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Carter, Samantha Denise

On GDC's 2025 payroll

Profile written September 23, 2026

Current Position Deputy Warden Of Administration Augusta State Medical Prison

Salary $52,696 2025 · state payroll

Deaths Under Their Watch 34 during their tenure

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

Samantha Denise Carter's documented GDC career began in administrative support and financial roles and only reached facility leadership in 2026. Records show administrative support at Hancock State Prison (2003) and Washington State Prison (2012); a financial operational generalist posting at Augusta State Medical Prison (2019); an accounting technician II role in 2022 and accounting technician 3 roles in 2024 and 2025 with no facility listed; and financial ops generalist 2 at Hancock State Prison (2023). On Jan. 16, 2026, she was appointed Deputy Warden of Administration at Augusta State Medical Prison — the first leadership-tier position in her record — and a one-day "Deputy Warden" entry at the same facility is dated Aug. 27, 2026. Her status is active, with no sourced status change on file.

GPS attributes 34 deaths to her leadership tenure, all of them at Augusta State Medical Prison. No lawsuit naming Carter as a defendant appears in the records reviewed.

What happened on their watch

Augusta State Medical Prison — Deputy Warden of Administration (Jan. 16, 2026–present); Deputy Warden (Aug. 27, 2026)

All 34 deaths attributed to Carter's leadership occurred at Augusta State Medical Prison between Jan. 20 and Sept. 15, 2026, while she held the Deputy Warden of Administration role, per GPS's death records. Recorded ages range from 23 to 86, spanning Jacobi Chomicki (23) to Sidney Dorsey (86); at least fifteen of the decedents were under 60. The records assign cause categories across three groupings: category 6 (16 deaths), category 1 (15), and category 3 (3). The largest single cluster falls in July 2026, when eight deaths were recorded between July 2 and July 16, including Phillip Curtis Walker (62), Kolby Young (24), Edouard Kamdem (77), Joseph Daniel Bristol (73), David James Vineyard (58), Jerry Watson (75), and David Meeks (62).

Two deaths drew named accounts. Jerry Wayne Merritt, 59, appears in the death records with a Jan. 20, 2026 date and cause category 3; facility event records separately describe Merritt as stabbed and killed on Jan. 25, 2026 over a commissary debt, with those accounts attributing the killing to a Crip gang member and identifying Merritt as a Gangster Disciple. Jacobi Chomicki, 23, died May 22, 2026; event records state his cause of death was undetermined and his body was turned over to the Richmond County Coroner's Office for transport to the GBI crime lab, with the GDC Office of Professional Standards investigating as standard procedure (event records dated June 2, 2026).

GPS intel reports logged during her tenure at Augusta are allegations, not findings. They include a family or witness account of an April 30, 2026 altercation during medication distribution in which an incarcerated person allegedly stabbed an officer, who then used force; a reported serious stabbing (April 20); reported severe facial or head injuries consistent with a use-of-force or assault incident (April 19); an anonymous tip that multiple people arrived from other state facilities with assault injuries (April 17); an allegation that a staff member verbally abused a severely disabled person and refused catheter and feeding assistance (Feb. 16); and a March 10 family account alleging medication denial or diversion, housing of vulnerable people with those known to have sexual-assault histories, gang-linked knife and sexual assaults amid understaffing, removal of medically waived lower bunks, extended lockdowns, destruction of legal property, a non-functional grievance system, and staff self-censorship attributed to fear of retaliation from facility leadership. Facility event records also document the Pups in the Pen dog-fostering program surpassing 120 adoptions as of Aug. 28, 2026.

Systemic GDC findings reported during her tenure include an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report (Feb. 10, 2026) on a 2024 DOJ finding of violence, sexual assault, and gang-run prisons enabled by a "culture of indifference," and a two-year AJC investigation into corruption, understaffing, and record homicides with suppressed death information. A Feb. 11, 2026 federal hearing in Macon saw Judge Self summon Commissioner Tyrone Oliver and criticize GDC compliance; the Benning v. Oliver matter concerns GDC's alleged willful refusal to comply with an appellate order on email-contact limits.

