Andre, Dorothy

Tenure Summary

Dorothy Andre began working at Phillips State Prison in 2015 as a correctional officer and rose steadily through the ranks—sergeant, lieutenant, unit manager—before being appointed Deputy Warden of Security on January 16, 2026. GPS records attribute four in‑custody deaths at Phillips State Prison to Andre’s leadership tenure. No lawsuits name Andre as a defendant. Her entire career has been at the same facility, which has a well‑documented history of violence, multiple suspicious deaths, and a 2022 homicide that federal investigators found triggered a multi‑prison gang war.

What happened on their watch

Andre assumed the role of Deputy Warden of Security at Phillips State Prison on January 16, 2026. Within three weeks, on February 9, Rodger Scales, 40, died; the Gwinnett County Coroner and GBI Medical Examiner ruled the death natural, according to the coroner’s report. Two days later, Cornelius Burge, 42, died on February 11. Rickie Lynn Rutherford, 41, died on April 18, and Richard L. Thatcher, 58, died on May 3. GPS records list the cause category for Burge, Rutherford, and Thatcher as unknown. All four deaths occurred in a span of less than three months. The prison where Andre serves has long been marked by extreme violence: in 2022, while Andre was a lieutenant, the gang‑related stabbing death of Quafabian Melik McBride—in which officers allegedly arranged for the victim to be brought to the lockdown unit that day, according to the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution—was found by the U.S. Department of Justice to have set off a gang war across multiple GDC prisons, with 20 prisoners hospitalized. A year earlier, Dave Stone died from head trauma after an alleged assault with pipes inside a mental health ward, per the AJC. That backdrop of sustained violence and staff‑allegation patterns colors the period of Andre’s facility‑leadership tenure.

Litigation

No lawsuits are filed against Dorothy Andre.

Sources

• GPS personnel and death records — tenure timeline, total deaths attributed, and individual decedent names for four 2026 deaths.
• Gwinnett County Coroner / GBI Medical Examiner report (26G‑0252) — manner of death for Rodger Scales (natural), cited in GPS intelligence.
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — investigation into Georgia prison homicides; allegations that officers arranged for McBride’s placement before his killing, and details of Dave Stone’s fatal assault.
• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) finding — determination that the September 2022 McBride homicide ignited a gang war across multiple GDC prisons (referenced in GPS intelligence).
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger — shows six‑figure payouts tied to Phillips State Prison incidents before Andre’s deputy warden tenure (not directly linked to Andre).

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 12, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.