Henderson, Marcus

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Phillips State Prison (Jan 2015 – Jan 2019)

Smith State Prison – Deputy Warden of Security (Jan 2019 – Jan 2023)

• Christopher Redwine (45) died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation in September 2021.
• Christopher Reynolds (38) was killed by blunt and sharp force injuries to the head and neck in July 2021.
• Derrick Harvey (26) died from a stab wound to the chest in June 2021.
• Hiwatha Abdullah Hakeem (26) sustained multiple stab wounds in April 2021; a lawsuit later alleged that the four prisoners who attacked him had known histories of violence and that staff failed to provide timely medical care.
• Desmond Hill (35) was strangled in April 2021 after reportedly telling his mother his cellmate had threatened him.
• Justin Wilkerson (25) died of asphyxia from neck compression in January 2021.
• John Brently Reyes (24) bled to death from a stab wound to the neck in April 2020.
• Taylor Harrison Brooks (26) was killed by multiple stab wounds that same month.
• Nathan Michael Mahan (37) died of stab wounds in October 2022.

Several other deaths — those of Juan Miguel Orduna, Manuel Villagomez, Jerome Tisdol, Michael Lewis Turner, Michael Lee Canty, Christopher Darnell Heath, Roderick A. Golden, and Joseph Franklin Norris — carry cause categories that GPS records do not further detail. No death was classified as natural, every one a reflection of a prison the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution would later describe as “one of the most understaffed, violent, and dysfunctional facilities in the state’s correctional system.”

Henderson’s tenure coincided with reporting that two‑thirds of correctional officer positions were unfilled, leaving as few as 53 officers for a facility designed for 160. The Marshall Project documented a case where a sole officer was assigned to a dorm housing 600 men, with no working fire extinguishers when inmates set mattresses on fire. The U.S. Department of Justice opened a statewide investigation into Georgia prison conditions in September 2021, while internal arrears of contraband — cell phones, drugs, weapons — were alleged to flow with the help of corrupt staff. Though the high‑profile arrest of Warden Brian Adams on RICO and bribery charges would not occur until 2026, the intelligence files contain contemporaneous allegations that Adams’ criminal enterprise was already active during Henderson’s watch, with claims that the warden accepted cash bribes and that a prisoner‑led “Saint Laurent Squad” orchestrated murders from inside the prison. Henderson himself is not named in those specific allegations.

Litigation

• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 5:23‑cv‑00430 (GAMD, filed Oct. 26 2023, terminated Jan. 23 2026).
• Williams v. City of Cartersville, 4:19‑cv‑00045 (GAND, filed Mar. 11 2019, terminated Nov. 19 2021).
• In Re Equifax Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, 1:17‑md‑02800 (GAND, filed Dec. 6 2017, terminated Apr. 13 2022).
• Cunningham v. Fulton County Georgia, 1:16‑cv‑00533 (GAND, filed Feb. 19 2016, terminated Mar. 29 2019).
• Wallace v. Norcross Associates Llc, 1:13‑cv‑01349 (GAND, filed Apr. 24 2013, terminated Sept. 9 2014).

Sources

• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple homicide reports and systemic allegations during Henderson’s 2019–2023 tenure at Smith State Prison.
• The Georgia Virtue — reporting on the Smith State Prison contraband scheme and the indictment of Warden Brian Adams.
• The Marshall Project — documentation of extreme understaffing and deteriorating conditions inside Smith State Prison.
• GPS intelligence database — per‑death records, tenure dates, and aggregated facility death counts.
• CourtListener — civil case dockets for the five lawsuits listing Henderson as a defendant.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 31, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.