Finch, Karen Ruth

Tenure Summary

Karen Ruth Finch's documented career with the Georgia Department of Corrections began as a Correctional Officer at Coastal State Prison in 2009. Records then list her in behavioral-health and social-services roles without a facility attached — Behavioral Health Counselor (2015), Behavioral Health Counselor 2 (2016), Behavioral Health Counselor 3 (2017), and Social Services Program Consultant 3 (2018–2020). She entered facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Rogers State Prison in 2021, remaining there through 2023, and served as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at Rogers from January to July 2024. She is also recorded as Deputy Warden at Coastal State Prison for January–July 2024, and as Deputy Warden of Security at Coastal from August 1, 2024; a Deputy Warden post at Coastal is further listed for 2025. Her status is active; no status source is recorded.

The death registry attributes 63 deaths to facility-leadership tenures held by Finch — 54 at Coastal State Prison and 9 at Rogers State Prison. No lawsuit naming Finch as a defendant appears in the records.

What happened on their watch

Rogers State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021–2023); Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (January–July 2024). Nine deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure at Rogers. GPS's registry records that Chad Walker Jeter died at Rogers State Prison on March 17, 2021; Michael Glenn McKee died there May 22, 2021; Jeremy Lasean Walton died there June 12, 2021; Timothy Brent Jenkins died there April 7, 2022; Caleb Sexton died there April 22, 2022; Bradley Lyle Weitzel died there March 21, 2023; William Joseph Smiley died there August 15, 2023; Randall Henry Baker died there December 6, 2023; and Shawn Remar Johnson died there July 23, 2024, while Finch held the Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment post.

Coastal State Prison — Deputy Warden (January–July 2024); Deputy Warden of Security (from August 1, 2024). Fifty-four deaths are attributed to her Coastal tenure. GPS's registry records these deaths during that tenure:

• Sheldon Leroy Burns died August 30, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• 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; the registry lists the cause as Homicide; age 49.
• Aiden Snapp died February 26, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; the 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.
• Nelson Nmn Williams died December 4, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending; age 54.
• James Joseph Reinke died November 29, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending; age 66.
• Thomas Floyd East died November 18, 2025, at Coastal State Prison; cause Unknown/Pending; age 71.

Two of these are recorded as homicides, one as Natural/Medical, and the rest as Unknown/Pending; the ages on the entries run from 21 to 78.

While Finch was Deputy Warden of Security, WTOC reported on February 12, 2026 that workers and inmates alleged a human rights crisis at Coastal — lockdowns of seven to ten days without shower access, lockdowns that kept inmates from programs needed to earn Performance Incentive Credits, staff allegedly withholding food as punishment, and officers allegedly beating inmates. The same reporting noted GDC records showing no correctional officers disciplined for violence against inmates over a six-month period in 2025, and that a federal judge found Commissioner Tyrone Oliver in failure to comply with court orders. The Georgia Virtue reported on April 24, 2026 that an inspection found live roaches and flies, a dead mouse in backed-up mop water, mold-like growth across kitchen ceiling tiles, fish and chicken below required hot-holding temperatures, and plumbing failures; inspection scores fell from 87 in February 2025 to 80 in October and 70 at an April 23, 2026 inspection that gave the facility until May 3 to correct the issues. An inmate report dated May 9, 2026 described a kitchen closure for pest extermination that sharply reduced meal service. WTOC obtained records showing more than $5,000 spent on pest control at Coastal between May and November 2025. Deaths were announced in the same stretch, including a second death within one week (February 26, 2026) and two deaths in one day (March 3, 2026). A Coastal employee was arrested January 23, 2026 and charged with trading with inmates without the consent of the warden or superintendent, and five inmates were indicted for a violent assault, per reporting dated May 13, 2026 after an October 21, 2025 event entry. AJC coverage dated January 21, 2025 — while Finch was Deputy Warden at Coastal — described a suit by Rufus Ramon Lee's mother alleging his cell lock did not work and allowed assailants from other cells and dorms to reach and kill him, and a suit alleging five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death at Coastal on September 14, 2021. WALB reported on February 13, 2026 that a March 2020 assault at Coastal was forwarded for investigation with no records of such an investigation, and that the same individual later strangled a cellmate to death at another prison. Commissioner Tyrone Oliver announced David Stokes's reassignment to Warden at Coastal effective June 1, 2026.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 63 deaths attributed to Finch's leadership tenures (54 Coastal State Prison, 9 Rogers State Prison) and the decedents named above
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Georgia prison homicides and the Lee and Parks lawsuits, January 21, 2025
• WTOC — human rights crisis reporting and lockdown, discipline, and infrastructure allegations, February 12, 2026
• WALB — reporting on the unrecorded 2020 assault investigation, February 13, 2026
• The Georgia Virtue — Coastal State Prison health inspection findings, April 24, 2026
• Georgia Department of Public Health — Coastal State Prison inspection of April 23, 2026, grade 70, correction deadline May 3, 2026
• News.google.com — aggregated reports on the alleged human rights crisis, the five-inmate assault indictment, and an employee's alleged trading, May 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 4, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.