Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Betterson, Carl E
Betterson, Carl E
On GDC's 2025 payroll
Profile written September 23, 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
GPS records show no deaths attributed to facility-leader tenures held by Carl E. Betterson. His career history is documented in the Positions table below.
Betterson's GDC record begins in clinical roles — Behavioral Health Counselor 2 in 2016 and 2017, then Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor in 2018 — before moving into custody administration as Correctional Assistant Superintendent in 2019 and Deputy Warden across 2020, 2021 and 2022, all at the facility-deputy accountability tier rather than facility-leader tier. He later appears as Correctional Officer 1 in 2025 and as Manager, Correctional Unit at Johnson State Prison in a record dated August 27, 2026. No deaths are attributed to any of those postings: the death-attribution data shows zero deaths during his 2019 assistant superintendent year and his 2020–2022 deputy warden years, and no per-facility death totals are recorded for him. No intel reports or intel events are listed at his facilities for the periods he held leadership roles there, and no news coverage names him directly. Because his 2016–2018 clinical roles and his 2025 correctional officer role were non-leadership positions, GPS's incident and event coverage does not extend to those periods — a blank there is not evidence of an absence of incidents.
Litigation
- Hagans v. Ward, No. 4:23-cv-00352 (S.D. Ga.), filed December 14, 2023, terminated July 16, 2025. Betterson is listed as a defendant in this case. The docket data provided records no outcome or settlement amount. The filing date does not coincide with any leadership posting listed for him.
Sources
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia — docket for Hagans v. Ward, No. 4:23-cv-00352 (via CourtListener, docket 68696392)
- Georgia Department of Corrections position and salary records, as compiled by Georgia Prisoners' Speak
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Mgr, Correctional Unit | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL OFC 1 | 2025-01-01 → present | |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2020-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:23-cv-00352 | GASD | 2023-12-14 | terminated |
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