PULASKI STATE PRISON

Last updated August 29, 2026.(DS)

Pulaski State Prison: A Women's Facility Under Scrutiny

Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville, Georgia, is a medium-security women's prison that opened in 1994 and houses more than 1,200 adult female felons. The compound includes multiple double-bunked dormitory buildings plus segregation units used for disciplinary and protective custody. Pulaski offers GED classes, basic education, and limited vocational and treatment programs. But beneath this institutional profile lies a facility that has been at the center of investigations into lethal medical neglect, a long pattern of deaths under a contract physician later exposed in statewide reporting, and — most recently — a wave of reports from families and incarcerated women alleging retaliation, intimidation, and unsafe conditions under new leadership.

The facility currently operates at 96.8% of its rated capacity of 1,223 — nearly two and a half times its original design capacity of 500. GPS has independently tracked 30 deaths at Pulaski State Prison since 2020, a figure that represents a floor, since GDC reports deaths approximately two months late. Of those 30 deaths, 20 remain classified as unknown or pending cause, six as natural or medical, two as suicide, and two as other.

A Deadly Medical History: The Yvon Nazaire Era

The most consequential chapter in Pulaski's history involves Dr. Yvon Nazaire, a contract physician whose tenure at the facility has been the subject of GPS's published investigation. According to GPS's reporting, at least 22 women died under Nazaire's care at Pulaski State Prison and Emanuel Women's Facility between 2005 and 2015. The investigation documented that Nazaire had a history of malpractice deaths in New York prior to being hired by Georgia, and that the state hired him despite knowing about his dangerous record. GPS's reporting further found that Nazaire was praised for cutting costs by denying women medical care — and that the state gave him a raise despite the denial of medical care that resulted in deaths.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has independently documented specific cases from this period. Bonnie Rocheleau failed to get adequate care at Pulaski State Prison when she developed pneumonia, leading to her death. The state of Georgia later paid a $925,000 liability settlement tied to Rocheleau's 2015 death at Pulaski, according to the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger. Mollianne Fischer failed to receive adequate medical care at Pulaski State Prison, resulting in her being left in a vegetative state. The AJC's reporting on these cases, published in January 2025, placed them within a broader pattern of medical neglect at the facility.

The settlement ledger obtained through open records requests reveals the financial toll of this history. In addition to the Rocheleau settlement, the state paid $300,000 tied to the 2015 death of Kimery Finger at Pulaski, $85,000 tied to a 2024 incident involving Makayah Howard, $30,000 tied to a 2013 incident involving Kari A. Quinn, and $15,900 tied to a 2018 incident involving Dante Coleman. These payouts — totaling more than $1.35 million across five cases — represent only the cases that reached settlement, not the full scope of harm.

New Leadership, New Allegations: The Wendy Jackson Era

Wendy A. Jackson was appointed warden of Pulaski State Prison on April 16, 2025. Within ten months, GPS had received a pattern of reports describing retaliation, intimidation, extended lockdowns, and a non-functional grievance process under her leadership. GPS's published investigation described Jackson as an "untested warden," and families of people incarcerated at Pulaski began sounding the alarm about the new leadership.

The reports collected by GPS describe a consistent pattern. Inmate witnesses report that staff at Pulaski engaged in verbally aggressive conduct toward incarcerated people during inspections, and that a warden engaged in direct confrontations with incarcerated people in common housing areas. Multiple sources report that incarcerated individuals were held in lockdown for extended periods exceeding five days, during which they were denied access to showers, phone calls, and commissary. Some cells had non-functioning locks. In at least one case, an incarcerated person's water access to their cell was cut off for multiple days during a lockdown period. GPS staff observed a potential Eighth Amendment violation related to alleged water shutoff conditions at the facility.

Family members corroborate these accounts. Multiple families report that during lockdown periods in 2024-2025, incarcerated people had water access cut off for days, were denied shower access for extended periods, went nearly two weeks without clean clothing, and were permitted very limited phone access. Families also allege that staff confiscated personal property — including locks — and informed incarcerated people that the property would not be returned following release from lockdown. Inmate witnesses report that the confiscation of personal security items left incarcerated individuals vulnerable to theft of purchased property.

GPS records show a pattern of family fear for life at critical and high severity across multiple months in 2026, with three distinct sources contributing to this signal. A family member reports that an incarcerated person at Pulaski communicated receiving death threats. Another family member reports that an incarcerated person had hot water thrown in their face. GPS has received accounts of a severe physical assault by other incarcerated individuals, with a prior warning call to the facility going unaddressed in the period leading up to the assault.

Gang Violence and Staffing Collapse

The violence at Pulaski does not occur in a vacuum. GPS's systemic findings document 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%. The October 2024 Department of Justice findings letter explicitly 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." Approximately 31% of the system's roughly 49,000 incarcerated population are validated members of 315 different security threat groups — more than double the national average.

At Pulaski specifically, the consequences of this collapse are documented. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that officers and staff failed to notice a prisoner being stabbed until an outside caller reported it. The prisoner reported being assaulted hours earlier by 10 people who stomped, hit, and kicked her. GPS's own investigative coverage describes accounts of gang members using violence to extort inmates and families at Pulaski State Prison for Women. Pamela Dixon, whose daughter was incarcerated at Pulaski, described paying more than $10,000 in extortion demands to gang members who threatened to disfigure her daughter's face if she did not send $300 by 8 p.m. through Cash App.

A July 15, 2023 disturbance at Pulaski illustrates the volatility. According to AJC reporting, inmates destroyed building property; 11 inmates were directly involved using weapons including broomsticks, a crowbar, metal spray, shanks, and locks. Chemical spray was used to quell inmates as nine security staff responded — nine officers for a facility housing more than 1,200 women.

