Hudson, Charles Leonard

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

The facility at the time was severely overcrowded and understaffed. GPS intelligence reports note that Dooly held approximately 1,593 incarcerated people in a prison originally designed for 750, while Georgia’s statewide correctional officer vacancy rate averaged 50 percent. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution documented allegations that a coroner believed another person at Dooly had been dead for more than 24 hours before being found, and separate reporting by the AJC described systemic failures in Georgia’s prison system — including underreporting of homicides and delayed emergency responses — which were the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

During Hudson’s Dooly tenure, the prison also saw gang‑related violence; the Crips‑linked killing of Darrow Brown and the strangulation of Joshua Parrott fit a pattern of assaults that GPS intel events later connected to repeated large‑scale fights at the prison, though the most severe mass‑casualty altercations were recorded after his deputy‑warden term ended.

Litigation

Sources

• GPS records — personnel positions, death count (14), death details and facility‑level death totals.
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — “Ga prison homicides: A list of those killed in Georgia’s prison system” (coroner’s allegation at Dooly, DOJ investigation findings), and “Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions” (staffing and neglect).
• WALB — DOJ investigation findings on underreporting, understaffing, and failure to protect in Georgia prisons.
• GPS intel reports — overcrowding at Dooly (212% design capacity) and 50% officer vacancy rate.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 12, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.