Byrd, Yolanda

Tenure Summary

Yolanda Byrd's documented GDC career begins in 2015, when she was listed as a corrections officer at an unspecified facility, and moves through successive supervisory ranks: CSM Correctional Lieutenant (2016), CSM Correctional Unit Manager (2017 and 2018), and then Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison, a post she has held continuously in the annual salary records from 2019 through 2025, with further roster entries dated November 22, 2023, and August 27, 2026. Her personnel record lists her status as active.

Across that leadership tenure, GPS attributes 14 deaths to Rogers State Prison. All 14 fall inside her years as Deputy Warden there, and all 14 occurred at that one facility. They span causes listed in the registry as Natural/Medical (four), Suicide (five), Overdose (three), and Unknown/Pending (two), and range in age from 21 to 60. She is also named as a defendant in one pending federal suit filed in 2025 while she held the Deputy Warden role, and one long-closed suit filed in 2017. A state risk-management settlement ledger records a $17,500 liability payout tied to a 2019 incident at Rogers State Prison.

What happened on their watch

Rogers State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2019 through 2025 (roster entries also dated November 2023 and August 2026). Every death GPS attributes to Byrd's leadership tenure occurred at this facility while she held the Deputy Warden role: 14 in total, per GPS's death registry.

The registry lists the following decedents:

• Chad Walker Jeter died March 17, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 43.
• Michael Glenn Mckee died May 22, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 59.
• Jeremy Lasean Walton died June 12, 2021, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 31.
• Timothy Brent Jenkins died April 7, 2022, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 22.
• Caleb Sexton died April 22, 2022, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 21.
• Bradley Lyle Weitzel died March 21, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 40.
• William Joseph Smiley died August 15, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 41.
• Randall Henry Baker died December 6, 2023, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 38.
• Shawn Remar Johnson died July 23, 2024, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 34.
• Taylor Anthony Hunt died September 28, 2024, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 29.
• David Edward Wood died February 4, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Justin Waymon Hollingsworth died June 26, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 43.
• Randy Eugene Stewart died July 17, 2025, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 60.
• John Meeks died February 19, 2026, at Rogers State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 49.

Hunt's death carries contested circumstances in GPS's intel events, which are dated September 2024 and tie to Byrd's Deputy Warden role. Six separate event entries describe Hunt's death as "suspicious," each stating that GDC classified it as a suicide while the entries allege evidence suggesting homicide — including ligature marks, broken bones, bruises, puncture wounds, and stab wounds in one entry, and "evidence of trauma" in another. Those are allegations recorded in GPS's intel events, not adjudicated findings.

A settlement in the state's risk-management ledger ties a $17,500 payout to Rogers State Prison for a 2019 incident involving Angelo Lamar Roberson, dated September 16, 2019, while Byrd is listed as Deputy Warden. The ledger identifies the source as the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger released under Open Records.

No news mentions naming Byrd appear in the records provided.

Litigation

• Hamilton v. Beasley, No. 6:25-cv-00057 (GASD), filed July 22, 2025 — pending, no outcome recorded. Filed while Byrd was listed as Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison. The record does not state the claims or allegations.
• Quintanilla v. Bryson, No. 6:17-cv-00004 (GASD), filed January 9, 2017 — terminated March 24, 2020, no outcome amount recorded. Filed during a period when Byrd's listed position was CSM Correctional Unit Manager; the record states no facility for that posting and does not state the claims.

Sources

• CourtListener dockets — Hamilton v. Beasley (6:25-cv-00057); Quintanilla v. Bryson (6:17-cv-00004)
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $17,500 payout tied to Rogers State Prison, 2019 incident involving Angelo Lamar Roberson
• GPS death registry — 14 deaths at Rogers State Prison during Byrd's Deputy Warden tenure
• GPS intel events — six entries dated September 2024 concerning the death of Taylor Hunt at Rogers State Prison

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 27, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.