Jester, Teketa

Tenure Summary

Teketa Jester began her GDC career as a Sergeant at West Central Integrated Treatment Facility in 2003, returned there as a Corrections Officer in 2015, and steadily advanced through supervisory ranks — Captain (2016), Unit Manager (2017–2020), and Deputy Warden (2021–2023) — before reaching facility-lead authority. GPS records show Jester held the Deputy Warden role at Central State Prison from at least January 2023 through June 2023, was promoted to Warden there from July 2023 through late 2024, and has served as Warden at Baldwin State Prison from January 2024 to the present. Across her facility-lead tenures at those two prisons, GPS records attribute at least 35 distinct deaths (deduplicating records that appear under multiple role titles for the same incident), spanning homicides, natural-cause deaths, and cases still under investigation. Two federal civil lawsuits name Jester as a defendant, both filed during her Baldwin State Prison wardenship.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden (January–June 2023)

Jester held the Deputy Warden role at Central State Prison during the first half of 2023, a period GPS records show as part of what GDC's own data later characterized as the most violent year for Georgia prisons since before the COVID-19 pandemic, per Georgia Public Broadcasting. Three deaths are attributed to this posting: Jerry H. Page (age 73, January 11), Trong Nghia Tran (age 49, January 12), and Clifford Oby Booth (age 71, February 15), all classified as cause category 6 (natural causes). GPB reported that severe staff shortages during this period allowed gang members to effectively run Georgia state prisons, contributing to rising violence and deaths, and that families of people who died in custody were routinely left without information about what happened to their loved ones.

Central State Prison — Warden (July 2023–late 2024)

Jester assumed the Warden role at Central State Prison in July 2023. GPS records attribute at least nine deaths during this posting. The most acute cluster came in December 2023: Hollis Alan Bryant, 28, died December 17 from sharp force trauma to the left femoral artery; according to the AJC's Georgia Prison Homicides investigation, three other prisoners were criminally charged in connection with his death, and a DOJ report is cited as the underlying source. Marquis Lamar Johnson, 26, was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8, hospitalized, returned to the facility, and died December 18 after cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing, per the AJC and GPS event records. Joseph W. Akins, 66, died December 25. Earlier in Jester's warden tenure, Leonardo L. Llamas, 59, died September 23, 2023. Into 2024, deaths at Central State Prison during Jester's continued warden assignment included Adel Eackles (64, February 10), DeAnthony Terrell Fleming (37, February 14), Jeremiah Eugene Taylor (41, April 21), Thomas Dewayne Kiker (49, June 22), and Anthony Le Ray Baugher (68, October 26) — all classified as cause category 6. Leon Culver Kelly, 47, died December 9, 2024 from multiple stab wounds, per 13WMAZ, which confirmed the cause through the coroner. A separate 13WMAZ report alleges that three former prison guards were accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up in March 2025, an incident tied to Central State Prison during the period Jester was transitioning out.

Systemic context overlapping this tenure: GPB reported that prison conditions were described as horrific, with inadequate staffing endangering incarcerated people's lives. A GPS intel report (source unattributed) references an AI-detected Telegram tip about an incident involving a man in his 40s at Central State Prison in April 2026, details still incomplete.

Baldwin State Prison — Warden (January 2024–present)

GPS records show Jester simultaneously held a Warden 1 designation at Baldwin State Prison beginning January 2024 while still listed at Central State Prison, and has continued as Warden at Baldwin through at least 2025. Deaths attributed to her Baldwin tenure number at least 24 distinct individuals across cause categories 3 (homicide/undetermined) and 6 (natural causes).

