MACON STATE PRISON

Last updated September 20, 2026.(DS)

Macon State Prison: Ninety Deaths, Thirty-Five Homicides, and a Facility That Cannot Count

Macon State Prison sits on roughly 300 acres in Oglethorpe, in Macon County. Built in 1993 and opened in 1994, it houses some of the system's highest-risk prisoners in multiple cellblock buildings, including double-bunked general population, isolation and segregation units, and a 10-bed medical infirmary. It offers GED and adult basic education, limited vocational and substance-abuse programming, and religious services. Its original design capacity was 500. Its current rated capacity is 1,762, and GPS records a population of 1,769 — 100.4% of that rated figure. The distance between the design and the reality is the story of this prison.

GPS's mortality registry records 89 deaths at Macon State Prison since 2020 — a floor, not a ceiling, since GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. Thirty-five of those are classified as homicides, 43 remain unknown or pending, eight are natural or medical, and three are suicides. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has documented the names, dates, and causes behind a large share of that record, and the pattern it describes is not a facility with a violence problem so much as a facility where violence is the ordinary condition of confinement.

The Named Dead: Six Years of Stabbings, Beatings, and Strangulations

The record begins in January 2020. Johnny Eugene Young, 24, died on January 27 from a sharp force injury to the mouth and tongue. Rafael Blas Becerra, 36, died March 7 from stab wounds to the upper torso; the incident report shows seven other inmates involved and six injured. Carrington Juwon Frye, 23, died March 20 from stab wounds to the neck and chest — his mother told Georgia lawmakers he bled for more than half an hour before help arrived. David Travis Alexander Dennis, 34, died May 13 from multiple sharp force injuries. Coty Dustin Silvers, 39, died May 23 from asphyxia. Robbie B. Brower, 58, died October 4 from blunt and sharp force injuries to the head and neck. Raul Villegas, 37, died December 13 from a stab wound to the torso, with three other inmates involved.

Bobby Edward Lee Jr., 38, died July 13, 2020, from ligature strangulation. The AJC reported that a federal lawsuit alleges Lee was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer, despite Lee's pleas for protection, and that no officers responded until after he was dead; the suit blames understaffing and indifference by prison officials. The state's own settlement ledger records a $1,375,000 liability payout tied to Lee's death — the largest tied to this facility.

The list continues without interruption. Carlos Maurice Fisher Jr., 30, died May 10, 2021, from multiple sharp force injuries. Ryan Weston Darville, 37, died December 29, 2021, from stab wounds to the chest. Joseph Walter Brown, 36, died July 26, 2022, from multiple stab wounds. Dan Brooks Jr., 50, died August 21, 2022, from a stab wound to the neck. Kendrick Malik Brown, 25, died October 16, 2022, from blunt force head injury; his mother alleged he was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous shortly before his scheduled release. James Cornelius McLeroy III, 26, died December 19, 2022, from stab wounds to the torso, with an incident report showing two other prisoners involved were gang members. Sabino Carlos Ramos, 34, died March 22, 2023, from multiple stab wounds; the DOJ report states that four gang members ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed. Kevin Deshawn Lamar, 44, died August 10, 2023, from sharp force chest trauma; his cellmate was charged with murder. Taurean Hardy, 40, died December 10, 2023, after an altercation with his cellmate, per the DOJ report.

2024 and 2025: The Pace Accelerates

Kenneth Keith Malcom, 38, died February 12, 2024, from sharp force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and upper extremities. Reginald Lamonte Ginn, 31, died March 13, 2024, from blunt force head trauma — the AJC reported he was apparently beaten to death by an inmate wielding a fan motor tied to a belt. Devontae Marquez Young, 28, died May 10, 2024, from cardiac arrest and sharp force chest trauma. Mathis Lee Ward, 37, died June 8, 2024, from sharp force chest and neck trauma, assaulted with a homemade sharp instrument made of two pieces of sharpened metal. Jarraad Quayshawn Williams, 32, died July 17, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault. Shannon Pickett, 48, died July 21, 2024, from exsanguination and sharp force trauma. Keith Antwone Green, 44, died August 30, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault.

