Last updated October 11, 2026.(DS)

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

Hays State Prison sits outside Trion in Chattooga County, a close-security men's facility that the Department describes as housing some of the state's "most challenging offenders." It opened in 1990 with a design capacity of 500. Its current rated capacity is 1,101, and GPS's facility records put the population at 1,105 — 100.4 percent of rated capacity, and more than double what the plant was built to hold. The compound 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, Alisa M. Hammock as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment, and Christopher A. McAlister as Deputy Warden of Security.

The analytical threads below run together: a mortality record that GPS counts at 35 deaths since January 2020, nine of them homicides; a documented pattern of lock failure and infrastructure decay; a decade of state liability settlements tied to the facility; repeated staff arrests for contraband smuggling; and a 2026 violence cluster that GPS's intelligence system records at critical severity.

Thirty-Five Deaths, Nine Classified as Homicide

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. Nine are classified as homicide, nine as natural or medical, four as suicide, two as accident, and eleven remain unknown or pending. The full list is maintained at GPS's facility death registry.

The most recent entries 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, classified as a homicide; Barcel Roylee Ward, who died November 28, 2025, at 39, cause unknown or pending; and James Cannon, who died October 25, 2025, at 48, classified as a homicide. Raymont Savion Farley died June 15, 2025, at 36, and Tommy Joe Strickland died June 4, 2025, at 60, both listed as Natural/Medical. Ralph Carter died March 5, 2025, at 39, cause unknown or pending; Joey Griffin died December 26, 2024, at 54, also unknown or pending.

Two men died on the same day in October 2024: Lawrence L. Williams died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison, at age 30, with GPS's registry classifying the cause as a homicide; and Thomas Johnson died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison, at age 82, with the cause listed as unknown or pending. Mackendy Pierrette died September 13, 2024, at 50; Keith Johnson died August 19, 2024, at 57; Timothy Darmofal died May 22, 2024, at 58 — all three with cause unknown or pending. Freddie Lee Talley died May 6, 2024, at 31, classified as a homicide. Theron Morrell Hendrix died April 19, 2024, at 31, cause unknown or pending, and Jeremy Edward Price died March 2, 2024, at 36, classified as a homicide.

Earlier entries include Talore Stihles Blackford, who died October 28, 2023, at 31, classified as a homicide; Randoulf Gutierrez, who died October 19, 2023, at 42, cause unknown or pending; Ronnie Joe Criswell, who died August 15, 2023, at 67, and Robert Millan Cook, who died July 17, 2023, at 57, both Natural/Medical; Quane Laquaus Johnson, who died January 15, 2023, at 33, classified 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, classified as a suicide; John Terrell Bohannon, who died September 20, 2022, at 79, cause unknown or pending; and Quintez Deshon Smith, who died August 29, 2022, at 25, classified as a homicide.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has documented several of these deaths in detail. The AJC reported that Freddie Lee Talley, 31, died May 6, 2024, from a stab wound to the chest, with an incident report recording a murder involving four other prisoners and multiple sharpened weapons ranging from 10.5 to 22 inches; officers recovered seven weapons ranging in length from 9 to 22 inches, and three incarcerated people received disciplinary reports but had not been charged. The AJC also reported that 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. Price's mother, Tammy Price, told the AJC she still did not know what happened to her child, and she has separately alleged that GDC is hiding its inability to protect prisoners from harm by omitting manner-of-death information from its mortality reports.

Lock Failure, Infrastructure Decay, and the Force Multiplier

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. At Hays, a 2012 audit found roughly 42 percent of cell-door locks non-functional or easily defeated; the 2024 Guidehouse assessment confirmed the pattern. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, and mortality crises documented at the facility level, and notes that the DOJ's October 2024 findings, the Guidehouse assessment, and Commissioner Oliver's public "end of life" statements all corroborate it.

Historical GPS reporting describes three homicides at Hays within a single month in late 2012 and early 2013, and a correctional officer stabbed 22 times who survived the assault. GPS's reporting also describes the 2013 stabbing death of 19-year-old Pippa Hall-Jackson in what was characterized as a gang-related mistaken-identity incident.

In 2025, the state announced a $24 million "hardened" unit at Hays — a 126-bed module that is the first of four identical modules statewide, part of a $600 million prison spending surge. GPS's coverage frames the construction push against the conditions inside: the state's own consultants and the DOJ have documented that gangs effectively control access to phones, showers, food, and bed assignments in multiple facilities, and that officer vacancies have run between 49.3 and 60 percent systemwide against a national standard of no more than 10 percent.

