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Blackshear, Janice Denise
Status: active
Profile written July 26, 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
Janice Denise Blackshear’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spans two decades, beginning as a correctional officer at Macon State Prison in 2007. She later served as a lieutenant at Central State Prison and Burruss Correctional Training Center, chief of security at McEver Probation Detention Center, and unit manager at Central State. In January 2025, Blackshear was promoted to deputy warden at Central State Prison; she was appointed deputy warden of security in May 2025, a post she holds as of this writing. GPS records attribute 13 deaths to her tenure in facility leadership roles — all at Central State Prison — between January 2025 and July 2026.What happened on their watch
Central State Prison, 2025–present
During Blackshear’s time as deputy warden and deputy warden of security at Central State Prison, GPS records show 13 incarcerated people died. The deaths began with Matthew Maddox on January 28, 2025 — the GDC’s published mortality data for that month lists his cause as cerebral herniation due to extremely high blood pressure — and include Lamancha Ware (March 2, 2025), Travis Jamal Gaither and Ricky Eugene Rogers (both April 21, 2025), Ricky D. Ring (July 16, 2025), James Theodore Miller (September 22, 2025), Joseph Hamm (October 8, 2025), Ronald Goss (October 23, 2025), Miguel Angel Duran (March 1, 2026), Michael Lane Brooks (April 19, 2026), Richard Palmer (June 2, 2026), Mickey Barrett (July 11, 2026), and Steve Allen Burk (July 20, 2026). GPS records indicate that Hamm died from an accidental opiate overdose while being transferred between facilities, and Rogers’s death was classified as a natural or drug overdose. Duran died by suicide in the segregation unit, according to an AI-classified Telegram relay. The remaining deaths carry cause categories that are not further specified in the available data.While Blackshear held these leadership posts, Central State Prison was the subject of several allegations concerning staff misconduct and violence. In March 2025, three former prison guards were accused of beating an incarcerated person and attempting a cover-up, according to 13WMAZ. In December 2025, a guard at the prison faced charges for falsely imprisoning four Department of Family and Children Services employees, the same outlet reported. In June 2025, three incarcerated people were charged with stabbing another person inside the facility.
The prison also operated within a broader system under extraordinary strain. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that severe staff shortages were enabling gangs to effectively run state prisons, contributing to rising violence and fatalities, and that families of those who died were left without meaningful information about the circumstances. A U.S. Department of Justice report released in October 2024 — before Blackshear’s facility-leadership tenure — documented homicides at Central State, including the stabbing death of Hollis Alan Bryant and the barbershop stabbing of Marquis L. Johnson, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted. These systemic findings form the backdrop against which the 13 deaths on Blackshear’s watch took place.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel history, mortality counts, and individual death entries with cause categories and notes.
- GDC mortality data (January 2025) — cause of death for Matthew Maddox (“Cerebral Herniation due to Extremely High BP”).
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — DOJ report on homicides at Central State Prison, including Hollis Alan Bryant and Marquis L. Johnson.
- 13WMAZ — allegations of a guard beating and cover-up (March 2025) and a guard’s false-imprisonment charges (December 2025) at Central State Prison.
- Georgia Public Broadcasting — reporting on staff shortages, gang control, and lack of transparency in Georgia prisons.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden of Security | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2025-05-16 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| Unit Manager | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| Chief of Security | McEVER PROBATION DETENTION CENTER | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| Lieutenant | BURRUSS C.T.C | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Lieutenant | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2014-01-01 → 2014-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | MACON STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
13 people died at facilities under Blackshear, Janice Denise's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-20 | Steve Allen Burk | — | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-07-11 | Mickey Barrett | — | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-06-02 | Richard Palmer | — | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-04-19 | MICHAEL LANE BROOKS | 77 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-03-01 | MIGUEL ANGEL DURAN | 44 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-10-23 | RONALD GOSS | 60 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-10-08 | JOSEPH HAMM | 36 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-09-22 | JAMES THEODORE MILLER | 64 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-07-16 | RICKY D RING | 56 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-04-21 | TRAVIS JAMAL GAITHER | 41 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-04-21 | RICKY EUGENE ROGERS | 68 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-03-02 | LAMANCHA WARE | 48 | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-01-28 | Matthew Maddox | — | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
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