Jackson, Kendric

Tenure Summary

Kendric Jackson entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer at Smith State Prison, where state payroll records show him as a sergeant in 2017 and a lieutenant in 2018, with a lieutenant post at Smith Transitional Center in 2019 and a return to Smith State Prison as lieutenant in 2020 and correctional unit manager in 2021. His first facility-deputy assignment was Deputy Warden at Dodge State Prison in 2022, followed by Deputy Warden at Telfair State Prison in 2023 and a Deputy Warden posting in 2024 that the records list without a facility. On December 16, 2024 he became Warden at Calhoun State Prison, serving there until May 31, 2026; on June 1, 2026 he moved to Warden at Valdosta State Prison, a promotion the records describe as carrying responsibility for staff and approximately 1,151 male offenders.

GPS attributes 23 deaths to the facilities under his leadership: 8 at Telfair State Prison, 8 at Calhoun State Prison, 4 at Valdosta State Prison and 3 at Dodge State Prison. Those deaths span every cause category in the registry — homicide, natural/medical, overdose, accident and undetermined — and include the death of a 21-year-old at Dodge, a 24-year-old killed at Telfair, and a 27-year-old who died at Telfair after being held in an outdoor cage in extreme heat.

What happened on their watch

Dodge State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2022 (3 deaths). Douglas Anthony Forts died June 2, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 57, and an event record describes acute traumatic amputation of a finger sustained during a fight. Hezekiah Cuyler died September 14, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; Homicide, age 21, from blunt force trauma to the head. Arnold Merle Mcdonald died December 22, 2022, at Dodge State Prison; Natural/Medical, age 63.

Telfair State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2023 (8 deaths). Renel Janvier Whitfield died January 25, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Natural/Medical, age 31. Larry Adams died April 3, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Accident, age 53. Deahmoz Oshmic Floyd died April 18, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Homicide, age 29, from exsanguination caused by a stab wound to the neck — a claim filed against the state alleged he was stabbed by several prisoners when no prison staff were in the dorm. Clifford Lawrence Bagley died May 28, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Overdose, age 31. Juan Carlos Ramirez died July 20, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Other, age 27; an event record states officers placed him in a roughly 12-by-8.5-foot fenced outdoor cage with no shade while the heat index reached about 105°F, that he was left roughly five hours, and that he reached the hospital with an internal body temperature of 107°F. Walter Rakim Jordan died August 30, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Natural/Medical, age 53. Bobby Murray died December 21, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 51. Kwesi Jamal Stultz died December 22, 2023, at Telfair State Prison; Homicide, age 24, from multiple injuries to the head. Also during this posting, the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger records a state liability payout of $3,249,872.60 tied to Telfair State Prison and a 2023 incident, linked to a documented death record, and a separate $1,750 payout tied to Telfair in 2023. Sergeant Desiree Briley was sentenced to 18 months after pleading guilty to a role in a drug-trafficking network that smuggled methamphetamine into the prison, per records dated to 2023.

Calhoun State Prison — Warden, December 16, 2024 to May 31, 2026 (8 deaths). Charles Owens died January 6, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Unknown/Pending. Theodore Roundtree died January 19, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Homicide. Gary Bernard Duncan died May 4, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 67. Tyler Jackson died June 28, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 30. Thomas Haugabook died September 25, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Natural/Medical, age 67. Matthew Len Nutt died December 21, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; Homicide, age 37. Jimmy Mcmullen died January 28, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; Natural/Medical, age 67. Freddie Lee Patterson died May 13, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 51.

During this posting, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (June 19, 2025) that nearly two dozen Calhoun-related drug-smuggling cases leading to 33 arrests between 2018 and 2021 were dismissed by District Attorney Joe Mulholland because drug evidence was never submitted to the GBI crime lab, including the "Hot Pockets" case against officers Corlethia Lattimore and Imani Ferguson, dismissed in July 2023; the AJC also reported that GDC and the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department each failed to submit evidence in multiple cases. Records show GDC paid nearly $127,000 in the first three months of 2025 to Sheriff Josh Hilton and eight deputies for off-duty perimeter patrol. A grand jury heard 35 Calhoun-related cases on June 2, 2025, with more than 300 still pending. In January 2026 a federal jury convicted Joey Amour Jackson and Lance Riddle of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering over a nationwide operation run from the prison using contraband cell phones ($464,920); GDC installed a Managed Access System at Calhoun in mid-2025, after that operation, as part of a $50 million statewide deployment across 34 prisons. Reports naming Jackson describe 87 lifers transferred out of Calhoun over three months ending March 2026, 79.3% to Level 5 close-security facilities, including 36 in the final week of March and 82-year-old John Morgan Coleman's transfer to Hancock State Prison.

Federal findings aired by WALB in February 2026, while Jackson was Warden, alleged that GDC underreports homicides (6 reported versus at least 18 documented internally in the first five months of 2024); that fewer than 10% of fights and 6% of weapons incidents were forwarded for investigation; that EMS responses were delayed an average of 30 minutes; that staff failed classification procedures contributing to a 2022 Calhoun homicide; and that an incarcerated person died of dehydration after staff shut off his water and withheld meals for two days. Family allegations reported by WALB state Willie Andrew Willis Jr. was thrown from a balcony and waited nearly an hour for airlift. GPS case submissions from April 2026 describe a stabbing in Calhoun's solitary unit requiring emergency evacuation and a prisoner with burns requiring outside medical transport.

Valdosta State Prison — Warden from June 1, 2026 (4 deaths). Antavious Bailey died June 21, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 40. Steven Bryant died June 23, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 49; GDC's Office of Professional Standards was investigating as standard procedure, with autopsies by the GBI crime lab. Ramon Daniel Ortiz died July 4, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 33. James Edward Loren died August 13, 2026, at Valdosta State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 54. WRDW reported (July 23, 2026) an inmate allegation of poor living conditions and GDC's response that a viral TikTok video of a flooded cell was staged. A former supervisor, commenting publicly on a GPS story (July 20, 2026), alleged understaffing and that he faced repeated discipline after refusing to falsify staffing records. GPS case submissions describe a June 2026 death with bleeding from the head, cause unconfirmed, and gang-related violence between rival groups that reportedly spilled into another prison and placed multiple facilities on modified movement.

Litigation

• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025, terminated March 30, 2026; no outcome amount recorded.
• Daker v. Ward, No. 7:20-cv-00113 (GAMD), filed June 11, 2020, terminated November 3, 2021; no outcome amount recorded.

Sources

• GPS death registry — cause and age listings for the 23 deaths above
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Calhoun drug-case dismissals (June 19, 2025); DOJ findings and Calhoun homicides coverage (January 21, 2025)
• WALB — federal DOJ findings and Willis family allegations (February 13, 2026)
• WRDW — Valdosta flooded-cell allegation and GDC response (July 23, 2026)
• CourtListener dockets — Daker v. Oliver, Daker v. Ward
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — Telfair State Prison payouts
• GPS case submissions — Valdosta and Calhoun incident reports (2026); public comment on GPS staffing story (July 20, 2026)

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.