Jester, Teketa

Tenure Summary

Teketa Jester's GDC career spans more than two decades: sergeant at West Central Integrated Treatment Facility in 2003, correctional officer there in 2015, correctional captain (2016), correctional unit manager (2017–2020), and deputy warden in 2021–2022 at a facility not named in the records. In 2023 the positions table lists two overlapping deputy postings — Deputy Warden at Central State Prison and Deputy Warden of Security at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) — both dated January 1 to June 30, 2023. Jester is listed as Warden at Central State from July 1, 2023, and as a Baldwin State Prison warden from January 1, 2024 ("Warden 1"), with a further Warden entry from November 16, 2024, a CY2025 "Warden 2" posting at Baldwin, and single-day entitlement entries (November 22, 2023; August 27, 2026).

GPS attributes 43 deaths to facilities during Jester's leadership tenures: 19 at Baldwin State Prison, 14 at GDCP, and 10 at Central State Prison. GPS records list no lawsuit naming Jester as a defendant and no settlements. The positions table shows an unresolved overlap — a Baldwin warden posting beginning January 1, 2024, while the Central State warden entry runs to December 15, 2024; GPS records do not reconcile that conflict, and the deaths below are reported as filed.

What happened on their watch

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, January 1–June 30, 2023. GPS attributes 14 deaths at GDCP to this tenure. The sampled decedents range in age from 27 to 65 and the records list no cause detail for most. Two causes are documented by the AJC's Georgia prison homicides investigation: Elmer W. Pless, 65, died May 15, 2023, of strangulation; Carrell D. Johnson, 32, died June 6, 2023, of chopping injuries to the head and sharp-force injuries to the torso. Billy Joe Farmer, 42, died March 25, 2023, eight days after arriving at GDCP. The GBI medical examiner certified the manner of death as suicide; per GPS records, Farmer's wife disputes that finding and asserts he was killed (submission GPS-2026-2108C). GPS records state that GDC Incident Report 364661 corroborates that Farmer reported a threat to his life to staff minutes before his death and that help was deferred, that the death was not video recorded, and that it was not forwarded for investigation. Later-dated reporting on GDCP overcrowding (4,540 people in a facility designed for 800) and contraband prosecutions postdate this tenure.

Central State Prison — Warden, July 1, 2023 onward. GPS attributes 10 deaths at Central State. The AJC investigation documents two homicides weeks apart: Hollis Alan Bryant, 28, died December 17, 2023, of sharp-force trauma to the left femoral artery, with three other prisoners criminally charged; Marquis Lamar Johnson, 26, was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8 and died December 18 after cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing. Leon Culver Kelly, 47, was stabbed to death December 9, 2024; the coroner confirmed multiple stab wounds, per 13WMAZ. In December 2023 Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that six people had died in Georgia state prisons in the prior month, and that severe staff shortages had allowed gang members to effectively run facilities.

Baldwin State Prison — Warden, 2024–2026. GPS attributes 19 deaths at Baldwin, the sample spanning December 31, 2024, to July 24, 2026, with decedents aged 23 to 87. GDC's January 2025 mortality release — the one month the department published populated causes — records Henry Finley's death as "Homicide due to Multiple Puncture Wounds" and Walter Brown's as "Metastatic Adenocarcinoma." Ricky Carroll Mathis, 38, died April 5, 2026; GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation and reported no signs of altercation. For Isaac Evan Robinson, 41, who died January 2, 2026, GPS records note the cause came from a prisoner report, not GDC. Facility-level litigation during these years includes a federal suit filed April 13, 2026, in the Middle District of Georgia by Gary Moore, alleging four Baldwin officers failed to protect Vincent Dyer, who had reported threats and asked to be moved; a February 2026 suit by Akeim Burgest alleging an officer shanked him while a lieutenant watched; and AJC-reported suits alleging Joshua Emanuel Williams was negligently housed with an inmate who had previously stabbed others and that Jamari McClinton's protective-custody status was removed on transfer. AJC reporting also documents Baldwin officers prosecuted for contraband (Tracey Wise, Kierra Williams, Shounnette Wooten) in connection with an alleged enterprise led by inmate Ryan Brandt.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation; prison-system-failures and gang-contraband coverage (Baldwin, Central State, GDCP)
• 13WMAZ — Leon Kelly stabbing; Vincent Dyer and Akeim Burgest lawsuits; Central State coverage
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — December 27, 2023 report on prison deaths and staffing
• WGXA — federal drone-contraband case
• GDC official mortality releases — January 2025 PDF; CY2024 Mortality Report (ORR R018717-012425)
• GPS death registry and intel reports — decedent records, GDC Incident Report 364661 summary, family submission GPS-2026-2108C

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 13, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.