Caldwell, Antoine Galen

Tenure Summary

Antoine Galen Caldwell came up through the ranks at Dooly State Prison — sergeant in 2000, lieutenant in 2001, chief of security in 2004, deputy warden of security in 2005 — before a 2012 posting as deputy director of the Audits and Compliance Unit. He then held facility command repeatedly: warden at Wilcox State Prison in 2013, warden at Wilcox again in 2016, and warden at Johnson State Prison from 2017 through 2021. From January 2022 until June 30, 2023 he was warden at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP), after which he moved into regional administration: assistant regional director for the North Region from July 2023, region director in 2024 and 2025, and deputy director for field operations in 2026. He is listed as active.

GPS's death registry attributes 61 deaths to the facilities he commanded during those leadership tenures — 34 at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison and 27 at Johnson State Prison. State settlement records tie two six- and seven-figure payouts to deaths at Johnson State Prison during his tenure there, and four smaller payouts to Wilcox State Prison during his two wardenships. No news report in the records names Caldwell directly.

What happened on their watch

Wilcox State Prison (warden, 2013; warden, 2016). The Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger records four state payouts tied to Wilcox during his command: $50,000 for a 2013 incident listed under Toddrick Hunter, and three 2016 incidents — $550,000 (Jimmy Lucero), $48,242.29 (Ricky Johnson) and $2,000 (Jeffrey Ray). The death registry attributes no deaths to his Wilcox tenures.

Johnson State Prison (warden, 2017–2021). The registry attributes 27 deaths to this tenure. Settlement records document $1,449,640 tied to the November 12, 2020 death of Jerry Lee Brown, 61, which the registry lists as a homicide caused by stab wounds to the head and blunt force injury to the face; and $4,000,000 paid to Betty Wade for the Estate of David Lamar Henegar, 44, who died October 16, 2021 of manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. A lawsuit referenced in the records alleges Henegar was choked over hours by his cellmate while officers failed to respond; another account in the records states he was beaten over roughly five hours by cellmate Antone Hinton-Leonard and found with a broken neck and ribs, a fractured nose and breastbone, a torn lung and liver, and brain and scalp hemorrhages. A further $40,000 payout is tied to a 2018 Johnson incident listed under Cleveland D Dunn.

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (warden, January 2022 – June 30, 2023). The registry attributes 34 deaths to this tenure, the largest concentration of his career. The recorded causes run from natural/medical deaths among older men — David Clair Kuntz, 75; Ronald Lee Stansell, 74; Gary Michael Freedman, 78 — to six suicides, three homicides, an overdose and a medical-neglect death, plus three deaths whose cause GPS records as unknown/pending. The homicide records are graphic: Boyd Williams, 64, died October 3, 2022 of manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head; Elmer W. Pless, 65, died May 15, 2023 by strangulation; Carrell D. Johnson, 32, died June 6, 2023 of chopping injuries to the head and sharp force injuries to the torso.

GPS event records on Desmond Layne Hattaway, 27, describe his death as a suicide in the facility's mental-health dorm after placement in segregation, with inadequate mental-health monitoring alleged; one record notes he was a former law enforcement officer and that the death appears on the GDC official mortality report of April 16, 2023. A separate record dated January 1, 2022 states that a person who assaulted someone at Coastal State Prison in March 2020 — with no investigation conducted — reentered the system in 2022 and strangled his cellmate to death at GDCP. GPS also logged, on March 25, 2023, a family member's allegation disputing a prison ruling of suicide at the facility: the family member said the deceased had received a death threat three days earlier, was supposed to be in isolation, and had asked for medical help minutes before being found dead but was told to wait until after count.

The registry names these deaths at GDCP during his wardenship:

• Gary Michael Freedman died June 24, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 78.
• Ricky Dubose died June 26, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 29.
• Aloysius Ignatius Hogues died July 26, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 49.
• Ricky Eugene Morgan died July 26, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending — GPS does not yet know the cause — age 64.
• Amos Jr Hubbard died August 20, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending — GPS does not yet know the cause — age 55.
• James Dustin Barnette died September 30, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending — GPS does not yet know the cause — age 51.
• Boyd Williams died October 3, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 64.
• Timothy Bernard Revis died November 5, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 56.
• Curtis Vincent Garner died December 11, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 60.
• David Clair Kuntz died December 24, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 75.
• Ronald Lee Stansell died December 30, 2022, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 74.
• Eric Michael Taylor died January 10, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 48.
• Charles Raimondi died January 15, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 51.
• Jeremiah Ebenzee Spence died January 17, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 42.
• James Thomas Seim died February 8, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 44.
• Billy Joe Farmer died March 25, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 42.
• Matthew Michael Gragg died March 26, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 36.
• Jereuis Markyse Hawkins died March 27, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 29.
• Desmond Layne Hattaway died April 16, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 27.
• Elmer W Pless died May 15, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 65.
• Russell Lamar Nelson died May 15, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 58.
• Elden Lamb died May 17, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Medical Neglect, age 43.
• Robert Carlton Savage died May 26, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 43.
• Carrell D Johnson died June 6, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 32.
• William Welland died June 22, 2023, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 40.

Regional roles (July 2023 onward). From July 1, 2023 he was assistant regional director for the North Region; region director in 2024 and 2025; and deputy director for field operations from June 2026. No facility-level death totals are attributed to these postings.

Litigation

• Thrift v. Caldwell, No. 5:24-cv-00002 (GAMD), filed January 2, 2024 — pending; court records list Caldwell as a defendant.
• Carey v. The Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:20-cv-02235 (GAND), filed May 26, 2020, terminated March 31, 2023 — filed while he was warden at Johnson State Prison.
• Nance v. Oliver, No. 1:20-cv-00107 (GAND), filed January 8, 2020, terminated February 13, 2025 — filed during his Johnson wardenship.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025, terminated March 30, 2026.
• Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26-cv-00108 (GAND), filed April 28, 2026 — pending.

The records show no disposition amounts for any of these dockets.

Sources

• GPS death registry — cause, date and age for the 61 deaths attributed to his facility-leadership tenures.
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $4,000,000 Henegar estate payout, $1,449,640 Jerry Lee Brown payout, $40,000 Dunn payout, and the Wilcox payouts listed under Hunter, Lucero, Johnson and Ray.
• GPS event records for GDCP and Johnson State Prison — homicide manner details, the Hattaway suicide records, and the January 1, 2022 record on the uninvestigated 2020 assault.
• GPS-recorded family allegation dated March 25, 2023 disputing a suicide ruling at GDCP.
• CourtListener dockets for Thrift v. Caldwell, Carey v. GDC, Nance v. Oliver, Daker v. Oliver and Mckenzie v. Oliver.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 25, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.