Last updated October 11, 2026.(DS)

Macon State Prison: Death, Depletion, and the Machinery of Neglect

Macon State Prison sits on roughly 300 acres outside Oglethorpe, in Macon County. Built in 1993 and opened in 1994, the facility was designed to hold 500 men. It now carries a rated capacity of 1,762 and a population of 1,768 — 100.3 percent of rated capacity, and more than three and a half times its original design. It is classified as a close-security men's prison, and it holds some of the system's highest-risk prisoners across multiple cellblock buildings: 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. What it has produced, in the public record, is a body count.

GPS has recorded 89 deaths at Macon State Prison since January 1, 2020 — 35 of them classified as homicides, 35 with cause still unknown or pending, 14 natural or medical, and five suicides. Those figures are a floor: GDC reports deaths roughly two months late. The full list is maintained at gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/facility/macon-state-prison/.

A Facility That Kills at Scale

The AJC's homicide tracking has documented a steady toll at Macon State. Johnny Eugene Young, 24, died January 27, 2020, from a sharp-force injury to the mouth and tongue. Rafael Blas Becerra, 36, died March 7, 2020, from stab wounds to the upper torso; the incident report shows seven other incarcerated people involved and six injured. Carrington Juwon Frye, 23, died March 20, 2020, 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, 35, died May 13, 2020, of multiple sharp-force injuries. Coty Dustin Silvers, 39, died May 23, 2020, of asphyxia. Bobby Edward Lee Jr., 38, died July 13, 2020, of ligature strangulation. Robbie B. Brower, 58, died October 4, 2020, of blunt and sharp-force injuries to the head and neck. Raul Villegas, 37, died December 13, 2020, of a stab wound to the torso, with three other incarcerated people named in the incident report.

The pattern did not abate. Carlos Maurice Fisher Jr., 30, died May 10, 2021, of multiple sharp-force injuries. Ryan Weston Darville, 37, died December 29, 2021, of stab wounds to the chest. Joseph Walter Brown, 36, died July 26, 2022, of multiple stab wounds; Dan Brooks Jr., 50, died August 21, 2022, of a stab wound to the neck. Kendrick Malik Brown, 25, died October 16, 2022, of blunt-force head injury — his mother said he was due for release in a month but was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous. James Cornelius McLeroy III, 26, died December 19, 2022, of stab wounds to the torso, with the incident report identifying two other prisoners involved as gang members.

In 2023, Sabino Carlos Ramos, 34, died March 22 of multiple stab wounds. The DOJ's October 2024 findings letter 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, of sharp-force chest trauma; his cellmate was charged with murder. Taurean Hardy, 41, died December 10, 2023, after an altercation with his cellmate.

The 2024 Cluster and the Mitchell Case

The 2024 deaths arrived in a cluster. Kenneth Keith Malcom, 38, died February 12, 2024, of sharp-force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and upper extremities. Reginald Lamonte Ginn, 31, died March 13, 2024, of blunt-force head trauma; incident reports labeled the death a homicide, and he was apparently beaten to death by an incarcerated person wielding a fan motor tied to a belt. Devontae Marquez Young, 28, died May 10, 2024, of cardiac arrest and sharp-force chest trauma after being assaulted with a sharp instrument. Mathis Lee Ward, 37, died June 8, 2024, of 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. Shannon Pickett, 49, died July 21, 2024, of exsanguination and sharp-force trauma following an inmate-to-inmate assault. Keith Antwone Green, 44, died August 30, 2024, from an inmate-to-inmate assault.

The AJC reported that Jonathan Mitchell died at a hospital after being beaten by fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin, who was accused of using his "foot, knee and fist" to beat Mitchell's head and face, and who reportedly confessed to the assault. Henry Finley died January 18, 2025, after being stabbed at Macon State Prison, a death confirmed by Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley. The AJC also reported that a prisoner at Valdosta State Prison and one at Dooly State Prison died in January 2025 after altercations with other inmates — deaths at other facilities, not this one. Between January 1 and February 4, 2025, thirteen prison deaths across the system were being investigated as homicides, the bloodiest start to a year going back at least a decade according to an AJC analysis. Statewide, GDC investigated 66 prisoner deaths as homicides in 2024, and total prisoner deaths reached a record 332, up about 27 percent from the prior year.

The Registry's Most Recent Dead

GPS's mortality registry, which runs from January 1, 2020 forward, records the following most recent deaths at Macon State Prison. Brett Michael Scudder died June 20, 2026, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Anthony Williams died May 2, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Allan Sharpe died April 10, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Eric Roberts died February 9, 2026, at Macon State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. Joe Dywane Rayton died January 2, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Gregory Brent Scott died January 1, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Randall Allen Cleveland died November 30, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Michael Tony Cooper died November 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Marquis Young died October 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Gary Simpson died October 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Clifton B Boston died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Calvin Earl Noble died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide. Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died August 25, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Suicide. Pierre Cedric Scott died August 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. Marion Washington died May 16, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. John Austin Mitchell died April 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending. D'Andrius Brown died March 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Homicide. Lynn Alexander Durett died March 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending.

