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Butts, Melvin
Status: active
Profile written August 30, 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
Melvin Butts appears in Georgia Department of Corrections salary records starting in 2015 as “CORRECTION OPERATIONS,” then as “MGR, BUSINESS OPS” in 2016 and 2017; both are staff-tier roles with no facility name attached. Beginning in 2018, the records classify Butts as “DEPUTY WARDEN,” a facility-deputy accountability tier, with annual salary rising from $57,877.87 in 2018 to $81,037.68 in 2025. Annual salary records for 2018 through 2024 do not attach a facility name, but a point-in-time posting dated Nov. 22, 2023 places Butts at McRae Women’s Facility; 2025 records and an Aug. 27, 2026 posting also list McRae Women’s Facility.
GPS records attribute a total of five deaths to Butts’ leadership tenure, all at McRae Women’s Facility. The structured input lists no lawsuits naming Butts as defendant, no intel reports or events at facilities, and no news mentions.
What happened on their watch
Correction operations and business operations, 2015–2017
GPS records show Butts held staff-tier roles in correction operations and business operations. No facility is attached to those postings, and no deaths are attributed to them.
Deputy warden, facility unspecified, 2018–2024
From 2018 through 2024, Butts is listed as deputy warden in annual salary records, but the facility field is null in those records. A dated posting on Nov. 22, 2023 places Butts at McRae Women’s Facility, though GPS records do not attribute any deaths to that specific point-in-time posting.
McRae Women’s Facility
GPS records attribute five deaths to Butts’ tenure at McRae Women’s Facility. Each death record lists Butts’ role at the time as deputy warden. The first recorded death is Jadia Corine Rozier, 23, on July 20, 2025; her record lists cause category 3. A GPS research note identifies an obituary at Mathis Funeral Home and states that a related habeas corpus case was filed.
The remaining four deaths are recorded between March and May 2026: Beverly Suzannne Sipple, 59, on March 16, 2026; Kristal Lyn Layne, 55, on May 10, 2026; Shannon Michelle Rush, 43, on May 16, 2026; and Chasity King, 26, on May 18, 2026. All four are listed with cause category 6. The notes for Rush and King indicate the records were auto-promoted from user reports GPS-DEATH-2026-D61CA and GPS-DEATH-2026-882AA; Sipple and Layne have no additional notes. The records use numeric cause categories and do not supply narrative causes of death.
Sources
- GPS structured personnel and salary records for Melvin Butts, 2015–2026
- GPS death records for McRae Women’s Facility — incident entries for Jadia C. Rozier, Beverly Suzannne Sipple, Kristal Lyn Layne, Shannon Michelle Rush, and Chasity King
- GPS research note appended to the Jadia C. Rozier record — Mathis Funeral Home obituary and related habeas corpus case filing
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | 2026-08-27 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | 2025-01-01 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2018-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| Deputy Warden | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| MGR, BUSINESS OPS | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTION OPERATIONS | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
5 people died at facilities under Butts, Melvin's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-18 | CHASITY KING | 26 | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2026-05-16 | SHANNON MICHELLE RUSH | 43 | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2026-05-10 | KRISTAL LYN LAYNE | 55 | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2026-03-16 | BEVERLY SUZANNNE SIPPLE | 59 | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-07-20 | JADIA CORINE ROZIER | 23 | McRAE WOMEN’S FACILITY | DEPUTY WARDEN |
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