Blackshear, Janice Denise

Tenure Summary

Janice Denise Blackshear's documented career in Georgia Department of Corrections facilities runs from 2007 to the present. She first appears as a Correctional Officer at Macon State Prison in 2007, then as a Lieutenant at Central State Prison in 2014, a Lieutenant at Burruss Correctional Training Center in 2015, Chief of Security at McEver Probation Detention Center in 2018, and a Unit Manager at Central State Prison in 2019. She returned to Central State Prison as Correctional Unit Manager in 2024, and from January 1 to May 15, 2025 held both a Unit Manager post and a Deputy Warden post there. On May 16, 2025 she became Deputy Warden of Security at Central State Prison — the position she held across every death in this record. The positions table also lists a Deputy Warden entry dated August 27, 2026.

GPS's death registry attributes 11 deaths, all at Central State Prison, to her leadership tenure, every one of them recorded while she was Deputy Warden of Security. The records reviewed list no lawsuits naming her as a defendant.

What happened on their watch

Central State Prison — Lieutenant (2014); Unit Manager (2019); Correctional Unit Manager (2024); Unit Manager and Deputy Warden (January 1 – May 15, 2025). These are her earlier postings at the facility; the records place her in each role for the dates shown. Burruss Correctional Training Center — Lieutenant (2015). McEver Probation Detention Center — Chief of Security (2018). Macon State Prison — Correctional Officer (2007).

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, from May 16, 2025. All 11 deaths in GPS's registry for this person fall inside this posting:

• Ricky D Ring died July 16, 2025, at Central State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 56).
• James Theodore Miller died September 22, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 64).
• Joseph Hamm died October 8, 2025, at Central State Prison; Overdose (age 36).
• Ronald Goss died October 23, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 60).
• Miguel Angel Duran died March 1, 2026, at Central State Prison; Suicide (age 44).
• Michael Lane Brooks died April 19, 2026, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 77).
• Richard Palmer died June 2, 2026, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 57).
• Raemonte Gentale Harris died July 3, 2026, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 39).
• Mickey Barrett died July 11, 2026, at Central State Prison; Natural/Medical (age 64).
• Demetris Raynard Keller died July 17, 2026, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending (age 38).
• Steve Allen Burk died July 20, 2026, at Central State Prison; Homicide (age 38).

Seven of the 11 causes remain Unknown/Pending in the registry. Alongside the deaths, inmate reports submitted to GPS describe conditions at Central State Prison during this tenure: two separate stabbings during a lockdown, with the source attributing heightened tension to officers (July 9, 2026); a death initially reported as a heart attack (July 11, 2026, the same date as Barrett's death); a death after which a video of the body circulated on social media and a tactical response team was seen in the housing unit for several hours (June 2, 2026, the same date as Palmer's death); six people hospitalized during a statewide lockdown (May 21 and 22, 2026); multiple hospitalized individuals and skeleton-crew staffing linked by the report to delays in serving meals (May 21, 2026); multiple stabbings with a concurrent medical emergency and multiple ambulances responding (May 21, 2026); and a family or witness account that an incarcerated person showing stroke symptoms was denied timely medical attention before transport to a hospital (April 13, 2026). These are allegations from submitted reports, not findings.

13WMAZ reported an inmate was hospitalized after a fight with another inmate (GDC confirmed and investigated, January 2026); that three inmates were charged with stabbing another inmate in June 2025; that three former guards were accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up in March 2025; and that a Central State Prison guard was charged with falsely imprisoning four Division of Family and Children Services employees over child support in December 2025. In October 2026, 13WMAZ and Bibb County Sheriff's Office records identified Zacarra Oliver, listed on GDC's August 2026 roster as an Accounting Technician 3 at Central State Prison, as arrested and charged — not convicted — with sexual contact with a person in custody and with trading with inmates without the warden's consent.

Sources

• GPS death registry — causes, dates and ages for the 11 deaths at Central State Prison
• GPS case submissions (inmate and external reports) — stabbings, hospitalizations, staffing and medical-delay allegations, 2026
• 13WMAZ — reports on the January 2026 inmate fight, the December 2025 DFCS false-imprisonment charge, the March 2025 guard beating allegation, the June 2025 stabbing charges, and the October 2026 arrest of an accounting technician
• Bibb County Sheriff's Office inmate search — booking and charges for Zacarra Oliver, October 15, 2026
• Georgia Department of Corrections staff roster (August 2026) — as cited in the arrest reporting

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 18, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.