Blackshear, Janice Denise

Tenure Summary

Janice Denise Blackshear has held positions within the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2007, rising from Correctional Officer at Macon State Prison through Lieutenant, Unit Manager, and, as of May 2025, Deputy Warden of Security at Central State Prison — a role she continues to hold per GPS records. The bulk of her documented leadership accountability falls at Central State Prison, where GPS records attribute 16 deaths to periods during which she held unit-supervisor or facility-deputy roles (2024–2026). No lawsuits naming Blackshear as a defendant appear in GPS records, and no settlements are documented.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Macon State Prison — Correctional Officer (2007)
Blackshear held a staff-tier role at Macon State Prison in 2007. GPS records do not attribute any deaths to her tenure there at that accountability level. The facility's broader history is extensively documented: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and DOJ-cited records describe a pattern of gang-related stabbings, critical understaffing, and delayed medical response spanning years before and after her posting. According to the AJC, about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were unfilled as of October 2024, and the coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. Solitary Watch reported that during a December 2010 prisoner work strike — after Blackshear's documented tenure there — authorities allegedly cut hot water to incarcerated people. These systemic conditions predate and postdate her staff-level assignment.

Central State Prison — Lieutenant (2014); Unit Manager (2019)
GPS records place Blackshear at Central State Prison in a unit-supervisor capacity in both 2014 and 2019. No deaths are attributed to her during either of those specific posting years in the structured records.

Burruss Correctional Training Center — Lieutenant (2015)
GPS records show Blackshear held a Lieutenant role at Burruss C.T.C. in 2015. No deaths are attributed to her tenure there.

McEver Probation Detention Center — Chief of Security (2018)
GPS records show Blackshear served as Chief of Security at McEver PDC in 2018. No deaths are attributed to her tenure there.

Central State Prison — Correctional Unit Manager (2024); Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security (2025–present)
This is the period carrying the most documented deaths. During Blackshear's time as Correctional Unit Manager in 2024, GPS records attribute six deaths at Central State Prison: DeAnthony Terrell Fleming (37, February 10), Adel Eackles (64, February 14), Jeremiah Eugene Taylor (41, April 21), Thomas Dewayne Kiker (49, June 22), Anthony Le Ray Baugher (68, October 26), and Leon Culver Kelly (47, December 9). Kelly's death is confirmed as a homicide: per GPS research citing 13WMAZ, Kelly was stabbed to death on December 9, 2024, with the coroner confirming multiple stab wounds. Brandon Jamal Pool (38) died December 29, 2024, also during her Unit Manager tenure. The majority of the 2024 deaths fall into cause category 6 (unspecified/natural), with Kelly's stabbing the documented exception.

After Blackshear was elevated to Deputy Warden effective January 2025, GPS records attribute nine additional deaths at Central State Prison through early 2026. These include: Matthew Maddox (age not recorded, January 28, 2025 — notes indicate cerebral herniation due to extremely high blood pressure); LaMancha Ware (48, March 2, 2025); Travis Jamal Gaither (41, April 21, 2025); Ricky Eugene Rogers (68, April 21, 2025 — notes indicate "Natural/Drug OD, C-bldg"); Ricky D Ring (56, July 16, 2025); James Theodore Miller (64, September 22, 2025); Ronald Goss (60, October 23, 2025); Joseph Hamm (36, October 8, 2025); and Miguel Angel Duran (44, March 1, 2026). Hamm's death is described in GPS case records as an accidental opiate overdose — a balloon of opiates allegedly burst in his mouth during a facility transfer — with a note that the official cause of death would likely be listed as heart attack. The Duran death, AI-detected via Telegram relay per GPS records, is reported as a suicide in the segregation unit.

According to 13WMAZ, three former Central State Prison guards were accused of beating an incarcerated person and attempting a cover-up in March 2025 — overlapping Blackshear's Deputy Warden tenure. A separate 13WMAZ report alleges a Central State Prison guard faced charges for falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees over child support payments in December 2025. Georgia Public Broadcasting has reported that severe staff shortages have allowed gang members to effectively run Georgia state prisons, and that families of people who die in custody are routinely left without information about what happened. The AJC cited DOJ findings documenting two stabbing deaths at Central State Prison in December 2023 — Hollis Alan Bryant (28, December 17) and Marquis L. Johnson (26, who died December 18 after being stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8) — predating Blackshear's deputy-level appointment but occurring during the broader period of her documented presence at the facility.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Georgia prison homicides, staffing vacancies, DOJ findings, and systemic violence patterns at Macon State Prison and Central State Prison
• 13WMAZ — reporting on Leon Kelly stabbing death (December 2024), guard misconduct allegations (March 2025), and guard false-imprisonment charges (December 2025) at Central State Prison
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — reporting on staffing shortages, gang control of Georgia prisons, and family notification failures (December 2023)
• Solitary Watch — reporting on December 2010 prisoner strike and alleged hot-water cutoff at Macon State Prison
• GPS records / GPS case management — deaths-during-tenure data, Joseph Hamm overdose report (GPS-DEATH-2025-E7CD5), Miguel Angel Duran suicide report (GPS-260301-CFA0ED), and position/salary records for Blackshear
• GPS Telegram relay (AI-classified) — Miguel Angel Duran death, March 1, 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.