Harmon, Orbey

Tenure Summary

Orbey Harmon entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a corrections officer in 2015, then moved through lieutenant (2016–2017), captain (2018) and correctional unit manager (2019–2021) before taking a facility-leadership post as Deputy Warden at Augusta State Medical Prison in 2022. He held the deputy warden position there through 2025 and has been Deputy Warden of Security at the same prison since July 16, 2026.

Records compiled by Georgia Prisoners' Speak attribute 246 deaths to Harmon's leadership tenures, every one of them at Augusta State Medical Prison. That count spans a facility where, during his tenure, the death registry records prisoner-on-prisoner homicides — including Rodarick Lee Hayes (May 25, 2024) and Amos Bennett Huff Jr. (March 30, 2023) — and where the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporting on a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, described deaths the paper characterized as failures to protect.

What happened on their watch

Augusta State Medical Prison — Deputy Warden (2022–2025). Deaths recorded at the facility during this posting include William Taylor Bodge, who died February 5, 2022, from delayed complications of blunt force injuries to the head suffered weeks earlier (incident date listed as January 20, 2022); Raphael Zachery Milligan, who died July 21, 2022, from blunt force injuries and strangulation, with another prisoner charged with his murder; Amos Bennett Huff Jr., 60, strangled March 30, 2023, with his 26-year-old cellmate charged; Randall Joey Futch, 61, who died June 8, 2023, from delayed complications of blunt force head trauma; Thomas Preston Johnson, 56, whose April 12, 2024 death incident report shows a homicide; Rodarick Lee Hayes, 29, who died May 25, 2024, of sharp force injury of the torso, with two prisoners and a correctional officer charged with murder; and Lamar Wesson Phillips, 39, who died June 8, 2024, in an inmate-to-inmate assault recorded as a murder.

Allegations published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on January 21, 2025, and tied in the records to Harmon's deputy warden role, state that the DOJ investigation found Hayes had been attacked on multiple occasions before his death; that a correctional officer was accused of aiding in the attack that killed him; that Thomas Henry Giles was left in a smoke-filled cell for hours while officers evacuated nearby inmates, his death ruled a homicide by the GBI; that guards moved a prisoner with a violent history of strangulation into Eddie Gosier's cell, leading to Gosier's murder hours later; and that Jimmy Lucero was held in solitary without required medical checks and fell into a catatonic state and starved. All are allegations attributed to that reporting.

Other records dated to this posting: a $2,726.03 state liability settlement tied to Augusta State Medical Prison (incident 2022), per the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger; a September 5, 2024 sentencing in which Joseph Collins, incarcerated at Augusta, was sentenced to 240 months for directing a heroin and meth trafficking network from prison; the 2024 DOJ report describing violence, sexual assault and gang-run prisons enabled by a culture of indifference; and a November 18, 2024 federal ruling in Benning v. Oliver ordering GDC to stop enforcing a 12-person email-contact restriction.

Augusta State Medical Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (from July 16, 2026). Two inmate reports dated in this posting: an October 16, 2026 report describing an incarcerated person assaulting another over stolen property, framed as retaliation; and an October 1, 2026 report of a person who died in 2026 after reportedly never being moved from the dorm to medical care, the cause described as likely natural but unconfirmed. The records also list the facility's Pups in the Pen program surpassing 120 dog adoptions (August 28, 2026).

Deaths named in the registry during Harmon's leadership tenure:

• Donnie Gene Poland died September 15, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Demilo Ponchorello Johnson died September 10, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical.
• Dwight Bernard Freeman died August 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 69; Unknown/Pending.
• Jimmie Lee Dennis died August 17, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 64; Unknown/Pending.
• John Henry Tuff died August 8, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 75; Unknown/Pending.
• Anretoes Kenwood Wilkins died August 7, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 50; Unknown/Pending.
• Donald Hugh Young died August 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 49; Unknown/Pending.
• Phillip Curtis Walker died July 16, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 62; Unknown/Pending.
• Ronnie Williams died December 31, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 65; Natural/Medical.
• Alfonzo Foster died December 30, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 74; Natural/Medical.
• Gary Thomas Shaughnessy died December 21, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 71; Natural/Medical.
• Eugene Cornelius Edmond died December 1, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 65; Natural/Medical.
• Kenneth Craig Mccowan died November 24, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 69; Unknown/Pending.
• Kimmeth Devon Harden died November 20, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 55; Natural/Medical.
• Jeffery Jackson died October 29, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 63; Natural/Medical.
• Lloyd Lewis died October 19, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 62; Natural/Medical.
• Deonta Smith died October 10, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 40; Unknown/Pending.
• Johnnie Wildermuth died October 9, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 44; Unknown/Pending.
• Randy Clay died October 1, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 63; Natural/Medical.
• Trammell Lyonda Williams died September 28, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 47; Natural/Medical.
• Eric Deal died September 14, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 58; Natural/Medical.
• Treyvance Elliott Currie died August 31, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 55; Unknown/Pending.
• Michael Juan Campbell died August 19, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 56; Natural/Medical.
• Santos Sotelo died August 9, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 56; Natural/Medical.
• Phillip Megginson died August 6, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison, age 57; the registry lists the cause as Accident.

Litigation

• Martin v. Philbin, No. 1:18-cv-00212 (GASD), filed December 10, 2018, terminated October 23, 2019; Harmon listed as a defendant; no outcome amount recorded.
• Martin v. Philbin, No. 1:19-cv-00216 (GASD), filed December 17, 2019, terminated January 8, 2020; Harmon listed as a defendant; no outcome amount recorded.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — "GA prison homicides: a list of those killed in Georgia's prison system" and "Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions" (allegations dated January 21, 2025, concerning Hayes, Giles, Gosier and Lucero at Augusta State Medical Prison)
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation report on GDC violence and gang-run prisons (2024)
• Georgia Department of Corrections death registry and incident report data, via Georgia Prisoners' Speak
• GPS case submissions from inside Augusta State Medical Prison (October 2026 reports)
• Court records: Martin v. Philbin dockets, U.S. District Court (GASD), via CourtListener; Benning v. Oliver rulings summarized in GPS event records
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — Collins-Powell settlement at Augusta State Medical Prison

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 18, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.