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Jester, Teketa
Status: active
Profile written May 31, 2026
Salary
$111,278
2025 · state payroll
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
Teketa Jester is a career Georgia Department of Corrections employee who began as a Sergeant at West Central Integrated Treatment Facility in 2003. After a decade-plus gap in GPS records, Jester returned as a Corrections Officer in 2015 before rising rapidly through supervisory ranks—Captain, Unit Manager, Deputy Warden—culminating in facility-lead Warden postings at two of the state’s most violence-plagued prisons. During their leadership-tenure assignments, GPS records attribute 38 deaths to Jester’s watch: 13 at Central State Prison and 25 at Baldwin State Prison. Two federal civil lawsuits name Jester as a defendant; one has been terminated and one remains pending.What happened on their watch
Deputy Warden, Central State Prison (Jan–Jun 2023)
Jester held the facility-deputy role at Central State Prison for six months. During this period, GPS records show three incarcerated men died at Central: Jerry Page, 73, on January 11; Trong Tran, 49, on January 12; and Clifford Booth, 71, on February 15. All three deaths carry the cause-category coding that GPS records associate with natural or undetermined causes. The same period saw intensifying public scrutiny: Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that severe staff shortages were allowing gang members to effectively run Georgia prisons, and advocates warned that understaffing endangered lives.Warden, Central State Prison (Jul 2023 – Dec 2024)
Jester was promoted to Warden of Central State Prison in July 2023. Over the next eighteen months, another ten deaths were recorded at the facility, bringing the total attributed to Central during Jester’s leadership-level postings to 13. At least three of those deaths were homicides by stabbing. In December 2023 alone, two men were stabbed to death: Hollis Bryant, 28, died on December 17 from sharp-force trauma to the left femoral artery—three other prisoners were criminally charged, per a DOJ report cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—and Marquis Johnson, 26, died on December 18 after being stabbed in the prison barbershop and suffering cardiac arrest, according to an AJC investigation. Less than a year later, on December 9, 2024, Leon Kelly, 47, was stabbed to death; 13WMAZ reported the coroner confirmed multiple stab wounds. A broader intel report from Georgia Public Broadcasting during this window described horrific prison conditions, with families left uninformed about deaths and incarcerated people left unprotected by inadequate staffing. In March 2025, after Jester had transitioned to Baldwin, news broke that three former Central State guards had been accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up.Warden, Baldwin State Prison (Jan 2024 – present)
Simultaneous with the tail end of Jester’s Central Wardenship, GPS records show Jester was appointed Warden of Baldwin State Prison in January 2024 and remains in that role. Twenty-five deaths are attributed to Baldwin during Jester’s facility-lead tenure there. The death sample includes several homicides: Vincent Dyer, 50, died August 21, 2024, from sharp-force chest trauma after a fight; Henry Finley died January 19, 2025, from multiple puncture wounds in what a death-certificate entry classifies as homicide; Isaac Robinson, 41, died January 2, 2026, in Baldwin’s K‑3 protective-custody building—a user report relayed by GPS alleges that staff routinely drag inmates who refuse housing back to their units, and that wardens watch it happen. The most recent recorded death is Ricky Mathis on April 5, 2026; the GDC Office of Professional Standards has opened an investigation and the body was sent to the GBI crime lab. The Baldwin tenure also overlaps with a cascade of systemic findings and allegations documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: a federal indictment of 23 Sex Money Murder gang defendants for murders, assaults, and drug trafficking; revelations that at least 360 Georgia prison employees had been arrested since 2018 for smuggling contraband; a guilty plea by former Baldwin Lieutenant Tracey Wise for smuggling K‑2‑laced papers for gang member Ryan Brandt; and a 2021 Department of Justice investigation into violence and conditions. In 2025, inmate Akeim Burgest filed a lawsuit alleging an officer shanked him at Baldwin while a lieutenant watched; a federal judge ordered all evidence preserved. Meanwhile, the intel events log records the death of Almir Harris, a 23-year-old prisoner with Type 1 diabetes, on December 31, 2024—his death is repeatedly flagged with the allegation that he died from diabetic ketoacidosis after essential medical care was denied.Litigation
- Davis v. Jester – Filed July 23, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (1:24-cv-03244). Terminated April 21, 2025; no settlement amount reported.
- Goetz v. Jester – Filed May 7, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (1:25-cv-00107). Status pending.
Sources
- GPS personnel and death-records database — career timeline, death totals, and individual decedent entries
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides investigation (Bryant, Johnson), Sex Money Murder indictment, contraband-arrest audit
- 13WMAZ — Leon Kelly homicide report, Baldwin shanking lawsuit (Burgest), Central State guard misconduct
- Georgia Public Broadcasting — staff shortages / conditions reporting at Central State
- CourtListener — Davis v. Jester and Goetz v. Jester docket records
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 2 | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Warden | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2024-11-16 → present |
| WARDEN 1 | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → 2024-11-15 |
| Warden | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2023-07-01 → 2024-12-15 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2023-06-30 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2017-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | WEST CENTRAL INTEGRATED TREATMENT FACILITY | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Sergeant | WEST CENTRAL INTEGRATED TREATMENT FACILITY | 2003-01-01 → 2003-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:25-cv-00107 | GASD | 2025-05-07 | pending |
| 1:24-cv-03244 | GAND | 2024-07-23 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
38 people died at facilities under Jester, Teketa's leadership.
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