Sources

GPS death records and facility event records — 34 deaths and incidents logged at Augusta State Medical Prison during Carter's 2026 tenure
GPS case submissions — family and witness allegations at Augusta State Medical Prison, Feb.–Apr. 2026
Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reports on the 2024 DOJ findings and GDC corruption and homicide investigations, Feb. 10, 2026
Court records — Benning v. Oliver, federal contempt proceedings and Feb. 11, 2026 hearing before Judge Self
Georgia Department of Corrections, Office of Professional Standards — standard-procedure death investigations, June 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.

Positions Held

Title	Facility	Tenure
Deputy Warden	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2026-08-27 → present
Deputy Warden of Administration	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2026-01-16 → present
ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN 3		2024-01-01 → present
Financial Ops Generalist 2	HANCOCK STATE PRISON	2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22
FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 2	HANCOCK STATE PRISON	2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31
Accounting Technician II		2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31
Financial Operational Generalist	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31
Administrative Support	WASHINGTON STATE PRISON	2012-01-01 → 2012-12-31
Administrative Support	HANCOCK STATE PRISON	2003-01-01 → 2003-12-31

Deaths attributed during tenure

34 people died at facilities under Carter, Samantha Denise's leadership.

About deaths recorded at Augusta State Medical Prison. Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) is the GDC's primary medical and end-of-life facility. It concentrates the system's most seriously ill, disabled, and dying people — many transferred there because they were already gravely ill or injured, including after violence at other prisons. A large share of the deaths counted here reflect advanced illness, and the wardens and deputy wardens listed should not be held personally accountable for every death at this facility. That said, conditions at ASMP still produce more deaths than necessary, and responsibility is shared: the State of Georgia and the Board of Pardons and Paroles bear equal responsibility for holding medically incapacitated and dying people in custody far longer than necessary. Read these figures as positional context — not as a measure of any individual official's culpability.

Date	Decedent	Age	Facility	Role at time
2026-09-15	Donnie Gene Poland	—	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-09-10	Demilo Ponchorello Johnson	—	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-08-05	Donald Hugh Young	—	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-16	PHILLIP CURTIS WALKER	62	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-13	KOLBY YOUNG	24	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-12	EDOUARD KAMDEM	77	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-11	JOSEPH DANIEL BRISTOL	73	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-03	DAVID JAMES VINEYARD	58	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-07-02	JERRY WATSON	75	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-06-29	WANIQUE MARSAY Odwin	44	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-06-20	DAVID MEEKS	62	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-28	JAMES DEAN WILKINSON	69	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-22	JACOBI ALANDIS CHOMICKI	23	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-12	FREDERICK RASKIN	84	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-11	HENRY ROSS	56	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-09	MANUEL GOMEZ	—	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-05-05	ROBERT BRUCE GREEN	69	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-04-27	LEMARCUS ANTONIO DUNSON	50	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-04-25	WALTER CALDWELL	49	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-04-25	JACKIE MCCOY BLACKMON	72	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-04-22	EDWARD EUGENE BARBER	72	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-04-09	TRISTAN MCLENNON TRIMM	42	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-03-24	ERVIN CROSS	46	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-03-20	LENWARD BROWN	73	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-03-06	WILBURN W DOBBS	76	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-03-02	SIDNEY DORSEY	86	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-03-01	ALPHONSO WATTS	54	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-02-17	DEQUAN OSBORNE	33	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-02-11	SHAA-MIL BROWN	34	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-02-09	DONALD MILLER	41	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-02-02	MICHAEL JEFFERSON	38	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-01-31	JOHN W CURRY	64	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-01-22	JEFFERSON PHILLIPS HARVARD	61	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration
2026-01-20	JERRY WAYNE MERRITT	59	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Deputy Warden of Administration

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