Foston, Jeremy Andrew

Tenure Summary

During his watch, Hancock became a flashpoint in multiple news investigations, a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report on systemic violence, and a series of lawsuits — including a federal suit filed in 2023 and a state settlement of $424,710 for a 2022 homicide. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution report placed Hancock’s correctional‑officer vacancy rate at 73.5 percent as of October 2024, leaving roughly 49 officers to oversee more than 1,100 prisoners.

What happened on their watch

In March 2019, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, inmate Amanuel Selassie Geberyesus was placed in a regular cell despite a counselor’s advice after he expressed suicidal thoughts, and subsequently hanged himself. The state later settled the family’s claim for $600,000.

A series of homicides followed. In January 2021, Rashad Bolton died of a puncture wound to the chest; his parents sued, alleging he was stabbed to death. Weeks later, Dwayne Zackery, 22, died from a stab wound to the chest with a homemade knife, per an AJC investigation citing death‑certificate data. In October 2021, inmate Terrill Howard’s death was coded “Undetermined” by the GDC, according to records obtained by the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project.

In May 2022, Charles “Tristen” McKee, 24, was stabbed 13 times in the back and head. A DOJ investigation found he had jumped through stair railings trying to escape gang members who continued the attack. Two separate lawsuits alleged that McKee was placed in a dorm with gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, and that staff ignored his repeated requests to be moved the day before. A state settlement of $424,710 was later paid. Other homicides that year included Terry Lee Bishop (blunt force trauma and toxicity) and Norman Samples (blunt force injuries to the head and torso).

The pace of violent death persisted. In June 2023, Roland Lamont Phillips, 33, died of multiple sharp‑force injuries — a murder warrant was served on his cellmate, according to GDC records. Two months later, Francisco Melgar‑Saldivar was strangled and beaten; a claim filed against the state alleges he was not given appropriate medical care after the attack. In October 2024, Travon Walthour, 29, was killed, with GDC incident data showing four other prisoners involved.

January 2025 saw gang‑related violence result in two deaths in the same dorm: William Holeman, 34, and Prince Porter, 38, both classified as homicides in a GDC‑released mortality PDF. A third prisoner was hospitalized. That September, Andre Weems, 36, was fatally stabbed; eight were charged but a grand jury no‑billed the case, per multiple local news outlets.

The violence continued into 2026. On January 12, a brawl left five inmates stabbed with shanks, two airlifted to hospitals, according to GPS incident records. Later that month, Steven Wood was beaten by his cellmate and died at a hospital. In February, Jaylin Bell was killed in an altercation with his roommate, and Jerrod Johnson was fatally stabbed. In April, Jacorey Pearson died; the cause was not released and the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation.

Systemic factors documented during Foston’s tenure include a 2024 DOJ report that described “violence, sexual assaults and gang‑run prisons in Georgia, fueled by a culture of indifference,” and consultant findings that staffing vacancies across the state had reached “emergency levels,” with broken cell locks enabling gang intimidation, as reported by the AJC.

Litigation

• Spradlin v. Toby, Case No. 5:23‑cv‑00328 (M.D. Ga.), filed Aug. 29, 2023. Status: pending. A federal lawsuit naming prison officials; a court docket is available on CourtListener.
• Bolton family lawsuit — A lawsuit filed by the parents of Rashad Bolton claims he was stabbed to death at Hancock on January 4, 2021, according to an AJC summary.
• McKee settlement — The Georgia Department of Administrative Services reported a liability payout of $424,710 tied to the 2022 death of Charles McKee at Hancock State Prison, per a DOAS open‑records settlement ledger.
• Melgar‑Saldivar claim — A claim filed against the state alleges that Francisco Melgar‑Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after an attack at Hancock, according to the AJC.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — “Georgia Prison Homicides” investigation, including death‑certificate data and reports on multiple Hancock deaths (McKee, Bolton, Zackery, Bishop, Samples, Phillips, Melgar‑Saldivar).
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on violence, sexual assaults, and gang control in Georgia prisons.
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project — custodial mortality dataset obtained from GDC (2015‑2021), providing the Department’s own classification for Howard, Brown, and Thao.
• GDC‑released mortality PDF (January 2025) — homicide classifications for Holeman and Porter.
• 41NBC, 13WMAZ, Union‑Recorder, FOX 5, WGXA — local news reports on deaths of Weems, July, Bell, Wood, and others.
• GPS intelligence reports — summaries of lawsuits, DOJ findings, staffing figures, and incident reports from Telegram relays and open‑source monitoring.
• CourtListener — docket for Spradlin v. Toby.
• GA Department of Administrative Services — settlement ledger for McKee payout.
• Governor’s Office (per AJC) — proposal of $600 million for prison staffing and infrastructure.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 9, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.