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Beland, Ryan
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Ryan Beland began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2011 as a correctional officer at Charles D. Hudson Transitional Center, later serving as a counselor and behavioral health counselor at multiple facilities. From 2021 onward, he moved into supervisory roles, holding the position of Correctional Assistant Superintendent at Helms Facility in 2022, then Correctional Superintendent and subsequently Warden at Rutledge State Prison starting in early 2024. In June 2026, Beland was appointed Warden of Johnson State Prison. Across all facility‑leadership postings he has held, GPS records attribute 13 deaths — 3 at Helms Facility, 9 at Rutledge State Prison, and 1 at Johnson State Prison during his first week on the job. No lawsuits name Beland as a defendant, but his tenures coincide with several facility‑level settlements and allegations of systemic failures.What happened on their watch
Helms Facility (Correctional Assistant Superintendent, 2022)
During Beland’s year as second‑in‑command at Helms Facility, three incarcerated men died: Mitchell Dunn (60, natural causes — lung cancer, per the DeKalb County Medical Examiner), Kenneth Clyde (65, cause category 6), and Walton Jerome Thomas (56, cause category 6). Cause category 6 indicates that the manner of death was not specified or remained under investigation when the records were compiled. No litigation or investigative reports specific to these deaths have surfaced in GPS intelligence files.Rutledge State Prison (Correctional Superintendent, 2024; Warden, 2025–2026)
Beland’s longest leadership stretch was at Rutledge State Prison, where nine deaths were recorded during his tenure as superintendent and later warden. Four of those deaths occurred in 2024: Leroy House (68, cause 6), Anthony Hand (52, cause 6), Venteris Hobson (58, homicide by inmate‑to‑inmate assault — according to AJC investigative data and a coroner’s statement), and Tony Reddish (45, cause 6). In 2025, three more men died: William Houston (75, cause 6), Alan Bryant (46, natural causes), and Brandon Bolden (37, recorded as a homicide, with GPS notes indicating a prisoner‑on‑prisoner incident). Two additional deaths followed in 2026: Jonathan Myers (38, cause 6) and Alterek Mance Dockery (49, cause 6).While Beland led the facility, state records show a $20,000 settlement paid to Amber Brejae Walker for a 2024 incident at Rutledge. A lawsuit filed in January 2025 by the sister of Curtis Mincey — a man who died at Rutledge in 2021 — alleged the prison failed to provide appropriate mental‑health care; the case was still active during Beland’s watch. A separate AJC report detailed officers arrested in the 2026 Operation Skyhawk contraband‑smuggling investigation, including a sergeant at Rutledge who admitted to providing cellphones and other items to prisoners.
Johnson State Prison (Warden, June 2026–present)
Beland assumed the warden’s post at Johnson State Prison on June 16, 2026. Just eight days later, Ernest Perez died; GPS records classify the death as cause category 3, a label that in other Georgia prison death data corresponds to homicide, though no official determination or narrative is attached to the record.The facility Beland inherited had already been the subject of sharp scrutiny. A whistleblower account from former GDC CERT Commander Tyler Ryals described a spring 2024 incident at Johnson in which a compound housing roughly 1,400 men operated with only four staff, and a taser use‑of‑force went unreported. Before Beland’s arrival, in April 2026, GPS received multiple reports of contaminated food trays causing illness, linked to degraded dishwashing equipment. Most prominently, the brutal 2021 homicide of David Henegar — allegedly ignored by staff over five hours — resulted in a $4 million settlement by the state, finalized in the spring of 2026. The Henegar case, and broader allegations that officers failed to intervene, were the focus of multiple AJC reports during Beland’s early weeks at the prison.
Litigation
No lawsuits list Beland as a defendant; this section is omitted.Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide investigation data, Henegar lawsuit and settlement coverage, Mincey lawsuit allegations, Operation Skyhawk arrests
- Tyler C. Ryals YouTube channel — whistleblower account of staffing and safety failures at Johnson State Prison (spring 2024)
- Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — settlement payouts for Walker, Henegar, and others
- GPS death records — names, dates, cause categories for all 13 attributed deaths
- DeKalb County Medical Examiner — cause and manner of death for Mitchell Dunn
- GPS intelligence reports — allegations of unsanitary food trays at Johnson State Prison, April 2026
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Warden | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2026-06-16 → present |
| Warden | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2025-04-01 → present |
| WARDEN 1 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Special Assistant to the Warden | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2024-10-01 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → 2024-09-30 |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | HELMS FACILITY | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | ATLANTA TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | 2018-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | METRO REENTRY FACILITY | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Counselor | CHARLES D. HUDSON TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2013-01-01 → 2013-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | CHARLES D. HUDSON TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2011-01-01 → 2011-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
13 people died at facilities under Beland, Ryan's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-24 | Ernest Perez | — | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2026-06-14 | ALTEREK MANCE DOCKERY | 49 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2026-05-03 | JONATHAN LLOYD MYERS | 38 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2025-06-15 | BRANDON KEITH BOLDEN | 37 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2025-06-01 | ALAN THOMAS BRYANT | 46 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2025-04-10 | WILLIAM EDWARD HOUSTON | 75 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | Warden |
| 2024-09-28 | TONY JEROMY REDDISH | 45 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT |
| 2024-07-07 | VENTERIS LEON HOBSON | 58 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT |
| 2024-01-28 | ANTHONY ANTONIO HAND | 52 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT |
| 2024-01-03 | LEROY HOUSE | 68 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT |
| 2022-06-26 | WALTON JEROME THOMAS | 56 | HELMS FACILITY | CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT |
| 2022-02-25 | KENNETH CLYDE | 65 | HELMS FACILITY | CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT |
| 2022-01-26 | MITCHELL LEBRON DUNN | 60 | HELMS FACILITY | CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT |
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