Finch, Karen Ruth

Tenure Summary

Karen Ruth Finch began at the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Coastal State Prison in 2009, then moved into behavioral-health and social-services work — behavioral health counselor (2015–2017) and social services program consultant (2018–2020), both recorded without a facility assignment. She returned to facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 salary years, and personnel records also list a Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment post at Rogers through July 31, 2024. Records show a Deputy Warden post at Coastal State Prison beginning in 2024, and from August 1, 2024 the title Deputy Warden of Security at Coastal, carried forward through a 2025 salary year and listed again in 2026.

GPS's death registry attributes 66 deaths to her leadership tenures: 57 at Coastal State Prison and 9 at Rogers State Prison. No lawsuit naming Finch as a defendant appears in the records reviewed; her listed status is active, with no sourced status beyond that.

What happened on their watch

Rogers State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021–2023); Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (through July 31, 2024). Nine deaths are attributed to this tenure, and the registry entries for them carry no public narrative. They include Chad Walker Jeter (43), who died March 17, 2021; Michael Glenn McKee (59), who died May 22, 2021; and Jeremy Lasean Walton (31), who died June 12, 2021. Timothy Brent Jenkins (22) died April 7, 2022, and Caleb Sexton (21) died April 22, 2022. Bradley Lyle Weitzel (40) died March 21, 2023; William Joseph Smiley (41) died August 15, 2023; Randall Henry Baker (38) died December 6, 2023; and Shawn Remar Johnson (34) died July 23, 2024.

Coastal State Prison — Deputy Warden (2024) and Deputy Warden of Security (from August 1, 2024). Fifty-seven deaths are attributed to Finch's Coastal tenure. The most recent 25 recorded in the registry are named below; nearly all are logged as Unknown/Pending, meaning GPS does not yet know the cause.

During this tenure, WTOC reported in February 2026 that workers and inmates described a "human rights crisis" at Coastal, including lockdowns of seven to ten days without shower access, allegations that staff withheld food as punishment, allegations that some officers beat inmates regularly, black mold, pest infestations and heating and air-conditioning failures; the same reporting said a DOJ report had criticized Georgia prisons, Coastal included, for overusing lockdowns and isolation, particularly on victims of sexual abuse. WTOC also reported that GDC records showed no correctional officers disciplined for violence against inmates over a six-month period in 2025, and that a federal judge had found Commissioner Tyrone Oliver in failure to comply with court orders.

A Georgia Department of Public Health inspection on April 23, 2026 produced a grade of 70, per records citing live roaches, a dead mouse in backed-up mop water, mold-like growth on kitchen ceiling tiles, fish at 122°F and chicken at 98°F, plumbing failures and door gaps admitting rodents; the facility was given until May 3 to correct the issues. Health scores had fallen from 87 in February 2025 to 80 in October and 70 at the latest inspection. An inmate witness reported that a 2026 kitchen closure for pest extermination sharply reduced meal service, and maintenance records showed more than $5,000 spent on pest control between May and November 2025.

Two former prisoners posting publicly in August and September 2026 alleged they witnessed killings, beatings, restraints and torture at Coastal, and that accurate counts were rare. A Coastal employee was arrested in January 2026 for trading with inmates without the warden's consent, and five inmates were indicted for a violent assault in October 2025. Lawsuits filed in January 2025 — while Finch held the Deputy Warden title at Coastal — allege that a broken cell lock let assailants reach and kill Rufus Ramon Lee, and that five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death on September 14, 2021, before her Coastal tenure began. David Stokes was reassigned as Coastal's Warden effective June 1, 2026.

Deaths recorded during Finch's Coastal tenure (most recent 25 in the registry):

• Richard Lee Billstrom died September 15, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 66.
• James Daniel O'Bryant died September 13, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 56.
• Harold Clyde Fair died September 4, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 63.
• Sheldon Leroy Burns died September 1, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 64.
• Phillip Alexander George died July 16, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 66.
• Corey Marcel Mitchell died July 15, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 50.
• Bobby Clinton Biggs died June 25, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 77.
• Ronald Tyrone Waller died June 10, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 57.
• Rene Alvarado Salazar died April 19, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 38.
• Mark Jr Young died April 17, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 75.
• Terry Kendall died February 27, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 67.
• Stanley Brown died February 27, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 61.
• Anteveis Brown died February 26, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 49.
• Aiden Snapp died February 26, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 21.
• Richard Parks died February 21, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 62.
• Malik Ortiz died February 12, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 29.
• Dejarvis Walker died February 9, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 25.
• Michael Garcia died February 1, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 45.
• Thomas Lee Garrison died January 26, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 78.
• Deandre Martez Walker died January 22, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 37.
• Jabe Clark died January 17, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 32.
• Kevin Lloyd Strickland died January 13, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 52.
• James Dion Gilmore died December 26, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 46.
• Thomas Jacob Johnson died December 23, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending, age 57.
• Jeffrey Brandon Deaton died December 20, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending.

Litigation

• No lawsuit naming Finch as a defendant appears in the records reviewed. Lawsuits filed in January 2025 concerning Coastal deaths — the Rufus Ramon Lee suit (alleging a broken cell lock) and the Kion E. Parks suit (alleging five inmates stabbed him on September 14, 2021) — are recorded at the facility during her Deputy Warden tenure, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide reporting and the January 2025 lawsuits over the deaths of Rufus Ramon Lee and Kion E. Parks at Coastal State Prison
• WTOC — February 2026 reporting on the alleged human rights crisis at Coastal, lockdowns, undisciplined officers, the federal judge's remarks to Commissioner Tyrone Oliver, and 2025 pest-control spending
• WALB — reporting on the uninvestigated 2020 assault at Coastal
• The Georgia Virtue — April 2026 health inspection findings at Coastal
• Georgia Department of Public Health — April 23, 2026 inspection scoring Coastal at 70
• GPS death registry — 66 deaths attributed to Finch's leadership tenures (57 Coastal, 9 Rogers)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 1, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.