The DOJ's October 2024 findings letter documented constitutional violations at Pulaski State Prison, including at-knifepoint sexual assaults. The systemic finding is stark: of 456 sexual-abuse allegations recorded across GDC 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.

Staff Misconduct and Accountability

The sexual misconduct allegations at Pulaski extend to staff. In May 2024, Deputy Warden Alonzo L. McMillian was arrested at the Hawkinsville prison and booked into the Pulaski County jail on charges of sexual contact with a prisoner. Arrest warrants stated that McMillian had a "sexual relationship" with a prisoner and specifically engaged in improper sexual contact with her on February 24 and 25. He was released the next day on a $10,000 bond. GDC spokesperson Joan Heath confirmed that both McMillian and another supervisor, Clark, were terminated on May 2 following their arrests. The AJC reported that the alleged sexual misconduct of two prison supervisors could signal a larger systemic problem within the GDC, noting that the arrests came as the prison system faced a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The current leadership structure at Pulaski includes Warden Wendy A. Jackson (appointed April 16, 2025), Deputy Warden of Security Andrea Showers (appointed April 1, 2024), Deputy Warden of Administration Shelley Elizabeth Hermann (appointed April 16, 2025), and Special Assistant to the Warden Gloria Ann Turnage (appointed September 16, 2024). The facility's deputy warden of care and treatment position is held by Kasann Mahogany.

Food Safety and Sanitation

The Georgia Department of Public Health has conducted nine food-safety inspections at Pulaski State Prison since June 2023, and the scores tell a story of persistent problems punctuated by occasional compliance. The most recent routine inspection, on January 29, 2026, produced a failing score of 67 — Grade F — with eight violations cited, including issues with handwashing, food safety knowledge, and adequate handwashing facilities. A follow-up inspection on February 6, 2026 scored 96 (Grade A), suggesting the specific violations were addressed. But the pattern across the inspection history is one of recurring failures: scores of 78 (Grade C) in September 2025, 73 (Grade C) in August 2025, 83 (Grade B) in February 2025, and 82 (Grade B) in June 2024, with violations repeatedly citing handwashing facilities, plumbing, backflow devices, and food-contact surface sanitation.

GPS's systemic investigation into food-service sanitation across GDC kitchens — published as "Dunked, Stacked, and Served" — documents a pattern 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. GDC spends approximately $1.69 per person per day on food (2024) — under 60 cents per meal — versus the FDA Thrifty Food Plan estimate of roughly $10 per day for a nutritionally adequate diet. The Marshall Project independently corroborated this pattern on May 16, 2026, reporting rats in kitchens, insects in food, moldy trays, and visible malnutrition across Georgia facilities.

Recent Deaths and Ongoing Investigations

The mortality record at Pulaski continues to grow. GPS has tracked six deaths at the facility since December 2025. Kristi Ray Perkins, 59, died on July 12, 2026; the cause of death is undetermined, and officials reported no signs of an altercation or foul play. Monika Yvette Bradley, 43, died on July 5, 2026; the cause is undetermined and GDC's Office of Professional Standards is investigating as standard procedure. Tulia Eustache, 66, died on June 3, 2026. Karen Michelle Lindsey, 59, died on May 24, 2026. Denecia Nichelle Randall, 28, died on March 30, 2026, classified as suicide. Ronika Lashawn Carswell, 50, died on December 12, 2025. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating to determine the causes of death for Perkins and Bradley.

The deaths of Perkins and Bradley in July 2026 occurred within a week of each other. GDC stated that a mechanical issue with air conditioning occurred on July 9 and was resolved the same day, and that there was no indication the deaths were related to this issue. But the concentration of deaths — six in seven months, with causes pending or undetermined in five cases — underscores the facility's ongoing mortality crisis.

A Facility in Crisis

The picture that emerges from GPS's documentation, public records, and news reporting is of a facility caught between a lethal past and an unstable present. The medical neglect that killed at least 22 women under Dr. Yvon Nazaire's care was never fully reckoned with. The DOJ's October 2024 findings documented constitutional violations including at-knifepoint sexual assaults. The staffing collapse that has left Georgia's prisons with vacancy rates between 49.3% and 60% systemwide has left Pulaski's more than 1,200 women vulnerable to gang violence, extortion, and assault — as the AJC's reporting on the stabbing that went unnoticed until an outside caller reported it makes clear.

And now, under Warden Wendy Jackson, families and incarcerated women report a new wave of retaliation, intimidation, and extended lockdowns with water shutoffs, shower denials, and property confiscation. GPS records show equipment failure signals and family fear-for-life signals at critical severity across 2026. The grievance process that might address these complaints is, according to multiple sources, non-functional.

Pulaski State Prison opened in 1994 with a design capacity of 500. It now holds more than 1,200 women — nearly two and a half times what it was built for. The facility offers GED classes, basic education, and limited vocational and treatment programs. But the women held there are living through a convergence of crises that GPS has documented across Georgia's prison system: lethal medical neglect, gang control of housing units, staff vacancy rates that leave facilities unsupervised, and a leadership structure that families say responds to complaints with retaliation rather than remedy.

Sources

This analysis draws on reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Marshall Project; Georgia Department of Public Health food-safety inspection records; the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records requests; federal court filings and DOJ findings; GDC official statements; and inmate and family accounts collected by GPS staff. GPS's own investigative reporting on the Yvon Nazaire medical neglect pattern, the "Dunked, Stacked, and Served" food-sanitation investigation, and the Wendy Jackson leadership allegations form the analytical backbone of this page.