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Carter, Samantha Denise

Status: active

Profile written May 31, 2026

Current Position Deputy Warden Of Administration Augusta State Medical Prison

Salary $52,696 2025 · state payroll

Deaths Under Their Watch 14 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 has worked inside the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2003, moving through a series of administrative and financial-support roles at Hancock State Prison, Washington State Prison, and Augusta State Medical Prison. In January 2026, Carter was promoted to Deputy Warden of Administration at Augusta State Medical Prison — a facility-level leadership post she still holds. GPS records attribute 14 deaths to her tenure at that institution, all occurring between January 20 and May 21, 2026. No lawsuits name her as a defendant in connection with those deaths.

What happened on their watch

Carter assumed the deputy warden role on January 16, 2026. Within four days, the first death linked to her tenure was recorded when Jerry Wayne Merritt, a 59-year-old Black man serving a murder sentence, was stabbed. GPS source reports state that another prisoner, John Jaquis Trimer, used a sharpened object to stab Merritt in the chest and shoulder; Trimer later told a source that he killed Merritt over a commissary debt — six soups, one tuna, one hot chocolate, and three bags of chips — and that Merritt was dead before he reached medical care. Trimer was accused of the homicide, but the information remains unverified by GDC.

Over the following months, thirteen additional deaths were documented at the prison while Carter held the deputy position. The deceased ranged in age from 33-year-old Dequan Osborne to 86-year-old Sidney Dorsey, whose death was listed as a natural cause. The majority of the remaining fatalities are classified by state records as cause category 6 (“unknown/pending”), meaning the official cause of death has not yet been publicly determined. Among them, Osborne’s family reported, according to GPS records, that they were not notified until after he was removed from life support.

On May 21, 2026, a second homicide was reported inside the D2 housing unit. According to prisoner-source accounts collected by GPS, one person — identified by the surname Kamiche — was killed and another was hospitalized. The alleged assailant, a man with the surname Nance, reportedly had been transferred into Augusta State Medical Prison only two days before the incident. Law enforcement has not confirmed the allegations.

Augusta State Medical Prison operates inside a system that the U.S. Department of Justice in 2024 described as plagued by unchecked violence, sexual assault, and gang domination driven by a culture of indifference. Reporting by the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution has detailed multiple alleged failures at the facility — including an accusation that guards moved a violent prisoner into Eddie Gosier’s cell, leading to his murder, and the death of Thomas Henry Giles, who was allegedly left in a smoke‑filled cell for hours and died of smoke inhalation, ruled a homicide by the GBI. In February 2026, a federal judge held GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver in contempt for willfully ignoring a court order on inmate email access, calling the department’s posture “above the law.” These systemic conditions persist as the deaths mount under Carter’s watch.

Sources

Georgia Prisoners’ Speak records — 14 death entries for Augusta State Medical Prison, January–May 2026
GPS prisoner‑source reports — details on Merritt and Kamiche homicides
Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple homicide reports and allegations of systemic failures at Augusta State Medical Prison
U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation describing violence, sexual assaults, and gang‑run prisons in Georgia
Federal court records — Benning v. Oliver contempt hearing, February 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 31, 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 of Administration	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2026-01-16 → present
ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN 3		2024-01-01 → present
FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 2	HANCOCK STATE PRISON	2023-01-01 → 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

14 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
2026-05-21	Kamiche	—	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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