State Liability: A Decade of Settlements

Georgia's DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger — obtained through open records — records at least eleven liability payouts tied to Hays State Prison between 2011 and 2022. The largest is $650,000, paid in connection with an incident involving Charles L. Broady Jr. in 2017. Estaban Mosqueda Romero's 2014 incident produced a $215,000 payout, and Joshua Blash's 2016 incident produced $80,000. Monica Rodriguez's 2016 case settled for $65,000, and Synita Hudgins's 2022 case for $35,000. Cecelia Carson's 2020 incident produced $29,000, Alexander Williams's 2019 case $23,000, and Travarus Smith's 2017 case $15,000. Uriah Raheem's 2019 incident settled for $5,000. Two entries are nominal: $250 in the 2017 case of Deborah Martin as agent for Kendrick R. Martin, and $450 in the 2011 case of Ricky Bernard McCoy, GDCID 427785.

Contraband, Smuggling, and Staff Arrests

GDC's own published contraband reports — which record arrests as reported, not convictions — document a recurring staff-smuggling problem at Hays. In April 2025, security staff located a cellphone, wireless earbuds, and two homemade metal weapons in the office of Nurse Practitioner Timothy Turner, who was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office and transported to the Chattooga County Jail. In January 2024, staff recovered twelve packages wrapped in electrical tape from Officer Nicholas Grindle's locker: seven vape pens, a vape bottle, a wireless earbud, twenty charging cables, five charging blocks, fourteen cell phones, 222 grams of marijuana, and 760 grams of methamphetamine. Grindle admitted to attempting to bring contraband to an incarcerated person and was arrested by the Chattooga County Sheriff's Department.

The AJC's coverage adds cases spanning a decade. 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 marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the facility in noodle soup containers and was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison. Federal officials also announced the sentencing of a former Hays guard who smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to incarcerated people for over a month. GDC's contraband summary for the facility lists staff-class actors across multiple roles, including five officers, a food service contractor, a nurse practitioner, and an Aramark food service director.

Food Service: Scores That Don't Tell the Story

The Georgia Department of Public Health has inspected Hays's food service repeatedly since 2023. The most recent pair of inspections, both on June 22, 2026, produced scores of 82 (Grade B, four violations including food separation and food-contact surface sanitation) and 91 (Grade A, one violation for cold holding temperatures). November 18, 2025 produced an 87 (Grade B) and a 92 (Grade A). May 7, 2025 produced a 91 (Grade A) and an 87 (Grade B). July 19, 2024 produced a 96 and a 91, both Grade A. December 27, 2023 produced an 87 and an 83, both Grade B. August 29, 2023 produced a 97 (Grade A) and an 84 (Grade B). Violations across the series include handwashing facilities not supplied or accessible, improper cold and hot holding temperatures, food-contact surfaces not cleaned and sanitized, and physical facilities not maintained and clean.

GPS has documented a systemic pattern of food-service sanitation failure across GDC kitchens that DPH inspection scores systematically fail to capture — tray-sanitizing dishwashers broken for sustained periods, sustained roach and rodent infestation in kitchen and serving areas, and meals served on visibly contaminated trays. The pattern is hidden from DPH scores, GPS's analysis holds, because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load. GPS's reporting also notes that GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food, with $1.60 per day proposed for FY27 — under 60 cents per meal — against the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for an adult man's nutritionally adequate diet. The Marshall Project independently reported on rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities in May 2026.

The 2026 Violence Cluster

GPS's intelligence system records eleven distinct sources reporting alleged inmate-on-inmate assaults at Hays over a four-month span in 2026, with concentrations in April and August, including critical-severity reports. Four sources reported staffing shortages across July and August 2026, and three reported unnamed staff misconduct allegations in August and September. GPS has additionally received accounts of a 2026 disturbance at the facility involving a group of incarcerated people, a stabbing, and an officer restrained — reports that circulated among incarcerated people and described a National Guard presence. GPS has received accounts of an in-custody death attributed to an assault at the facility, and of two incarcerated people transported to an outside hospital following a stabbing.

GPS's reporting describes a coordinated gang-violence event on April 1, 2026, in which a man described by sources as a high-ranking ROLACC Blood leader was attacked during an official inspection at Hays — stabbed multiple times in the neck in front of the warden and prison staff, requiring CPR. The same reporting describes the retaliation that followed as immediate and systemwide, with at least twelve prisons locked down, life flights dispatched to two facilities, and stabbings confirmed at five. GPS's investigative series has documented 100 homicides in Georgia prisons in 2024 against 66 reported by GDC, 333 total deaths in 2024, and 23 homicides and 67 deaths in the first quarter of 2026. GPS has independently tracked 1,913 deaths in GDC custody since 2020.

Sources

This analysis draws on Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; GDC's own published contraband arrest reports; GPS's mortality registry and facility records; reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on deaths, staff prosecutions, and mortality-reporting practices; The Marshall Project's May 2026 investigation of Georgia prison food; the DOJ's October 2024 findings letter and the 2024 Guidehouse assessment; and GPS's own investigative reporting and systemic findings on infrastructure, staffing, gang control, and violence across Georgia's prison system.