Chaney, Mable Larose

Tenure Summary

Mable Larose Chaney began their Georgia Department of Corrections career in 2015 as a Correction Administration employee before ascending to a Deputy Warden position at Dooly State Prison the following year. Chaney held that facility-level leadership role continuously from 2016 through at least the end of 2025, with annual salary increases that rose from $53,559 to $73,436 over the decade. GPS records attribute a total of 49 deaths to Dooly State Prison during Chaney’s tenure as deputy warden. The period was marked by multiple homicides among the incarcerated population, acute staffing shortages that left housing units unsupervised for entire shifts, and persistent overcrowding—the facility, originally designed for 750 people, held 1,593 at over 200% capacity. No lawsuits naming Chaney as a defendant were identified in this review.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Dooly State Prison (2016–2025)
The 49 deaths GPS attributes to Chaney’s watch at Dooly State Prison span at least 2020 through 2025 and include documented homicides, deaths ruled as resulting from medical conditions, and allegations of systemic neglect. Among those who died while Chaney was deputy warden were Zeary Davis (2024), whom a GPS case submission describes as bleeding to death on a dormitory floor, and Dimitri Jackson (2023), who the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution reported died from a stab wound to the chest. The facility’s homicide tally also includes Chad Roadifer (2023), whose death certificate listed delayed complications of blunt‑force head trauma per the AJC investigation, and Brian Wainwright (2024), ruled a homicide by the same newspaper. Homicides continued into 2025: user reports filed with GPS indicate that Darrow Brown was stabbed to death while being escorted by an officer, Horario Philmore was found dead—officially ruled a suicide but with inmate reports alleging strangulation—and Joshua Parrott died by strangulation. Several deaths involved allegations of medical failures. According to an AJC investigation, James Yarbrough (2020) died of diabetic ketoacidosis after months of uncontrolled diabetes, a case the outlet described as alleging medical malpractice. A coroner raised concerns, also cited by the AJC, that Carlos Omar Soldiew‑Acosta (2024) may have been dead for more than 24 hours before his body was discovered. Further, Georgia Public Broadcasting quoted a family member alleging that medical staff put a deceased man’s treatment “on the back burner,” contributing to a sepsis death.

Broader patterns at Dooly during Chaney’s tenure reinforced a picture of a facility under extreme strain. Intel reports from GPS document that by late 2025 the prison was operating with a 50% statewide correctional officer vacancy rate while holding more than double its design population. An investigation in November 2025 found that many housing units had no officer present for hours or even entire shifts. Contraband remained an issue: in 2025, a corrections cadet was found with 640 grams of methamphetamine during a search, and an incarcerated man was stabbed in an incident where other prisoners used a contraband phone to summon emergency help. Although the most severe gang‑related mass violence that triggered a statewide lockdown occurred in May 2026—after the documented end of Chaney’s deputy warden post—gang‑affiliated fights during the tenure years repeatedly sent multiple people to outside hospitals, and the GDC characterized the violence as gang‑related, according to WGXA and 13WMAZ. In 2026, well after the reported end of Chaney’s tenure, inmate Abraham Rivas was charged with running a phone‑based fraud scheme from inside the prison; Rivas alleged that correctional staff were aware of similar scams, a claim reported by WALB and Wesh.com.

Litigation

No lawsuits naming Mable Larose Chaney as a defendant were found in the GPS records.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple homicide reports and an investigation into medical failures at Dooly State Prison, citing deaths of Chad Roadifer, Dimitri Jackson, Brian Wainwright, Carlos Omar Soldiew‑Acosta, and James Yarbrough
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — report on family allegations of medical neglect leading to a sepsis death
• WGXA — coverage of gang‑related fight and the methamphetamine smuggling case at Dooly State Prison
• 13WMAZ — coverage of gang‑related fight at Dooly State Prison
• WALB, Wesh.com, News‑journalonline.com — reporting on the Abraham Rivas fraud scheme and Rivas’s allegation that staff knew of inmate scams
• GPS case submissions and intel reports — documentation of facility staffing collapses, homicide and injury incidents, and inmate‑reported deaths including Zeary Davis and Darrow Brown

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 21, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.