Carter, Samantha Denise

Tenure Summary

Samantha Denise Carter's GDC record is almost entirely administrative and financial. It lists Administrative Support at Hancock State Prison in 2003 and at Washington State Prison in 2012, a Financial Operational Generalist post at Augusta State Medical Prison in 2019, Accounting Technician II in 2022, Financial Ops Generalist 2 at Hancock State Prison in 2023, and Accounting Technician 3 in 2024 and 2025. On January 16, 2026 she moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden of Administration at Augusta State Medical Prison; a separate Deputy Warden record at the same facility is dated August 27, 2026. Her status is listed as active, with no sourced status entry.

The GPS death registry attributes 40 deaths to her leadership tenure, every one of them at Augusta State Medical Prison. The records contain no lawsuit naming her as a defendant, and no news report that names her directly.

What happened on their watch

Augusta State Medical Prison — Deputy Warden of Administration, from January 16, 2026. The registry attributes 40 deaths to this posting. Those recorded by name include:

• Richard Atwood died September 18, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 68.
• Donnie Gene Poland died September 15, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 60.
• Alphonso Dade died September 14, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 70.
• Demilo Ponchorello Johnson died September 10, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 48.
• Dwight Bernard Freeman died August 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 69.
• Jimmie Lee Dennis died August 17, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 64.
• John Henry Tuff died August 8, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 75.
• Anretoes Kenwood Wilkins died August 7, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 50.
• Donald Hugh Young died August 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 49.
• Phillip Curtis Walker died July 16, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 62.
• Kolby Young died July 13, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 24.
• Edouard Kamdem died July 12, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 77.
• Joseph Daniel Bristol died July 11, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 73.
• David James Vineyard died July 3, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 58.
• Jerry Watson died July 2, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 75.
• Wanique Marsay Odwin died June 29, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. She was 44.
• David Meeks died June 20, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 62.
• James Dean Wilkinson died May 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 69.
• Jacobi Alandis Chomicki died May 22, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 23.
• Frederick Raskin died May 12, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 84.
• Henry Ross died May 11, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 56.
• Manuel Gomez died May 9, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Robert Bruce Green died May 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 69.
• Lemarcus Antonio Dunson died April 27, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 50.
• Walter Caldwell died April 25, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 49.

Among those named above, ages run from 23 to 84, and causes span Natural/Medical, Homicide and Unknown/Pending — a substantial share still unresolved at the time of recording. For Chomicki, contemporaneous accounts recorded the cause as undetermined and his body as turned over to the GBI crime lab, while the registry now lists Homicide.

Submissions sent to GPS from inside the facility during the same posting describe a violent year. A March 10, 2026 family-member account alleged overlapping patterns at Augusta: denial or diversion of prescribed pain and psychiatric medication, housing of vulnerable prisoners with people with sexual-assault histories, knife and sexual assaults attributed to gang members functioning as de facto authority amid severe understaffing, removal of medically waived lower-bunk accommodations, extended lockdowns with restricted meals, destruction of legal property in shakedowns, a grievance system described as non-functional, and staff self-censorship attributed to fear of retaliation from facility leadership. A February 16, 2026 submission alleged a staff member verbally abused a prisoner with severe disabilities and withheld catheter and feeding care. April 2026 submissions described a stabbing, facial and head injuries consistent with severe force or assault, prisoners arriving from other facilities with assault injuries, and an altercation during medication distribution in which a prisoner allegedly stabbed an officer who then used force. Later reports describe a fatal stabbing on June 29, 2026 attributed to a gang-affiliated assailant with the facility placed on lockdown; a stabbing on July 9 while already on lockdown; a reported hanging death on July 13 with an emergency count; an October 1 death of a prisoner reportedly never moved from the dorm to medical care; and an October 16 assault over stolen property framed as retaliation. GPS intake entries dated January 25, 2026 describe the stabbing death of Jerry Merritt in a dispute over commissary debt. Three GDC Office of Professional Standards statements dated June 2, 2026 say deaths were being investigated as standard procedure.

Department-level reporting also lands in this window. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting dated February 10, 2026 cites a 2024 DOJ report describing violence, sexual assault and gang-run prisons enabled by a culture of indifference; the AJC's own two-year investigation finding corruption, understaffing and record homicides alongside restricted death information; and a federal judge's contempt finding over conditions in a high-security wing near Jackson, with Judge Self calling it shocking that GDC ignored an Eleventh Circuit order. A February 11, 2026 hearing saw Commissioner Tyrone Oliver summoned to the stand, and the Benning v. Oliver email-contact dispute continued into February 12. Those matters concern department leadership, not Carter individually.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 40 deaths recorded during Carter's tenure as Deputy Warden of Administration at Augusta State Medical Prison
• GPS case submissions — intake reports and family-member allegations from inside Augusta State Medical Prison, 2026
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — February 10, 2026 reporting on the 2024 DOJ findings, its two-year GDC investigation, and federal contempt proceedings
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — June 2, 2026 statements that deaths were under standard investigation
• Court records in the Benning v. Oliver email-contact proceedings (February 2026)

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.