardial infarction due to diabetes mellitus, manner natural. Dubose was serving a sentence of life without parole.

Gang Conflict, Lockdowns, and the April 2026 Stabbing

Hays has repeatedly been the flashpoint for Security Threat Group conflict that spreads across the system. GPS reporting describes an April 1, 2026, episode of coordinated "Blood on Blood" gang violence across Georgia's prisons, in which a man described by sources as a high-ranking ROLACC Blood leader was attacked during an official inspection at Hays State Prison — stabbed multiple times in the neck in front of the warden and prison staff, and requiring CPR. GPS has documented the broader pattern of statewide coordinated gang violence and lockdowns across the system.

The public record shows the same dynamic in the fall of 2026. Multiple outlets, including WTOC and GDC's own releases, reported a gang-related fight involving four inmates at Hays on a Tuesday in late October 2026, contained to two dorms, that injured three inmates who were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and later returned. No staff members were injured. GDC then placed 27 state prisons on lockdown until further notice as a precaution against retaliation, citing increased security threat group activity, with security threat assessments conducted intermittently.

GPS records show 11 assault-by-inmate signals at Hays over the past 12 months across at least three cases, concentrated in April and August 2026, alongside four staffing-shortage reports and three staff-misconduct allegations. GPS has received recurring reports of violent incidents at the facility, including accounts of stabbings and lockdowns.

Contraband, Staff Smuggling, and the Warden's Office

GDC's own contraband reports document a persistent smuggling problem at Hays that runs through staff. In April 2025, security staff located contraband in the office of Nurse Practitioner Timothy Turner — a cellphone, wireless earbuds, and two homemade metal weapons. Turner was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office and transported to Chattooga County Jail. In January 2024, security staff recovered 12 packages wrapped in electrical tape in Officer Nicholas Grindle's locker: seven vape pens, a vape bottle, a wireless earbud, 20 charging cables, five charging blocks, 14 cell phones, 222 grams of marijuana, and 760 grams of methamphetamine. Grindle admitted to attempting to bring contraband to an offender and was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Department.

The AJC has documented the longer pattern. Lieutenant Lakeshia Thomas was recorded in 2019 arranging to bring marijuana into Hays for Gangster Disciples member Jarico Deshun Brown; she pleaded guilty in April 2022 and was sentenced to 15 years with two to serve in confinement. Officer Voltaire Pierre, during a four-month period in 2018, received $7,000 for bringing pot, cocaine and meth into Hays in noodle soup containers and was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison. In February 2025, federal officials announced the sentencing of a former Hays guard who smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for over a month.

Settlements, Inspections, and the Record of Liability

The state's own risk-management ledger records a series of liability payouts tied to Hays. The largest is $650,000 to Charles L. Broady Jr. for a 2017 incident. Others include $215,000 to Estaban Mosqueda Romero (2014), $80,000 to Joshua Blash (2016), $65,000 to Monica Rodriguez (2016), $35,000 to Synita Hudgins (2022), $29,000 to Cecelia Carson (2020), $23,000 to Alexander Williams (2019), and $15,000 to Travarus Smith (2017), among smaller amounts.

Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspections of the Hays kitchen have produced a mix of grades over the past three years — scores of 97 and 84 in August 2023, 87 and 83 in December 2023, 96 and 91 in July 2024, 91 and 87 in May 2025, 92 and 87 in November 2025, and 91 and 82 in June 2026 — with recurring violations for cold and hot holding temperatures, food-contact surface sanitation, and handwashing facilities. GPS has documented a systemic pattern across GDC kitchens in which DPH scores fail to capture sustained equipment failure and contamination, a contradiction GPS treats as the analytical center of its food-service investigation.

A Facility Under Strain

The through-line at Hays is a plant and a staffing model that no longer match the population they hold. GPS has documented that officer vacancies in Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3% and 60% systemwide 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." GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence and mortality crises it has documented — and Hays, at more than double its original design capacity, with nine homicides in its registry since 2020, is one of the places where that multiplier is most visible.

Sources

This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Corrections mortality reports and contraband reports; Chattooga County Coroner death-investigation files obtained by GPS through Open Records requests; GBI Medical Examiner autopsy records; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Georgia Department of Administrative Services risk-management settlement ledger; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WTOC; GPS's own mortality registry and investigative reporting; and accounts collected by GPS staff and published in Tell My Story.