Jonathan Mitchell, 50, died January 21, 2025. The AJC reported that fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin was accused of beating Mitchell with his foot, knee, and fist, causing fatal head trauma, and reportedly confessed to the assault. Marquel Smith, 29, died February 14, 2025, and D'Andrius Brown, 30, died March 23, 2025 — both classified as homicides in GPS's registry. Sanchez Jackson, 48, was killed June 19, 2025; the AJC reported that an investigator told his sister there was a rumor he died in a gang attack, that his family received only a brief call from the warden with a promise to follow up that never materialized, and that the investigator gave only "short and vague" answers. Jackson had allegedly told his sister that as many as four men were packed into one cell, rotating spots just to sleep.

Lukas Lance Way, 32, died June 22, 2025, and Xavier Anthony Adams, 40, died July 22, 2025 — both homicides. Pierre Cedric Scott, 41, died August 22, 2025, and Marquis Young, 37, died October 22, 2025, both homicides. Calvin Earl Noble, 25, and Cassiem Mahlon Johnson, 55, both died by suicide on consecutive days in August 2025. Eric Roberts, 33, died February 9, 2026; GDC's Office of Professional Standards described its investigation as ongoing, and GPS's registry classifies the death as a homicide. Brett Michael Scudder, 37, died June 20, 2026, with cause still pending.

Staffing Collapse and the Loss of Facility Control

The AJC reported that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were not filled as of October 2024, and that the Macon County coroner found only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. The same reporting found that staffing vacancies at the majority of Georgia's 34 prisons had reached "emergency levels," making it impossible to keep up with even basic protocols such as routine counts of prisoners.

GPS's systemic findings place Macon inside a statewide pattern. Officer vacancies across Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3% and 60% systemwide for multiple years, against a national standard of no more than 10%. The October 2024 DOJ findings letter concluded that "the leadership of the Georgia Department of Corrections has lost control of its facilities" and faulted GDC for placing "too much blame on gangs and insufficient emphasis on understaffing." Roughly 31% of the system's ~49,000 incarcerated population are validated members of 315 different security threat groups — more than double the national average. DOJ and the Guidehouse 2024 consultant assessment independently concluded that gangs effectively run multiple facilities, controlling access to phones, showers, food, and bed assignments.

The AJC reported that low staffing allows gangs to exert influence, and that violence is enhanced by poorly maintained facilities where most locks don't work and prisoners can easily make shanks from wall and ceiling materials. That description maps onto Macon's death record with unusual precision: Ward was killed with a homemade instrument of two sharpened metal pieces; Ginn with a fan motor tied to a belt.

Russell Zirkle, a former GDC assistant warden, has testified on the record that vacancy rates at major prisons ran 70–80% and that GDC concealed the true staffing numbers — testimony documented in GPS's reporting "Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis." Zirkle's account corroborates the DOJ's October 2024 findings on staffing collapse and loss of facility control, and it matches what the coroner found at Macon: a handful of officers responsible for a close-security population of more than 1,700.

Three Weeks Under a Bunk: The Krauch Case and the Phantom Counts

In June 2024, Glen Christian Krauch was tortured at Macon State Prison — bound, stabbed, burned with cigarettes, slashed, and left under a bunk. GPS's investigative reporting describes accounts that while Krauch was being tortured, GDC filed 168 paper counts indicating that all inmates at the facility were accounted for. When he was finally found, he had brain bleeds, broken ribs, cigarette burns, and a necrotic wound; surgeons amputated his right hand and leg. No arrests were made.

The Southern Center for Human Rights filed suit over conditions at Macon State Prison, documenting severe deprivation — including 96 inmates sharing a single toilet — along with inadequate bedding and hygiene conditions.

