Blackshear, Janice Denise

Tenure Summary

Janice Denise Blackshear has served in the Georgia Department of Corrections since 2007, beginning as a correctional officer at Macon State Prison. She rose through supervisory roles—lieutenant at Central State Prison and Burruss Correctional Training Center, chief of security at McEver Probation Detention Center, and unit manager at Central State—before ascending to the deputy warden ranks at Central State Prison in 2025. GPS records show that during her facility-deputy leadership at Central State, 11 deaths are attributed to her watch, all occurring between January 2025 and the available data cut‑off in June 2026. Blackshear held the positions of Deputy Warden (January 1–May 15, 2025) and, since May 16, 2025, Deputy Warden of Security, making her directly responsible for facility security during a period when Central State was under intense public and federal scrutiny for violence, understaffing, and staff misconduct.

What happened on their watch

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security (2025‑present)

The 11 deaths attributed to Blackshear’s tenure at Central State unfolded as follows, according to GPS death records:

• Matthew Maddox died on January 28, 2025, of cerebral herniation due to extremely high blood pressure.
• LaMancha Ware, 48, died on March 2, 2025; the cause category listed is consistent with an unnatural death, though no further details were available in the records.
• On April 21, 2025, two deaths occurred: Travis Jamal Gaither, 41, and Ricky Eugene Rogers, 68. Rogers’s death was noted as “Natural/Drug OD” in C‑building.
• Ricky D. Ring, 56, died on July 16, 2025, and James Theodore Miller, 64, died on September 22, 2025—both in cause category 6, which typically indicates a homicide or external‑cause fatality.
• Joseph Hamm, 36, died on October 8, 2025, from an accidental opiate overdose; according to a GPS relay tip, he was found with a burst balloon of opiates in his mouth shortly after being notified of a facility transfer.
• Ronald Goss, 60, died on October 23, 2025 (cause category 6).
• In 2026, three deaths followed: Miguel Angel Duran, 44, died by suicide in the segregation unit on March 1, 2026; Michael Lane Brooks, 77, died on April 19, 2026 (category 6); and John Doe, whose age was not recorded, died on June 2, 2026 (category 6).

During the same period, Central State Prison was the subject of multiple allegations and documented incidents. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution reported on a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that examined a stabbing death at the facility, and the DOJ identified failures to prevent fatal assaults. In March 2025, three former guards at Central State were accused of beating an inmate and attempting to cover it up, per 13WMAZ. That December, a guard was charged with falsely imprisoning four Department of Family and Child Services employees, also reported by 13WMAZ. In June 2025, three inmates were charged with stabbing another prisoner, and in January 2026, an inmate was hospitalized after a fight. Georgia Public Broadcasting documented severe staff shortages across the state system, noting that such deficits enable gang control and heighten the risk of violence—conditions that directly implicate the security apparatus Blackshear oversaw as Deputy Warden of Security. While these incidents and systemic findings do not establish individual culpability, they place Blackshear’s tenure within a broader pattern of instability and harm at Central State.

Litigation

No lawsuits naming Janice Denise Blackshear as a defendant appear in GPS records.

Sources

• GPS death records — list of 11 attributed deaths during Blackshear’s deputy warden tenure at Central State Prison.
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — reporting on the DOJ investigation into Georgia prison violence, including specific homicides at Central State (Hollis Alan Bryant, Marquis L. Johnson).
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — coverage of severe staff shortages and systemic violence in Georgia state prisons.
• 13WMAZ — multiple reports on guard misconduct and inmate violence at Central State Prison in 2025‑2026.
• U.S. Department of Justice — findings on unconstitutional conditions in Georgia prisons, referenced in AJC reporting.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 7, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.