Carver, Keenan

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Smith State Prison — Deputy Warden (January 2024–present)

The deaths began early in his tenure. On February 4, 2024, Donquerius Lamonte Mahone, 37, was killed; a subsequent Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation listed the cause as homicide. Five days later, Gineli Antoine Gray, 31, died under circumstances that have not been publicly clarified. On June 16, 2024, inmate Jaydrekus Cartez Hart, 34, obtained a loaded gun inside the prison and fatally shot Aramark food service worker Aureon Shavea Grace in the kitchen before turning the gun on himself. Although Grace’s death is not counted among the nine (she was not in GDC custody), Hart’s death is attributed to Carver’s watch. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution lawsuit report, staff were repeatedly warned that a firearm was on the premises but failed to lock down the facility or conduct a thorough search.

The violence continued through the summer and fall of 2024. Three more inmates died in quick succession: Richard Jermine Williams, 43, on September 7; Orlando Jordan, 36, on September 13; and Calvin Bernard Craft, 34, on December 14. GPS records classify all three deaths under “cause_category 6,” a coding that typically indicates a determination is pending or unavailable. No additional details were provided for these cases.

One death during Carver’s tenure was natural. John Jacobs, 77, died at East Georgia Regional Medical Center on October 25, 2025. A coroner’s record obtained by GPS shows the cause was cardiorespiratory arrest from sepsis with multiorgan failure, complications that followed a series of abdominal surgeries. The deputy coroner noted his professional opinion that all in-custody deaths should undergo independent third‑party review.

In early 2026, two more deaths with suspicious circumstances were recorded. Nicholas Shafer, 24, died on February 8, 2026. A user report migrated into the GPS intelligence system stated that he had been beaten, his hands and feet tied, and an object stuffed in his mouth; the report noted he had recently been transferred into Smith State Prison. The death is coded as cause_category 3, consistent with homicide. Dwayne Eric Albritton, 65, died on March 12, 2026, with a cause_category of 6, and no further information has been made public.

While Carver is not named in any lawsuit or criminal complaint, his tenure at Smith State Prison overlapped with widespread allegations of systemic failures that created lethal risks. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting repeatedly described the facility as severely understaffed — at times only about a third of correctional officer positions were filled — and plagued by contraband weapons, cell phones, and drug trafficking. The Marshall Project documented a case in which a decomposing body went unnoticed for five days due to understaffing, and multiple outlets reported that incarcerated people endured long waits for medical care and faced brutal conditions. The Georgia Department of Corrections had been under U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny since September 2021.

The prison’s former warden, Brian Adams, was arrested in 2023 and later indicted in a Tattnall County racketeering case, accused of taking bribes and facilitating an inmate-run contraband enterprise that allegedly orchestrated murders from behind bars. The Georgia Virtue reported that Adams remained in his post for months after GDC learned of at least two murders linked to the operation. Carver served as Deputy Warden during the fallout from that leadership crisis.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide determination for Donquerius Mahone; investigation into gun smuggling and staff warnings before Grace shooting; understaffing and systemic dysfunction at Smith State Prison; DOJ scrutiny and contraband crisis
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — drone smuggling of the firearm used in the June 2024 murder-suicide; GDC testimony on understaffing and drone incidents
• The Georgia Virtue — indictment and racketeering allegations against former Warden Brian Adams
• The Marshall Project — failures to notice deceased inmates due to understaffing; descriptions of dangerous conditions at Smith State Prison
• WTOC — arrest of a former Smith State Prison employee for sexual assault; gang-related altercation in April 2026
• In These Times — prisoner strike allegations about cruel punishments, medical neglect, and contraband cell phones
• Tattnall County Coroner’s Record (Case #2025-084) — death of John Jacobs
• GPS intelligence database — deaths during Deputy Warden tenure, cause-of-death categories, and user-reported details for Nicholas Shafer

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.