Carr, Willie E

Tenure Summary

Willie E. Carr's GDC record begins with a 2007 correctional officer post at Dodge State Prison and returns there for a 2013 sergeant assignment before moving to Johnson State Prison, where he served as sergeant (2014), correctional officer (2015), correctional lieutenant (2016–2018), and correctional unit manager (2019–2020). After four years in a business support analyst role (2021–2024), Carr returned to Johnson State Prison as Deputy Warden of Security on November 1, 2024, holding that post into 2025 and again from July 16, 2026; a separate "Deputy Warden" title entry also covers calendar year 2025 and a single day in August 2026.

GPS's death registry attributes 24 deaths to Carr's leadership tenures, every one of them at Johnson State Prison. Three of those decedents are recorded as homicide victims. No lawsuit naming Carr as a defendant appears in the records reviewed.

What happened on their watch

Johnson State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (November 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025)

Six deaths are recorded in the registry during this posting, five of them within a seven-week span at the end of 2024. They are: John W. Williams, who died November 8, 2024, age 68; Richard Charles Bishop, who died December 2, 2024, age 91; Jason Dwight Mitchell, who died December 9, 2024, age 45; Kevin Kosturi, who died December 13, 2024, age 29, with the registry listing the cause as Homicide; Calvin Obie Boynton, who died December 21, 2024, age 61; and Justin Brandon Hulett, who died February 12, 2025, age 38, also listed as a Homicide.

During this posting, on January 21, 2025, a lawsuit was filed over the death of David Lamar Henegar at Johnson State Prison. According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting on the filing, the suit alleges Henegar, who had a disability, was choked over the course of hours by a cellmate who had previously attacked him and who the suit describes as mentally ill; that the cellmate also stomped on his chest and strangled him; and that officers failed to intervene despite neighboring prisoners screaming for help.

Johnson State Prison — Deputy Warden (2025)

Seventeen deaths are recorded during this posting, including two homicides: Paul Russell Brewster, who died June 9, 2025, age 48, listed as a Homicide, and the remainder listed as Unknown/Pending. The registry shows a dense cluster in the summer of 2025: Dewayne Bess died July 10, 2025, age 63; Joseph Wayne Clayton died July 12, 2025, age 32; Robert Glenn Tanner died July 15, 2025, age 56; Justin Haley Freeman died July 20, 2025, age 44; Russell Scott Carter died July 23, 2025, age 42; Larry Sherall Richards died July 29, 2025, age 86; and Loy Alpheus Windham III died July 31, 2025, age 54. Earlier in the year, Robert Barnwell died May 4, 2025, age 80; John Charles Rhoten died June 15, 2025, age 54; and Robert Joseph Pruett died June 26, 2025, age 61. The cluster continued into the fall: Matthew Glenn Maynard died September 14, 2025, age 65; Jarvis Dontez Walker died September 26, 2025, age 39; Aubrie Henley died October 5, 2025, age 69; Roger James died October 29, 2025, age 68; Marc Charles Neermann died November 2, 2025, age 69; and Calvin R. Norwood died December 30, 2025, age 72. The registry lists the cause for all of these as Unknown/Pending; several decedents were in their sixties, seventies or eighties, and others were in their thirties and forties.

Johnson State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (from July 16, 2026)

One death appears in the registry after this posting began: Walter Louis Thompson died September 10, 2026, age 65, with the cause listed as Unknown/Pending. A July 20, 2026 report published by Tyler C. Ryals on YouTube — logged while Carr held this post — relays a former staff member's account of a dangerously understaffed shift at Johnson State Prison in spring 2024 where a use-of-force incident went unreported, and an incarcerated person's allegation of being restrained and tortured; these are claims made by the sources, not established findings. On July 21, 2026, GDC held a ribbon-cutting for a new Medical Intensive Infirmary at Johnson State Prison and announced 524 beds added statewide through modular housing units, including at Dodge, Lee, Montgomery and Hays state prisons.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 24 deaths recorded at Johnson State Prison across Carr's deputy-warden tenures, with dates, ages and cause listings for each decedent named above.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on the January 21, 2025 lawsuit over David Lamar Henegar's death at Johnson State Prison, including the allegations of prolonged assault by a cellmate and officer non-intervention.
• Tyler C. Ryals (YouTube channel) — July 20, 2026 witness account concerning staffing and an alleged unreported use-of-force incident at Johnson State Prison.
• Georgia Department of Corrections — July 21, 2026 announcements of the Medical Intensive Infirmary ribbon-cutting and modular housing bed expansion.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 1, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.