Carter, Sidney

Tenure Summary

Sidney Carter has served as Warden of Coffee Correctional Facility since January 1, 2024, according to state position records; the appointment carries no end date and he remains in the post. Seven deaths are attributed to his leadership tenure at that facility, all of them at Coffee Correctional Facility. No lawsuits list Carter as a defendant in the records reviewed, and no news coverage in the file names him directly.

The deaths span the full period of his tenure, from January 2024 through July 2026. All seven are recorded under a single cause-of-death category in the underlying records, and none carries a published public narrative. The pattern at Coffee during his watch also includes a December 2025 mass stabbing that sent multiple inmates off-site for life-saving care, a June 2026 grand jury indictment of sixteen inmates over a series of stabbings, and a January 2025 AJC report on the stabbing death of an inmate at the facility.

What happened on their watch

Coffee Correctional Facility — Warden, January 1, 2024 to present. Seven deaths are attributed to this posting. The records name Jeffery B. Russell, 60, who died January 8, 2024; Robert Adams, 52, who died February 8, 2024; William Eric Green, 61, who died May 24, 2024; David Lynn Waldrop, 70, who died November 25, 2025; Richard Romeo Shelby, 60, who died December 28, 2025; Paul Travis Williams, 57, who died March 23, 2026; and Fletcher McCloud, 44, who died July 27, 2026. All seven are grouped under the same cause category in the records, and no public narrative is attached to any of them. Six of the seven were between 52 and 70; the youngest was 44.

Violence at the facility is documented in parallel records. Per an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report dated January 21, 2025, an incident report indicates four other inmates were involved in the stabbing death of Kendall Ja'Mal Cromer at Coffee. A separate AJC report dated January 31, 2025 states that Dacia Gaskins, a former correctional officer at Coffee, was indicted for conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and marijuana as part of a drug-trafficking operation — an allegation contained in the indictment, not a finding of guilt.

On December 13, 2025, a series of stabbings occurred at Coffee Correctional Facility, leaving multiple inmates critically injured and requiring outside medical care, per event records. A grand jury indicted sixteen inmates on charges including aggravated assault, aggravated battery, violations of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, and riot in a penal institution; the indictment event is dated June 18, 2025, and a subsequent indictment record dated June 30, 2026 states that evidence was presented on June 18. FOX 5 Atlanta and Yahoo News reported on June 30, 2026 that the sixteen indicted inmates are alleged members of the Bloods street gang who carried out the stabbings. Those gang-affiliation claims are allegations tied to the indictment, not adjudicated findings. Each of these reports and events is dated inside Carter's tenure as Warden, the role he held at Coffee on each date.

No news mention in the file names Carter directly in connection with these events, and no lawsuit in the records identifies him as a defendant.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — report dated January 21, 2025 on the stabbing death of Kendall Ja'Mal Cromer at Coffee Correctional Facility, citing an incident report naming four other inmates as involved
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — report dated January 31, 2025 on the indictment of former officer Dacia Gaskins for alleged drug conspiracy
• FOX 5 Atlanta — report dated June 30, 2026 on sixteen inmates charged in Coffee Correctional Facility stabbings
• Yahoo News — report dated June 30, 2026 on the same indictment and gang allegations
• Georgia grand jury indictment records — sixteen inmates charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery, gang-act violations and riot in a penal institution, evidence presented June 18
• Coffee Correctional Facility incident records — series of stabbings on December 13, 2025
• Georgia Department of Corrections position records — Carter's Warden appointment effective January 1, 2024

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.