Byrd, Yolanda

Tenure Summary

Yolanda Byrd began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a corrections officer, rising through supervisory roles — lieutenant and unit manager — before assuming the position of deputy warden at Rogers State Prison in 2019. Byrd has held that post continuously through the present, with her 2025 salary listed at $74,155.20. During her leadership tenure at the facility, GPS records attribute 14 deaths to Rogers State Prison, all while Byrd served as deputy warden. Byrd is also a named defendant in two federal lawsuits, one of which was filed during her tenure at Rogers, and the facility has attracted intel reports of a guard stabbing and a suspicious death that generated extensive allegations of a covered-up homicide.

What happened on their watch

Rogers State Prison (Deputy Warden, 2019–present)

Byrd’s entire facility‑leader tenure has been at Rogers State Prison. GPS records document 14 deaths at the prison under her oversight. The sample of deaths available for review (the most recent up to early 2026) reveals a mix of natural causes, suicides, an accidental drug toxicity, and several undetermined deaths. In 2021, Jeremy Lasean Walton (31) and Michael Glenn McKee (59) died by hanging; GBI autopsies later confirmed both as suicides. In 2025, Justin Waymon Hollingsworth (43) also died by hanging in a one-man cell, with a GBI autopsy again ruling suicide. Randy Eugene Stewart (60) died in July 2025 of a perforated duodenum and E. coli peritonitis, complicated by cirrhosis and hepatitis C; his death certificate lists the manner as natural. David Edward Wood died in February 2025 of heart disease with influenza and parainfluenza; the death was classified as natural. Randall Henry Baker (38) died in December 2023 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; a GBI autopsy found near-total occlusion of a coronary artery — a finding that, given his age, raises questions about medical monitoring inside the prison, according to GPS records. William Joseph Smiley (41) died in August 2023 from methamphetamine toxicity complicating asthma, an accidental death that also highlights contraband in the facility.

Other deaths remain undetermined. Bradley Lyle Weitzel (40) died in March 2023; the Tattnall County coroner referred the case to the GBI, but the medical examiner declined to perform an autopsy, leaving the cause permanently unknown — a documented instance, GPS notes, of the mechanism that contributes to a high rate of undetermined custodial deaths. Taylor Anthony Hunt (29) died in September 2024. GPS records categorize his death as undetermined, but multiple intelligence reports allege that the GDC initially ruled it a suicide despite physical evidence of trauma, including ligature marks, broken bones, bruises, and puncture wounds. These reports, collected by GPS, have not been independently verified, but they suggest that Hunt’s case remains highly disputed. Another death, that of John Meeks (49) in February 2026, had not yet had a cause determined as of the data extraction, though Byrd was still deputy warden at the time.

Separately, intel records note a 2025 incident in which Jason Palmer was held in segregation at Rogers and allegedly denied adequate food, phone access, and emergency contact registration. The facility also had a state liability payout of $17,500 in 2019 tied to an incident involving Angelo Lamar Roberson, occurring during Byrd’s first year as deputy warden.

Litigation

• Quintanilla v. Bryson, No. 6:17-cv-00004 (S.D. Ga.), filed January 9, 2017, terminated March 24, 2020. Byrd is a defendant; the case closed without a disclosed monetary outcome.
• Hamilton v. Beasley, No. 6:25-cv-00057 (S.D. Ga.), filed July 22, 2025, pending. Byrd is a named defendant; the allegations have not yet been adjudicated.

Sources

• GPS personnel records — Byrd’s positions, accountability tiers, and salary history.
• GPS mortality database and coroner records — individual deaths at Rogers State Prison (Stewart, Hollingsworth, Wood, Baker, Smiley, Weitzel, Hunt, Sexton, Jenkins, Walton, McKee, Jeter, Meeks).
• GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports — autopsies of Walton, McKee, Hollingsworth, Baker, Smiley; consultation declination for Weitzel.
• GPS intelligence reports — guard stabbing allegation, Jason Palmer segregation incident, and multiple reports on the Taylor Hunt death controversy.
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) Risk Management settlement ledger — liability payout for Angelo Lamar Roberson (2019).
• CourtListener dockets — Quintanilla v. Bryson and Hamilton v. Beasley.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 12, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.