Clark, Reginald Tyrone

Tenure Summary

Reginald Tyrone Clark entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer (SP) and was promoted steadily through the ranks: CSM correctional lieutenant (2016–2017), CSM correctional captain (2018–2019), and CSM correctional unit manager (2020–2022). In 2023 he moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) in Jackson, a post he held through the most recent salary record in 2025, with a single-day Deputy Warden entry at Baldwin State Prison on November 22, 2023.

Per GDC mortality records compiled by Georgia Prisoners' Speak, 67 deaths are attributed to Clark's leadership tenure — all of them at GDCP. Decedents recorded during that tenure range in age from 19 to 76. One federal lawsuit naming him as a defendant, Jackson v. Deputy Warden Reginald Clark, was filed in 2023 and remains pending.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2023–present) — This posting carries the full 67 deaths attributed to Clark's leadership tenure. Named decedents in the record include Carrell Beontae Johnson, 32, who per GDC mortality records died June 6, 2023 from chopping injuries to the head and sharp force injuries to the torso; Elmer W. Pless, 65, who died May 15, 2023 by strangulation; and Brandon Trace Burrell, 31, who died January 28, 2024 from methamphetamine intoxication complicated by a physical altercation. The AJC reported that Burrell was assaulted by another inmate while under the effects of methamphetamine and suffered numerous stab wounds. The youngest decedent listed during the tenure is Christopher Lee, 19 (January 31, 2026); the oldest are James Thompson and Albert Stinson, both 76.

Multiple events dated inside the tenure describe institutional failures. An April 2023 record concerns the suicide of Desmond Layne Hattaway in a GDCP mental-health dorm; the records state he was placed in segregation as a former law enforcement officer and allege inadequate monitoring. A June 2025 cluster of records concerns Mark Smith, who those records say died from neglect after being denied a medical-unit transfer for advanced Parkinson's disease and found dead in his cell. Two incidents dated April 6, 2025 describe a prisoner stabbed fatally in the chest with a reported 30-minute delay before an officer response, and an inmate killed at Jackson State Prison with a witness allegedly coerced to silence. An October 24, 2025 entry describes a systemic failure in death reporting and investigation — deaths deleted from an inmate database, no autopsy ordered, and witness statements missing. Also during the tenure: the scheduled December 17, 2025 lethal-injection execution of Stacey Humphreys, and a December 11, 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May declining to halt it.

AJC investigations published during Clark's tenure allege that nearly every part of GDCP had been vandalized by prisoners amid widespread infrastructure failures (March 31, 2025, reporting on consultants hired by the governor); that Charles Lee Broady Jr. was moved to a location where six gang members attacked him with razor blades despite his request for protection (January 21, 2025); that officers had seized 35 cellphones from David "Toro" Zavala at the time of his guilty plea (September 5, 2024); and that newly convicted inmate Shane Tassi possessed a homemade shank and a contraband cell phone within days of arriving at GDCP (June 22, 2024). Records also describe a June 2024 incident in which Tassi was photographed with a shank and making a gang gesture, with disciplinary sanctions issued, and an April 2024 incident in which inmate Ronald Allen suffered severe cold injury to his hands after being ordered to separate frozen beef patties with inadequate protective equipment.

Deputy Warden, Baldwin State Prison (November 22, 2023) — A single-day Deputy Warden entry. No deaths are attributed to this posting in the data.

Litigation

• Jackson v. Deputy Warden Reginald Clark, No. 5:23-cv-00333 (M.D. Ga.), filed September 5, 2023 — pending; no disposition or monetary outcome recorded.

Sources

• Georgia Department of Corrections mortality records, compiled by Georgia Prisoners' Speak — 67 deaths attributed to Clark's Deputy Warden tenure at GDCP
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — prison homicide list (Burrell); investigations into GDCP conditions, prison contraband, and prisoner-run drug networks (Broady, Zavala, Tassi) during 2023–2025 tenure
• Court records: Jackson v. Deputy Warden Reginald Clark, 5:23-cv-00333, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia (CourtListener docket 67762218)
• GDC position and salary records, 2015–2025

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.