The Krauch case is the clearest available evidence that Macon's staffing collapse is not merely a matter of too few officers. It is a matter of the state's own record-keeping detaching from reality. If 168 counts could be filed while a man was being tortured under a bunk, the count system had become a fiction — and a fiction is exactly what a facility with five to eight officers on duty would need it to be.

Contraband, Corruption, and the Staff Arrests

The same facility that could not prevent 35 homicides in six years has produced a steady stream of contraband and corruption cases. Four correctional officers at Macon State Prison were arrested in September 2024 on charges of violating their oath as public officers and providing false statements. The AJC reported that hundreds of GDC employees have been arrested and fired for smuggling drugs and other contraband into prisons.

Inmate Devito Duran Young pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for his role in a drug trafficking operation coordinated from Macon State Prison, and was sentenced to 327 months in federal prison. Trace Davrin Works pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and received a 262-month sentence. Prosecutors seized $170,000 in cryptocurrency from Xin Wang during the case. 13WMAZ reported that Young coordinated the operation from behind bars using contraband cellphones to import drugs from China, and that Oliver Sr. orchestrated drug shipments to a Cordele address controlled by his son.

Rodney Edward Smith, a 39-year-old inmate at Macon State Prison, was extradited to Florida on August 16, 2025, to face charges in an alleged hunting lease fraud scheme. CBS News reported that Smith allegedly used smuggled cell phones and multiple online aliases to post fake hunting lease advertisements for properties he did not own, collecting deposits from hunters across 15 Florida counties between July 1, 2025, and April 30.

GDC's own published contraband reports document the flow of material at the perimeter, recording 36 incidents at Macon with arrests in nearly every year from 2010 through 2025 — including eight officers and one correctional officer listed among the staff-class actors. The contrast between the aggressive prosecution of contraband cases and the absence of arrests in the Krauch torture case is stark.

Food, Sanitation, and the Conditions of Daily Life

The Georgia Department of Public Health inspected Macon State Prison's food service on June 10, 2024, scoring it 91 (Grade A) with one violation cited: food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated. A routine inspection on March 25, 2025, scored 80 (Grade B) with three violations: food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated; proper cold holding temperatures; and proper hot holding temperatures. A routine inspection on April 29, 2026, scored 87 (Grade B) with three violations: proper cold holding temperatures; utensils, equipment and linens properly stored, dried, handled; and warewashing facilities installed, maintained, used, with test strips.

GPS's systemic findings complicate those scores. GPS has documented a 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 because inspections are scheduled walkthroughs that do not assess equipment under load, and because GPS has documented professional overlap between inspectors and facility staff in small-county settings. High DPH scores at GDC facilities coexist with sustained witness reports of equipment failure and food contamination.

GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food (2024) and has proposed $1.60 per day in 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 state spends approximately 14 times more on medical care for incarcerated people ($432 million) than on their food. The Marshall Project independently reported on May 16, 2026, on rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities.

GPS records show three food-quality complaints and four inadequate-climate signals at Macon over the past 12 months, several at critical severity. Inmate accounts collected by GPS describe unsanitary conditions, severely limited access to working showers, food served on unsanitary trays, non-functioning security cameras, inadequate ventilation, and people sleeping on floors. Multiple sources report that the isolation unit has lacked electricity and air conditioning at times.

Medical Neglect, Isolation, and the Grievance Block

GPS records show four medical-neglect signals and six family fear-for-life signals at Macon State Prison over the past 12 months, all at critical severity, along with four external complaints filed to federal court and to GPS itself. Family members have reported concerns that an incarcerated person's blood glucose was not being monitored appropriately, that prescribed medications were not provided, and that an incarcerated person received incorrect medication — allegedly causing a serious neurological episode including paralysis and stroke-like symptoms. Family members report the individual developed mobility issues and was subsequently held in solitary confinement, with staff indicating the isolation would be indefinite.

