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Gardner, Rodney
Status: active
Profile written June 7, 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
Rodney Gardner entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer and rose through the ranks — sergeant, lieutenant, unit manager — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison in January 2024. Despite a decade-long career, GPS records attribute all 25 deaths during his leadership-tenure years solely to his time as Deputy Warden at Baldwin. Those deaths, recorded between January 2024 and April 2026, unfolded against a backdrop of federal scrutiny, staff-contraband arrests, and public allegations of violence, medical neglect, and understaffing inside the troubled facility.What happened on their watch
Gardner became Deputy Warden of Baldwin State Prison in January 2024 and remained in that role through at least mid-2026. According to GPS records, 25 people died at the facility during his deputy warden tenure. The decedents ranged in age from 23 to 87. Among the deaths, GPS case data identifies at least two confirmed homicides: Henry Finley, 41, died on January 19, 2025, from multiple puncture wounds, and Vincent Reshad Dyer, 50, was stabbed to death on August 21, 2024. Several deaths are listed with a cause category consistent with natural or medical deaths (category 6), including Almir Harris, 23, whose death certificate, per GPS intelligence reports, lists diabetic ketoacidosis after he was allegedly denied essential medical care. The most recent fatality, 38-year-old Ricky Carroll Mathis, died on April 5, 2026; the GDC reported no signs of altercation and an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards is ongoing.While Gardner held the deputy warden post, Baldwin State Prison was the focus of multiple high-profile allegations. A lawsuit filed by inmate Akeim Burgest in early 2026 claimed a correctional officer stabbed him with a shank while a lieutenant stood by and watched; a federal judge subsequently ordered GDC to preserve all related records, including camera footage. A separate lawsuit, filed by the mother of Joshua Emanuel Williams, alleged that Williams was negligently placed in a cell with an inmate who had previously stabbed others — an incident that occurred in 2020 but was litigated later. The broader systemic environment is documented in Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigations: at least 360 prison employees have been arrested for smuggling contraband since 2018, and testimony revealed that former Baldwin Lieutenant Tracey Wise smuggled K-2‑laced papers into the prison for gang leader Ryan Brandt multiple times in 2021. The U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into violence and conditions in Georgia prisons that same year, and in 2023 advocates protested outside the Governor’s Mansion, citing understaffing and medical neglect at facilities including Baldwin. Several of these incidents, while not all occurred under Gardner’s deputy warden tenure, illustrate the persistent conditions that continued into the period when the 25 deaths were recorded.
Litigation
- Blackwell v. Gardner, No. 5:19-cv-00002 (M.D. Ga.), filed Jan. 2, 2019, terminated Mar. 31, 2020. Gardner was named as a defendant while he held the rank of lieutenant. The nature of the claim is not detailed in the supplied records.
- Dickerson v. Biden, No. 1:24-cv-04457 (N.D. Ga.), filed Oct. 1, 2024, terminated Mar. 14, 2025. The suit names Gardner as a defendant during his deputy warden tenure. No further case details are available in the GPS data.
- In re Equifax Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litig., No. 1:17-md-02800 (N.D. Ga.), filed Dec. 6, 2017, terminated Apr. 13, 2022. Gardner’s connection to this multidistrict litigation is unclear from the records; the case postdates his earliest GDC employment.
- Lewis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., No. 1:14-cv-03838 (N.D. Ga.), filed Dec. 2, 2014, terminated Aug. 11, 2015. The filing predates Gardner’s known GDC employment, and the relevance to his corrections career is unconfirmed.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple investigations and reports on Georgia prison homicides, staff contraband arrests, the Tracey Wise smuggling case, and the Sex Money Murder gang indictment, all referencing Baldwin State Prison.
- 13WMAZ — reporting on the Akeim Burgest shanking lawsuit and court‑ordered preservation of evidence at Baldwin.
- CourtListener — dockets for Blackwell v. Gardner, Dickerson v. Biden, In re Equifax, and Lewis v. PBGC.
- GPS intelligence records — death logs, cause‑category classifications, and event summaries linking named decedents and facility-level incidents to Gardner’s deputy warden tenure.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2018-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER(WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:24-cv-04457 | GAND | 2024-10-01 | terminated |
| 5:19-cv-00002 | GAMD | 2019-01-02 | terminated |
| 1:17-md-02800 | GAND | 2017-12-06 | terminated |
| 1:14-cv-03838 | GAND | 2014-12-02 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
25 people died at facilities under Gardner, Rodney's leadership.
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