Beasley, Jacob

Tenure Summary

Jacob Beasley began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2007 as a correctional officer at Rogers State Prison, advancing through sergeant and lieutenant roles before entering the facility leadership tier. He held deputy warden posts at Hays (2018), Telfair (2019–2021) and Valdosta (2022) state prisons, then was promoted to warden at Smith State Prison (2023–2024) and, most recently, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2025–present). Across his leadership tenures, GPS records attribute a total of 54 deaths to the facilities where he served as deputy warden or warden: 17 at Smith, 16 at GDCP, 14 at Telfair and 7 at Valdosta. Beasley has been named as a defendant in at least eight federal civil rights lawsuits filed during or concerning his tenures.

What happened on their watch

Hays State Prison (2018, Deputy Warden)
Beasley served as deputy warden at Hays in 2018. GPS records show no deaths attributed to the facility during his brief tenure there.

Telfair State Prison (2019–2021, Deputy Warden)
As deputy warden at Telfair, 14 incarcerated men died between March 2020 and August 2021. The deaths included multiple homicides documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s prison investigation: Louis Garcia-Palacio died of blunt impact head injuries, Cedric Johnson was strangled, Marcus Pearson and Aldrich Cain died of multiple stab wounds, and Juan Arguello-Revelles was stabbed. William Lumpkin, 74, died of natural causes, but a witness alleged medical neglect, reporting that he had complained of chest pain and a doctor refused to see him. During this period, the AJC reported that Telfair was missing 76 percent of its essential workforce, leaving only 36 correctional officers to supervise 1,400 prisoners. A Solitary Watch report, dating from an earlier period, alleged that tactical officers rampaged through the prison, beating prisoners and destroying property.

Valdosta State Prison (2022, Deputy Warden)
In 2022, seven men died under Beasley’s tenure as deputy warden at Valdosta. Two deaths were homicides: Hakeem Williams, 27, was stabbed by a cellmate after an officer locked him, handcuffed, in a cell with an unrestrained inmate; Dexter Burnett died of a stab wound to the torso. The Williams killing later resulted in a federal judge sanctioning the department for destroying video evidence and sanctioning the officer for lying under oath. Also during this term, a task force uncovered a drug trafficking network run from the prison by inmate Luis Ramirez; six correctional officers were arrested in Operation Skyhawk for smuggling contraband. Per WTOC, the local coroner publicly criticized a two-day delay in discovering a deceased inmate’s body as a “major security concern.”

Smith State Prison (2023–2024, Warden)
Promoted to warden at Smith, Beasley oversaw the prison during a period when 17 incarcerated people died. The AJC’s investigation identified numerous homicides: Donquerius Mahone (blunt force trauma), James Adams (blunt force trauma to head and neck), Quenton Mayo (stab wounds to neck), Justin Tyler Smith (epidural hematoma from blunt force injury), Shaquan Boykins (blunt impact injuries to head), Calvin Denson (stab wound to chest), Anthony Zino (asphyxia from neck compression), and Randy Wynn (homicide by unspecified means). Zino’s body was badly decomposed, suggesting he had been dead for days before discovery. The AJC described Smith as one of Georgia’s most understaffed and violent prisons, with about two-thirds of correctional officer positions unfilled. Contraband cellphones were rampant, and inmates allegedly ran a large-scale smuggling scheme; a former warden was later indicted, though charges came after Beasley’s departure.

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2025–present, Warden)
Since January 2025, Beasley has held the facility-lead role at GDCP, first as warden 3 and then as warden. Under his watch, 16 deaths have been recorded through early 2026. Among them: Christopher Lee, 19, was reportedly placed in a stripped cell during a weekend, possibly for suicide watch, and was found dead; staff accounts attributed the death to cold or exposure. William Rhodes, 38, died by homicide. Novice Langston, 60, was found dead in his cell after a morning check. GDCP is severely overcrowded — a GPS report notes the facility holds 4,540 people, 568 percent of its 1968 design capacity — yet the infrastructure has not been expanded. A federal lawsuit filed in 2026 alleges medical neglect led to the amputation of an incarcerated man’s left hand while he was housed there.

Litigation

• Jackson v. Beasley, No. 4:23-cv-00198, GAMD, filed Dec. 8, 2023, terminated Jan. 8, 2024.
• Grier v. Jacob Beasley, No. 1:25-cv-00074, GAND, filed Jan. 7, 2025, pending.
• Hamilton v. Beasley, No. 6:25-cv-00057, GASD, filed Jul. 22, 2025, pending.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191, GAND, filed Jun. 6, 2025, terminated Mar. 30, 2026 (Beasley named as defendant).
• Miller v. Holt, No. 5:25-cv-00356, GAMD, filed Aug. 25, 2025, pending (Beasley named as defendant).
• Humphreys v. Oliver, No. 1:25-cv-06100, GAND, filed Oct. 24, 2025, terminated Dec. 10, 2025 (Beasley named as defendant).
• Humphreys v. Oliver, No. 1:25-cv-07012, GAND, filed Dec. 9, 2025, terminated Jan. 15, 2026 (Beasley named as defendant).
• Pak v. Sprayberry, No. 4:21-cv-00113, GAND, filed Jun. 15, 2021, terminated Mar. 4, 2022 (Beasley named as defendant, covering part of his Telfair tenure).

Sources

• GPS records — personnel postings, total deaths attributed (54), facility-by-facility death counts, and a capped sample of individual decedent data.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — “Georgia prison homicides: a list of those killed,” and multiple reports on understaffing, contraband trafficking, and systemic violence at Smith, Telfair, and Valdosta state prisons.
• The Georgia Virtue — reporting on the indictment of a former Smith State Prison warden and the Yves Saint Laurent Squad contraband scheme.
• WTOC — report on coroner’s criticism of a delayed inmate death discovery at Valdosta State Prison.
• Yahoo.com — coverage of the federal drug trafficking indictment targeting an inmate at Valdosta.
• In These Times — strikers’ allegations regarding conditions, medical care, and contraband inside Georgia prisons, including Smith.
• Solitary Watch — account of tactical officer beatings and heat shutoffs at Telfair State Prison.
• Court records via Courtlistener — federal and state lawsuits naming Jacob Beasley as a defendant.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 21, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.