The isolation unit is a recurring subject of family reports: no electricity, no air conditioning, no clean drinking water, no food access. Family members have requested written confirmation that the unit has functioning electricity, ventilation, and adequate cooling, and have asked that the person be moved to a medically appropriate housing assignment. They have reported that grievances are not being accepted, that medical records are difficult to obtain, and that legal mailings are being blocked by citing funds in the person's account.

These are family allegations, not court findings. But they are consistent with the documented pattern at Macon: a facility where the state's own records cannot be trusted, where counts are filed for people who are being tortured, where a coroner finds five to eight officers on duty for more than 1,700 people. GPS has additionally received recurring reports of staff misconduct at this facility, including accounts involving housing assignments and the segregation unit.

Leadership, Settlements, and What the State Has Paid

The AJC reported that Gregory Sampson, formerly warden at Dooly State Prison, became warden at Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025. GPS's personnel records list Delvin Rasaunn Peoples as the facility's warden, with deputy wardens Nancy LEE Lawson, Deserre' Jones, and Derrick B. McDaniel.

The state has paid out settlements tied to Macon State Prison incidents, per the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records. The largest: $1,375,000 tied to the death of Bobby Edward Lee (2020) and $750,000 tied to the death of Coty Silvers (2020). Others include $98,000 tied to Javante Harris-Evans (2021), $32,500 tied to Robin Kimbrel (2022), $20,000 tied to William Colton Courtney (2015), $50,000 tied to William Stoner (2013), $6,250 tied to Bavarious Nelson (2022), $5,000 tied to Willie Frank Wright (2013), $750 tied to Hjalmar Rodriquez Jr (2015), $500 tied to Jerome Anthony Williams (2015), and $450 tied to Frank Gillis (2021).

The ledger is a record of what the state paid to make claims go away, not a record of what happened. But the two largest payouts correspond to two of the homicides the AJC documented — and the smallest, in the hundreds of dollars, suggest a category of claim the state resolves without ever conceding anything.

The Broader Pattern

Macon State Prison is not an outlier. It is a concentrated expression of a system-wide failure. The DOJ's October 2024 findings letter concluded that sexual assault is "rampant" in GDC facilities and that GDC does not reasonably protect incarcerated people, including LGBTI individuals, from sexual harm. Of 456 sexual-abuse allegations recorded in 2022, only 35 were substantiated (7.7%). GDC's own consultants, PREA Auditors of America, reviewed 388 PREA investigation files in May 2022 and found that not one met the law's standards. Georgia has never submitted a PREA certification of full compliance to the U.S. Department of Justice in the law's two-decade history.

GPS has documented that most GDC facilities are 30–40+ 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 October 2024 findings, the Guidehouse 2024 assessment, and Commissioner Oliver's public "end of life" statements all corroborate the pattern. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, gang-control, and mortality crises documented at the facility level.

The AJC reported that 2024 was the deadliest year on record in Georgia prisons, with 332 total prisoner deaths — up about 27% from the prior year — and 66 deaths deemed homicides. Thirteen prison deaths from January 1 to February 4, 2025, were being investigated as homicides, the bloodiest start of a year going back at least a decade according to an AJC analysis. GPS has independently tracked 1,894 deaths in GDC custody system-wide since 2020.

Governor Kemp has proposed allocating an additional $600 million over the next 18 months to address staffing, emergency repairs, and infrastructure improvements in Georgia prisons, citing consultant findings. Whether that money reaches Macon State Prison — and whether it can reverse a collapse years in the making — remains to be seen.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CBS News, 13WMAZ, Solitary Watch, and The Marshall Project; Georgia Department of Public Health food-service inspection records; the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; GDC's own published contraband reports; federal court filings including the Southern Center for Human Rights litigation over conditions at Macon State Prison; GPS's mortality registry and intelligence records; GPS's own investigative reporting, including its coverage of the Krauch torture case and "Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis"; on-record testimony from former GDC assistant warden Russell Zirkle; and inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff.