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Carter, Samantha Denise
Status: active
Profile written July 5, 2026
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 been a longtime Georgia Department of Corrections employee, holding administrative and financial roles since 2003 at facilities such as Hancock State Prison, Washington State Prison, and Augusta State Medical Prison. On January 16, 2026, she assumed her first leadership‑accountability position as Deputy Warden of Administration at Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP). In the six‑plus months since her appointment, GPS records attribute 25 deaths to the facility during her tenure. No lawsuits name Carter as a defendant, and there are no news mentions directly citing her. Her role as a facility deputy places her inside the command structure of a prison that has been repeatedly flagged—by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, and other outlets—as a site of systemic violence, understaffing, and gang‑controlled conditions.What happened on their watch
Carter became Deputy Warden of Administration at ASMP on January 16, 2026. The 25 deaths documented at the facility since then span a wide age range, from 23‑year‑old Jacobi Alandis Chomicki to 86‑year‑old Sidney Dorsey. Natural causes—including heart disease, respiratory failure, cancer, and sepsis—account for the majority, according to Richmond County Coroner’s Office records. However, at least two homicides occurred during this period. On January 20, Jerry Wayne Merritt, 59, was stabbed to death by a cellmate over a commissary debt, per a source‑report relayed to GPS. On May 22, Jacobi Chomicki was killed in a D‑2 unit incident; a witness account, collected by GPS, described one person transported to the hospital and another “to the upper room,” with an alleged assailant identified by the surname Nance. The Chomicki death was later confirmed by the GDC May 2026 mortality report.The violence at ASMP unfolds against a backdrop of well‑documented systemic failures. A 2024 Department of Justice report found that Georgia prison officials are “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked deadly violence, gang‑run housing units, and rampant sexual abuse, as reported by the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution. The AJC investigation also surfaced allegations that guards failed to protect prisoners from known risks—for example, placing an inmate with a violent history of strangulation into Eddie Gosier’s cell, leading to Gosier’s murder. Though that specific death predates Carter’s tenure, the pattern of staff inaction persisted: in the Chomicki case, GPS’s unverified source report indicates the assailant had been transferred into the facility only days before the killing.
Other allegations tied to ASMP during this window include a claim, per the AJC, that Thomas Henry Giles was left for hours in a smoke‑filled cell while officers evacuated nearby inmates—an event ruled a homicide by the GBI. The same reporting noted a DOJ finding that Rodarick Lee Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his death, suggesting a failure to protect. Additionally, a GPS‑relayed AI‑detected incident in April 2026 described a severe beating, and another report detailed four individuals arriving with wired‑shut jaws. None of these incidents are directly attributed to Carter’s administrative decisions, but they occurred on the compound while she held a senior leadership title.
Beyond the individual fatalities, the facility operated within a system that federal judges have described as defying court orders. In February 2026, U.S. District Judge Tilman E. Self summoned GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to a contempt hearing after the department refused to comply with an appellate ruling on inmate email access, according to the AJC. Carter’s tenure at ASMP coincides with this period of heightened judicial scrutiny, and the facility’s death toll adds to the broader cumulative record of lives lost inside Georgia prisons.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple investigations into violence, DOJ findings, and GDC non‑compliance with court orders (articles referenced in intel reports, 2024‑2026)
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report describing deliberate indifference to violence, sexual assaults, and gang control in Georgia prisons
- Richmond County Coroner’s Office — official cause‑of‑death rulings for multiple decedents at ASMP, provided via open‑records response (ORR conv 1118385a)
- GPS intelligence records — user‑reported deaths, witness claims, and AI‑detected incidents at Augusta State Medical Prison
- WGXA / 11Alive / 13WMAZ / 41NBC — coverage of gang disturbances, staff corruption, and systemic problems in Georgia prisons
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
25 people died at facilities under Carter, Samantha Denise's leadership.
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