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Finch, Karen Ruth
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 2026
Salary
$76,187
2025 · state payroll
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Karen Ruth Finch began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a Correctional Officer at Coastal State Prison in 2009, later moving into behavioral-health and social-services roles before entering facility leadership. She served as Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison from 2021 through 2023, and in 2024 transferred to Coastal State Prison as Deputy Warden, assuming the role of Deputy Warden of Security in August of that year. She remains in that position as of 2025. During her tenure in leadership roles, GPS records attribute 73 in-custody deaths to the facilities she oversaw — 8 at Rogers State Prison and 65 at Coastal State Prison. No lawsuits naming Finch as a defendant appear in the database; however, her time at Coastal has overlapped with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found systemic Eighth Amendment violations throughout Georgia prisons, including Coastal.What happened on their watch
Rogers State Prison (Deputy Warden, 2021–2023)
GPS records attribute 8 deaths to Rogers State Prison during Finch’s three years as deputy warden. Among the decedents whose causes were later established by GBI autopsy reports, three died by suicide in 2021 — Jeremy Walton, Michael McKee, and Chad Jeter — each ruled hanging by the GBI medical examiner. Two deaths, Caleb Sexton (2022) and William Smiley (2023), were attributed to toxic effects of methamphetamine in the context of asthma, and a third, Timothy Jenkins (2022), was found to have died from methamphetamine use complicating bronchial asthma; all three involved methamphetamine that had entered the prison as contraband. Bradley Weitzel (2023) received no autopsy after the GBI deemed an examination unnecessary, leaving his cause of death permanently undetermined. Randall Baker, 38, died in December 2023 of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease — a manner the medical examiner ruled natural, though his age raised medical-monitoring questions. A guard-stabbing incident at Rogers State Prison was reported as an allegation in GPS intel records.Coastal State Prison (Deputy Warden/Deputy Warden of Security, 2024–present)
Since Finch’s arrival at Coastal in January 2024 — including her time as Deputy Warden of Security beginning August 2024 — 65 deaths have been attributed to the facility. Many cause-of-death determinations remain pending, but identified cases include Aiden Snapp, 21, who died on February 26, 2026, from massive head injuries and a liver injury after being brutally beaten, according to GPS records; and Anteveis Brown, 49, who died the same day following a dorm fight, per a prisoner report. The volume of deaths corresponds with a pattern of documented systemic failures. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that conditions at Georgia prisons, including Coastal, constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, citing failures to protect incarcerated people from violence. A February 2026 WTOC report detailed workers’ and incarcerated people’s allegations of a “human rights crisis,” including brutality by officers, food withholding as punishment, extended lockdowns without showers, and crumbling infrastructure with black mold, rodent infestations, and broken HVAC. Health inspections in April 2026 cited live roaches, a dead mouse in backed-up mop water, mold growth, improper food temperatures, and plumbing failures, contributing to a health score decline to 70 out of 100. During Finch’s tenure, GPS records note two inmate deaths in a single day (March 3, 2026), a second death within one week that same February, and an earlier homicide of Raymond Littles in April 2024. While not naming Finch, a lawsuit filed in January 2025 alleged that five incarcerated people stabbed Kion E. Parks to death at Coastal in 2021, and another lawsuit by the mother of Rufus Ramon Lee blamed a broken cell lock for allowing assailants to reach and kill him.Sources
- GPS records — total deaths attributed and per-facility counts; individual decedent records and intel reports
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy/consultation reports — cause and manner determinations for Rogers State Prison deaths
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on lawsuits related to deaths at Coastal State Prison
- WTOC — February 2026 investigation into human rights allegations at Coastal State Prison
- The Georgia Virtue — April 2026 Georgia Department of Public Health inspection report
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation finding unconstitutional conditions in Georgia prisons, including Coastal
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | COASTAL STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Security | COASTAL STATE PRISON | 2024-08-01 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| SOCIAL SVCS PRGM CONSULTANT 3 | 2018-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Correctional Officer | COASTAL STATE PRISON | 2009-01-01 → 2009-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
73 people died at facilities under Finch, Karen Ruth's leadership.
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