Ivey, George

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — deputy warden tenures (2010, 2016–2022)

While Ivey held deputy warden rank at Hancock, the GPS decedent sample includes multiple deaths at the facility, among them Cesar Arnold Pastrana, Xaysana Thao, Rashad Bolton, Dwayne Zackery, Michael Anthony Brown, Terrill Bernard Howard, Charles Tristen McKee, Antoine Lamar Bush, Terry Lee Bishop, Zackery Phillip Brown, and Norman Jackson Samples. According to the AJC’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, several were violent deaths: Pastrana died of a stab wound to the chest; Bolton of a puncture wound to the chest with a sharp object; Zackery of a stab wound to the chest with a homemade knife; McKee was stabbed 13 times in the back and head; Bishop died of blunt force trauma with acute methamphetamine and cannabinoid toxicity; and Samples died of blunt force injuries of the head and torso. GDC’s own classification, obtained by UCLA Law’s Behind Bars Data Project, coded Thao and Michael Brown’s deaths as natural and Howard’s as undetermined. A lawsuit alleged McKee was placed in a dorm with gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates; a DOJ investigation found McKee tried to escape attackers through stair railings and was stabbed further, according to records summarized in GPS intel. The file also includes an AJC-reported claim that in March 2019, Hancock prisoner Amanuel Selassie Geberyesus was placed in a regular cell contrary to a counselor’s advice after expressing suicidal thoughts and subsequently hung himself.

Hancock State Prison — interim warden (July 2023–December 2024)

During Ivey’s interim warden tenure, the decedent sample includes Timothy Dale Hicks, Francisco Melgar-Saldivar, Ralph Thompson, and Travon Montrell Walthour. The AJC investigation lists Melgar-Saldivar’s cause of death as strangulation and blunt force injuries; GPS research citing 13WMAZ and the Human & Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia records Walthour as stabbed to death. A claim filed against the state alleged Melgar-Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked. Broader facility conditions documented in this period include an AJC report that Hancock had a 73.5% correctional officer vacancy rate as of October, leaving about 49 officers for more than 1,100 prisoners, and that consultants found staffing vacancies at many Georgia prisons had reached “emergency levels.” A September 2024 gang-related assault at Hancock resulted in seven prisoners being disciplined, according to AJC-reported records.

Georgia State Prison — Warden 3 (2025)

GPS attributes no deaths to Ivey at Georgia State Prison. The GSP allegations in the intelligence file — including those about Brandon Peters and David Dwayne Cassady — stem from incidents that predate Ivey’s 2025 posting there.

Litigation

• Garrison v. Ivey, 5:23-cv-00348, GAMD, filed 2023-09-13, terminated 2025-02-12.
• Ballard v. Ivey, 5:24-cv-00377, GAMD, filed 2024-10-16, terminated 2024-11-07.
• Ballard v. Ivey, 5:25-cv-00130, GAMD, filed 2025-04-01, terminated 2025-06-25.
• Spradlin v. Toby, 5:23-cv-00328, GAMD, filed 2023-08-29, pending.
• Jones v. Holt, 5:25-cv-00271, GAMD, filed 2025-06-25, pending.
• Grant v. Ward, 5:22-cv-00396, GAMD, filed 2022-11-07, terminated 2025-08-28.
• Grant v. Washington, 5:21-cv-00427, GAMD, filed 2021-12-01, terminated 2022-09-16.
• Tilman v. Sellers, 5:15-cv-00085, GAMD, filed 2015-03-13, terminated 2016-02-09.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; multiple cause-of-death reports at Hancock State Prison
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reports on staffing vacancies, DOJ findings, gang-related violence, and prison lawsuits
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation findings, via AJC and GPS intelligence summaries
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset, for GDC-coded causes of death
• 13WMAZ — Hancock State Prison stabbing coverage
• Human & Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia / Between Community News — Travon Walthour stabbing reports
• 41NBC — Hancock State Prison death and conviction coverage
• The Georgia Virtue — Georgia State Prison allegations
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia records, via CourtListener dockets
• GPS personnel and intelligence records

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 30, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.