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Finch, Karen Ruth
Status: active
Profile written August 16, 2026
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’s GDC career began as a correctional officer at Coastal State Prison in 2009, followed by behavioral health counselor and social services consultant roles from 2015 through 2020. In 2021 Finch became Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison and remained in deputy warden roles there through July 2024, including Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment. Beginning in January 2024, records also place Finch at Coastal State Prison as Deputy Warden, then as Deputy Warden of Security from August 2024 forward, with the role listed active into 2025. GPS records attribute 59 deaths to Finch’s facility-leader tenures: 50 at Coastal State Prison and 9 at Rogers State Prison. GPS records list no lawsuits naming Finch as a defendant.
What happened on their watch
Rogers State Prison (2021–July 2024)
At Rogers State Prison, GPS records attribute nine deaths to the period of Finch’s deputy warden roles. Among them, GBI DOFS records list hangings classified as suicide for Jeremy Walton, 31, in June 2021 and Michael McKee, 59, in May 2021. Chad Jeter, 43, who died in March 2021, carries the same cause category in GPS records as those two documented suicides. Three deaths were attributed by GBI autopsy to methamphetamine: Timothy Jenkins, 22, in April 2022, Caleb Sexton, 21, in April 2022, and William Smiley, 41, in August 2023; the GBI certified those deaths as accidents. Randall Baker, 38, died in December 2023 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, per a GBI autopsy. Bradley Weitzel, 40, died in March 2023; the GBI provided only a consultation and no autopsy, and GPS records list the cause as undetermined. Shawn Johnson, 34, died in July 2024 with an unknown or pending cause in GPS records. A GPS intel report also carries an uncorroborated allegation of a guard stabbing incident at Rogers State Prison.
Coastal State Prison (2024–present)
At Coastal State Prison, GPS records attribute 50 deaths to the period of Finch’s deputy warden roles. The available sample spans August 2024 through June 2026. Many records in that sample carry cause_category 6; where notes explain the code, GPS describes it as unknown or pending. Two deaths on Feb. 26, 2026 carry a different category: GPS notes from a user report describe Aiden Snapp, 21, as beaten with head injuries, and a separate user report describes Anteveis Brown, 49, as stabbed in Dorm A2. Two January 2025 deaths have official GDC-listed causes: Lloyd Chapman, acute respiratory failure, and Ricky Chamblee, acute respiratory failure with hypoxia, DVT, and COPD.
The broader Coastal record during Finch’s tenure includes a Georgia Department of Public Health inspection on April 23, 2026, scoring the prison 70 and citing live roaches, a dead mouse in backed-up mop water, mold, improper food temperatures, and broken equipment, according to The Georgia Virtue. WTOC reported in February 2026 that workers and inmates alleged a human rights crisis, including food withheld as punishment, regular beatings, unsanitary conditions, black mold, rodent infestations, and lockdowns of seven to ten days without showers. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation found Georgia prisons, including Coastal State Prison, failing to protect inmates from violence and neglect in violation of the Eighth Amendment, according to GPS records. Other logged events include the indictment of five inmates for a violent assault at Coastal in October 2025 and the arrest of a Coastal employee in January 2026 for allegedly trading with inmates without warden consent.
Sources
- GPS structured personnel and mortality records
- GBI DOFS autopsy and consultation reports obtained via Georgia Open Records
- GDC official mortality data, including January 2025 and CY2024 reports
- The Georgia Virtue — Coastal State Prison health inspection coverage
- WTOC — Feb. 12, 2026, workers and inmates report human rights crisis at Coastal State Prison
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation into Georgia prison conditions
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 of Care and Treatment | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → 2024-07-31 |
| Deputy Warden | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| 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
59 people died at facilities under Finch, Karen Ruth's leadership.
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