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Ivey, George
Status: active
Profile written August 16, 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
George Ivey has held multiple leadership roles within the Georgia Department of Corrections, most of them at Hancock State Prison. GPS records place him as Deputy Warden of Security at Hancock in 2010, in a correction administration posting in 2015, then as Deputy Warden at Hancock from 2016 through mid-2023. He became Interim Warden at Hancock in July 2023, a role the records list through December 2024; a separate 2024 “Warden 3” line lists no facility. In 2025, he is listed as Warden 3 at Georgia State Prison.
GPS records attribute 15 deaths to Ivey’s leadership tenures, all at Hancock State Prison. The records also list eight federal cases in the Middle District of Georgia as defendant-linked matters, six terminated and two pending, with no outcome amounts recorded. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hancock State Prison during this period had some of the GDC’s highest correctional officer vacancy rates, and a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described violence, sexual assaults, and gang-run prisons across Georgia’s facilities.
What happened on their watch
Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, 2010
GPS records show no deaths attributed to this one-year posting.Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2016–June 2023
Among the decedents named in GPS records from this span are Cesar Arnold Pastrana, Dwayne Zackery, Rashad Bolton, Michael Anthony Brown, Terrill Bernard Howard, Charles Tristen McKee, Antoine Lamar Bush, Terry Lee Bishop, Zackery Phillip Brown, and Norman Jackson Samples. The named decedents ranged in age from 22 to 59. According to the AJC’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, causes documented included a stab wound to the chest for Pastrana, a stab wound to the chest with a homemade knife for Zackery, a puncture wound to the chest with a sharp object for Bolton, 13 stab wounds to the back and head for McKee, blunt force trauma with acute toxicity of methamphetamine and cannabinoids for Bishop, and blunt force injuries of the head and torso for Samples. GDC’s own coding, obtained by UCLA Law’s Behind Bars Data Project, classified Michael Brown’s and Xaysana Thao’s deaths as natural and Terrill Howard’s death as undetermined, according to GPS records.A lawsuit filed by McKee’s family alleges he was placed in a dorm with known gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, according to the AJC. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation cited by the AJC found that McKee tried to escape his attackers by jumping through stair railings, and that gang members continued stabbing him on the floor below, according to GPS records.
Hancock State Prison — Interim Warden, July 2023–December 2024
Deaths recorded during this period include Timothy Dale Hicks, Francisco Melgar-Saldivar, Ralph Thompson, and Travon Montrell Walthour. The AJC investigation listed Melgar-Saldivar’s cause of death as strangulation and blunt force injuries; 13WMAZ and the Human & Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia reported Walthour was stabbed to death, according to GPS research records. A claim filed against the state and reported by the AJC alleges Melgar-Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked by another prisoner.During this time, the AJC reported that Hancock State Prison had a 73.5% correctional officer vacancy rate as of October 2024, leaving 49 officers for over 1,100 prisoners. The AJC also cited consultants who found staffing vacancies at 20 of Georgia’s 34 prisons had reached “emergency levels.”
Georgia State Prison — Warden 3, 2025
GPS records show no deaths attributed to Ivey’s 2025 posting at Georgia State Prison. Intel reports referencing Georgia State Prison involve earlier periods, including the November 2020 death of Brandon Peters and conditions alleged by David Dwayne Cassady dating to 2019; these predate Ivey’s tenure there.Litigation
- Jones v. Holt, No. 5:25-cv-00271 (M.D. Ga.), filed June 25, 2025; pending.
- Ballard v. Ivey, No. 5:25-cv-00130 (M.D. Ga.), filed April 1, 2025; terminated June 25, 2025.
- Ballard v. Ivey, No. 5:24-cv-00377 (M.D. Ga.), filed October 16, 2024; terminated November 7, 2024.
- Garrison v. Ivey, No. 5:23-cv-00348 (M.D. Ga.), filed September 13, 2023; terminated February 12, 2025.
- Spradlin v. Toby, No. 5:23-cv-00328 (M.D. Ga.), filed August 29, 2023; pending.
- Grant v. Ward, No. 5:22-cv-00396 (M.D. Ga.), filed November 7, 2022; terminated August 28, 2025.
- Grant v. Washington, No. 5:21-cv-00427 (M.D. Ga.), filed December 1, 2021; terminated September 16, 2022.
- Tilman v. Sellers, No. 5:15-cv-00085 (M.D. Ga.), filed March 13, 2015; terminated February 9, 2016.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation and related prison condition coverage
- U.S. Department of Justice 2024 report, as described by the AJC
- Court records, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, via CourtListener
- 13WMAZ
- Human & Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia
- Between Community News
- 41NBC
- The Georgia Virtue
- UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset, citing GDC’s own coding
- GPS research and mortality records
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 3 | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| WARDEN 3 | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| Interim Warden | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2023-07-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2023-01-01 → 2023-06-30 | |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Deputy Warden of Security | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2010-01-01 → 2010-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:25-cv-00271 | GAMD | 2025-06-25 | pending |
| 5:25-cv-00130 | GAMD | 2025-04-01 | terminated |
| 5:24-cv-00377 | GAMD | 2024-10-16 | terminated |
| 5:23-cv-00348 | GAMD | 2023-09-13 | terminated |
| 5:23-cv-00328 | GAMD | 2023-08-29 | pending |
| 5:22-cv-00396 | GAMD | 2022-11-07 | terminated |
| 5:21-cv-00427 | GAMD | 2021-12-01 | terminated |
| 5:15-cv-00085 | GAMD | 2015-03-13 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
15 people died at facilities under Ivey, George's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-13 | TRAVON MONTRELL WALTHOUR | 29 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | Interim Warden |
| 2024-10-08 | RALPH THOMPSON | 53 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | Interim Warden |
| 2023-08-22 | TIMOTHY DALE HICKS | 37 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | Interim Warden |
| 2023-08-12 | FRANCISCO MELGAR-SALDIVAR | 26 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | Interim Warden |
| 2022-12-27 | NORMAN JACKSON SAMPLES | 59 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-12-23 | ZACKERY PHILLIP BROWN | 39 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-10-18 | TERRY LEE BISHOP | 49 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-06-18 | ANTIONE LAMAR BUSH | 32 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-05-23 | CHARLES TRISTEN MCKEE | 24 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2021-10-17 | TERRILL BERNARD HOWARD | 51 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2021-06-26 | MICHAEL ANTHONY BROWN | 54 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2021-02-12 | DWAYNE ZACKERY | 22 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2021-01-04 | RASHAD BOLTON | 29 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2020-12-20 | XAYSANA THAO | 40 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2020-03-13 | CESAR ARNOLD PASTRANA | 33 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
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