Graham, Michael

Tenure Summary

Michael Graham entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a Correctional Officer (SP) at Burruss Correctional Training Center, served as a CSM Correctional Lieutenant from 2016 through 2018 (no facility listed in the records), and as a CSM Correctional Unit Manager at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in 2019. He moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Dooly State Prison in 2020–2021, continued as Deputy Warden at Central State Prison from 2022 until July 15, 2025, and became Warden at Autry State Prison on July 16, 2025.

GPS's death registry attributes 37 deaths to Graham's leadership tenures: 20 at Central State Prison, 12 at Dooly State Prison, and 5 at Autry State Prison. The records show no lawsuit naming Graham as a defendant. Three State of Georgia liability payouts recorded in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger are tied to facilities where he held the Deputy Warden role, and homicide allegations at Central State Prison during his tenure are drawn from a DOJ report as cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

What happened on their watch

Dooly State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2020–2021. GPS's death registry attributes 12 deaths to this posting. According to the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, the state paid $700,000 over a Dooly State Prison incident from 2020, a payout linked to a documented death record for James R. Yarbrough and dated August 14, 2020 — which matches the registry date for Yarbrough's death at Dooly; the ledger also records a $3,100 payout tied to a 2020 Dooly incident and recorded January 23, 2020, naming Rodney McCrary. Both payouts were recorded while Graham held the Deputy Warden role at the facility.

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2022 – July 15, 2025. GPS's registry attributes 20 deaths to this posting. The registry records the following deaths: Ronald Elbert Bryant died April 11, 2022, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 61. Daniel Tyler Ball died May 2, 2022, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Suicide, age 37. Jerry H Page died January 11, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 73. Trong Nghia Tran died January 12, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 49. Clifford Oby Booth died February 15, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 71. Leonardo L Llamas died September 23, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 59. Hollis Alan Bryant died December 17, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 28. Marquis Lamar Johnson died December 18, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 26. Joseph W Akins died December 25, 2023, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 66. Adel Eackles died February 10, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 64. Deanthony Terrell Fleming died February 14, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 37. Jeremiah Eugene Taylor died April 21, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 41. Thomas Dewayne Kiker died June 22, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 49. Anthony Le Ray Baugher died October 26, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 68. Leon Culver Kelly died December 9, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 47. Brandon Jamal Pool died December 29, 2024, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 38. Matthew Maddox died January 28, 2025, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending. Lamancha Ware died March 2, 2025, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 48. Ricky Eugene Rogers died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Overdose, age 68. Travis Jamal Gaither died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 41.

Allegations recorded for this period include a DOJ report, as cited by the AJC, stating Johnson was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8, 2023 and died later after cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing, and that Bryant was stabbed to death, with three other prisoners criminally charged. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported on December 27, 2023 that two incarcerated men were stabbed to death at Central State Prison in the last weeks of December, bringing state prison deaths that month to six; the same reporting describes conditions as horrific, says inadequate staffing endangers incarcerated people, says families of those who die in Georgia prisons are left without information, and says severe staff shortages allowed gang members to effectively run state prisons. GDC data cited in the records describe 2023 as the department's most violent year since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records a $22,000 state payout tied to a 2022 Central State Prison incident and recorded September 1, 2022, naming Joshua David Turk.

Autry State Prison — Warden, from July 16, 2025. GPS's registry attributes 5 deaths to this posting: James Melvin Tudor died August 23, 2025, at Autry State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 86. Alton Anson Kelly died August 23, 2025, at Autry State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 61. Richard Merritt died October 20, 2025, at Autry State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 75. Chaudhry Abudl Rashid died November 11, 2025, at Autry State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 74. Richard Cleveland Castleberry died April 23, 2026, at Autry State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 72.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — DOJ report as cited in the Georgia prison homicides list (Central State Prison stabbing deaths of Marquis L. Johnson and Hollis Alan Bryant, 2023).
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — December 27, 2023 report on six state prison deaths in one month, staffing shortages and conditions at Central State Prison.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — liability payouts tied to Dooly State Prison (James R. Yarbrough, Rodney McCrary) and Central State Prison (Joshua David Turk).
• Georgia Department of Corrections data, as cited in the records — 2023 violence figures.
• GPS death registry — 37 deaths attributed to Graham's leadership tenures (Central State Prison 20, Dooly State Prison 12, Autry State Prison 5).

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.