A cause shown as Unknown/Pending means GPS does not yet know the cause. The registry does not guess.

Six Officers and a Facility of 1,768

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 coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. That is a facility with a rated capacity of 1,762 and a population of 1,768. 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.

This is not a Macon-specific anomaly. GPS has documented that officer vacancies in Georgia's prisons have run between 49.3 percent and 60 percent systemwide for multiple years, against a national standard of no more than 10 percent; at Valdosta State Prison the rate reached 80 percent by April 2024. The hiring pipeline cannot close the gap — acceptance rate under 15 percent, with 82.7 percent of new hires leaving in their first year — and Georgia ranks last of 50 states for correctional-officer pay. 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." Former GDC assistant warden Russell Zirkle has testified on the record to vacancy rates of 70 to 80 percent at major prisons, and to the concealment of those figures — testimony that corroborates both the DOJ's staffing findings and GPS's open-records production documenting six officers on duty when a riot began at Washington State Prison on January 11, 2026.

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. GPS treats infrastructure collapse as a force multiplier for the violence, classification, and mortality crises documented at the facility level: most GDC facilities are 30 to 40-plus years old, with documented patterns of deferred maintenance producing broken cell-door locks, inoperative surveillance and fire-alarm systems, mold and water failures, and pest infestations.

Contraband, Corruption, and the Staff Who Carry It

Macon State's contraband problem is not only a prisoner problem. Four correctional officers at the facility 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.

Incarcerated people at Macon State have run their own operations from inside. 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 for directing a fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoid trafficking scheme using a contraband cellphone. 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 course of the case. Separately, Rodney Edward Smith, a 39-year-old inmate at Macon State Prison, was extradited to Florida on August 16, 2025, to face charges for an alleged hunting lease fraud scheme; he 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.

What the Settlements Cost

Georgia's own open-records settlement ledger records what the state has paid out for conduct tied to Macon State Prison. The largest single payout is $1,375,000 to Bobby Edward Lee, tied to a 2020 incident and linked to a documented death record. The state paid $750,000 to Coty Silvers, also tied to a 2020 incident and linked to a documented death. Javante Harris-Evans received $98,000 for a 2021 incident; William Stoner received $50,000 for a 2013 incident; Robin Kimbrel received $32,500 for a 2022 incident; William Colton Courtney received $20,000 for a 2015 incident. Smaller payouts include $6,250 to Bavarious Nelson (2022), $5,000 to Willie Frank Wright (2013), $750 to Hjalmar Rodriquez Jr (2015), $500 to Jerome Anthony Williams (2015), and $450 to Frank Gillis (2021).

The Lee case also produced a federal lawsuit. The AJC reported that the suit alleges Bobby Edward Lee Jr. was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer, and blames his death on understaffing and indifference by prison officials. The reporting states that officials placed Lee in a cell with a prisoner who had previously killed a fellow parolee despite Lee's pleas for protection, and that no officers responded until after he was strangled to death.

Food, Water, and the Inspection Score That Misses It

The Georgia Department of Public Health inspected Macon State Prison's food service three times in the past two years. On June 10, 2024, the facility scored 91 (Grade A) with one violation cited, for food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated. On March 25, 2025, it scored 80 (Grade B) with three violations, including food in good condition, safe, and unadulterated, proper cold holding temperatures, and proper hot holding temperatures. On April 29, 2026, it scored 87 (Grade B) with three violations, including proper cold holding temperatures, and utensil, equipment, linen, and warewashing-facility maintenance.

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 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. The Marshall Project independently reported the broader pattern on May 16, 2026, documenting rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities. 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 Record Beyond the Count

GPS's intelligence system records, over the past twelve months at this facility, 14 sources reporting alleged assault by another incarcerated person, nine reporting a death in custody, seven reporting named staff misconduct, six reporting family fear for an incarcerated person's life, and four reporting grievance obstruction. Four external complaints were filed to oversight bodies in that period, including to federal court. GPS has additionally received recurring reports of medical neglect, sanitation failure, and inadequate climate control at the facility.

The facility's leadership has turned over. The AJC reported that Gregory Sampson, former warden at Dooly State Prison, became warden at Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025. GPS's current personnel records list Delvin Rasaunn Peoples as warden since January 1, 2025, with Nancy Lee Lawson and Derrick B McDaniel as Deputy Wardens of Security, Deserre' Jones as Deputy Warden of Administration, and Curtis Jeffries as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment since July 16, 2026.

The state has acknowledged the scale of the problem in budget terms. Citing consultant findings, Governor Kemp proposed allocating an additional $600 million over 18 months to address staffing, emergency repairs, and infrastructure improvements in Georgia prisons. Whether that money reaches Oglethorpe — and whether it arrives before the next name is added to the registry — is the question the record leaves open.

Sources

This analysis draws on homicide and mortality tracking by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; reporting by Solitary Watch and 13WMAZ; Georgia Department of Public Health food-service inspection records; the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; federal court filings in the Lee litigation; GDC public statements and personnel records; and GPS's own mortality registry, intelligence signals, and systemic findings on staffing collapse, infrastructure failure, and food-service sanitation across Georgia prisons.