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Bryant, Delisha L
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
Delisha L. Bryant entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Autry State Prison in 2007, per state personnel records, and returned on a supervisory track recorded as CSM Correctional Unit Manager from 2019 through 2024, with annual salary records rising from $43,009.14 (2019) to $66,313.53 (2024). A single-date record places her as CSM Correctional Unit Manager at Valdosta State Prison on Nov. 22, 2023; from Jan. 1 to Mar. 15, 2025 she held Unit Manager and Deputy Warden postings there. On March 16, 2025 she became Deputy Warden of Security at Valdosta, the position she holds as of the most recent records.
GPS records attribute 22 deaths to her leadership tenures, all at Valdosta State Prison. No lawsuit naming Bryant as a defendant appears in the records, and her personnel status is listed as active, with no status source recorded.
What happened on their watch
Valdosta State Prison — CSM Unit Manager (Nov. 22, 2023 record); Unit Manager and Deputy Warden (Jan. 1 – Mar. 15, 2025). The death records attributed to Bryant's leadership tenures all list her role at the time of death as Deputy Warden of Security, and all are attributed to Valdosta State Prison.
Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (from Mar. 16, 2025). Per GPS records, 22 deaths at the facility are attributed to her leadership tenure there. Decedents recorded include Je'Vion Benham, 21, found dead in his cell on Dec. 24, 2025; the coroner ruled strangulation and homicide and estimated he died about two days earlier — WTOC reported Coroner Austin Fiveash criticizing the two-day delay in discovering the body. Others include William "Stacey" Springer, 36 (Sept. 16, 2025); Antavious Bailey, 40, and Steven Bryant, 49, both in June 2026; Kevin James Flamer, 26; Dontarious Lamonta Burke, 23; Robert Louis Johnson, 60; Ronnie Jackson, 62; and Paul Hampton, 66 — the lowest and highest recorded ages among the decedents named.
Allegations reported during her deputy tenure at Valdosta include: WALB (Sept. 18, 2025) reporting that Springer's family alleges GDC failed to contact them after he was attacked, and that inmates allegedly said jailers did not respond to his stabbing for several hours. The AJC (May 12, 2025) reported a notice of intent to sue from Shane Griffith's family alleging he was beaten, burned, dragged by a rope and killed by 11 inmates over hours while staff failed to intervene, his body found during 6:30 a.m. breakfast rounds. The AJC (Mar. 30, 2026) reported Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Gardner sanctioning GDC for destroying video of Hakeem Williams' February 2022 fatal stabbing in bad faith, and sanctioning former officer Angela Butler for lying under oath; Haley Mackrell's January 2024 suit against Butler is separate from Bryant, and the underlying stabbing predates Bryant's deputy posting at the facility. Yahoo News (May 27, 2026) reported seven people charged in a drug conspiracy directed from Valdosta by inmate Luis Ramirez using contraband cellphones, with 35 kg of suspected methamphetamine, 3.5 kg of suspected fentanyl and $145,000 seized. WRDW (July 23, 2026) reported an inmate claim of poor living conditions and GDC's statement that a viral TikTok video of a flooded cell was staged.
Other dated events inside her deputy tenure include advocates' April 26, 2025 reports of caged housing without toilet access and alleged gang control of the kitchen and extortion; gang-related fights at Smith, Wilcox, Hays and Valdosta on April 2, 2026 that hospitalized five inmates; the June 25, 2026 GDC Office of Professional Standards investigations into the Bailey and Bryant deaths; and Kendric Jackson's promotion to Warden at Valdosta on June 1, 2026.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Griffith family notice of intent to sue (May 2025); federal sanctions over destroyed Williams stabbing video (Mar. 2026)
- WALB — Springer family allegations and reported delayed response (Sept. 2025)
- WTOC — Coroner Fiveash on the Benham discovery delay (Dec. 2025)
- Yahoo News — federal drug-trafficking charges tied to Valdosta contraband cellphones (May 2026)
- WRDW — flooded-cell video dispute (July 2026)
- Georgia Department of Corrections Office of Professional Standards — June 2026 death investigations
- Federal court records (Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Gardner) — sanctions ruling, Mar. 30, 2026
- Georgia state personnel and salary records; GPS personnel database
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Security | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2025-03-16 → present |
| Unit Manager | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2019-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| CSM Correctional Unit Manager | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| Correctional Officer | AUTRY STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
22 people died at facilities under Bryant, Delisha L's leadership.
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