Homicide-category deaths include: Isaac Evan Robinson, 41 (January 2, 2026), whose death in the K-3 protective custody building prompted a social media account (Georgia Prisons Exposed) to allege that officers routinely drag inmates back to housing under physical force while wardens observe; Henry Finley (January 19, 2025), whose death certificate lists homicide due to multiple puncture wounds, per GPS records; Vincent Reshad Dyer, 50 (August 21, 2024), whose incident report data shows sharp force chest trauma, homicide, fight, and contraband involvement, per GPS event records; and a John Doe (February 18, 2026) and Ricky Mathis (April 5, 2026) whose causes remain pending — GDC reported no signs of altercation in the Mathis case, and the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation with the body sent to the GBI crime lab, per GPS event records. GPS notes it is still awaiting a response from the prison regarding Mathis.

Natural-cause deaths during Jester's Baldwin tenure include Melvin A. Greene (80, January 15, 2026), Ronald Gene McGhee (66, March 21, 2026), Derek Oneal Boyd (68, March 21, 2026), Leroy Keye (71, March 4, 2026), Walter Brown (January 22, 2025, metastatic adenocarcinoma per GPS records), Mark Tyrone Miller (62, February 7, 2025), Douglas Jerome Salter (87, March 27, 2025), Cedric Phillips (48, September 14, 2025), Jack Eubanks (73, October 24, 2025), Al Mir Harris (23, December 31, 2024), Clint Donovan Shelley (50, January 17, 2024), William D. Moore (66, March 13, 2024), Anthony Raynard Wynn (62, April 15, 2024), Lonnie Inman (77, April 25, 2024), Tyrone Eugene Level (50, May 3, 2024), Fred Leon Lewis (63, June 24, 2024), Richard Lee Davenport (64, September 2, 2024), Jerry W. Hulsey (75, September 19, 2024), Michael Jerome Brown (52, October 8, 2024), and James Leon Floyd (49, October 10, 2024).

Systemic allegations at Baldwin during Jester's tenure are substantial. According to the AJC, a lawsuit alleges Joshua Emanuel Williams was negligently placed in a cell with an inmate who had previously stabbed other inmates (Williams died July 3, 2020, predating Jester's warden role but the allegation is indexed to the facility). The AJC also reports that Jamari McClinton's protective custody status was removed upon transfer from Phillips State Prison, leaving him exposed to gang threats that led to his death — an allegation tied to Baldwin. A November 2023 federal indictment charged 23 defendants, including 11 incarcerated individuals and three former correctional officers, in connection with the Sex Money Murder gang's alleged decade-long criminal enterprise operating inside and outside multiple Georgia prisons, including Baldwin, per GPS event records and the AJC. The AJC reports that former Baldwin Lt. Tracey Wise admitted to smuggling K-2-laced papers for Bloods gang member Ryan Brandt three times, receiving $2,500 per delivery; Wise pleaded guilty and received five years' probation. Former officers Kierra Williams and Shounnette Wooten are also alleged by the AJC to have been connected to contraband smuggling at Baldwin. The AJC's broader investigation found at least 360 Georgia prison employees arrested since 2018 on contraband-related charges. Advocates allege violent conditions, understaffing, and medical neglect systemwide, per the AJC, and protested outside the Governor's Mansion in October 2023 over those conditions.

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Litigation

• Davis v. Jester, No. 1:24-cv-03244 (N.D. Ga.), filed July 23, 2024; terminated April 21, 2025. No outcome amount recorded in GPS records.
• Goetz v. Jester, No. 1:25-cv-00107 (S.D. Ga.), filed May 7, 2025; pending as of GPS records. No outcome amount recorded.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides investigation (deaths of Bryant, Johnson, McClinton, Williams); Sex Money Murder gang federal indictment coverage; Tracey Wise contraband conviction; contraband arrest investigation (360+ employees); advocate protest coverage; Baldwin State Prison violence reporting
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — December 2023 reporting on six deaths in Georgia prisons in one month; staff shortage and gang-control allegations; family notification failures
• 13WMAZ — Leon Kelly stabbing death, December 2024; former guards accused of beating inmate and cover-up, March 2025
• GPS records / GPS event database — Deaths of Dyer, Finley, Robinson, Mathis, and all cause-category-6 decedents; Mathis GDC/GBI investigation; Baldwin escape of William Knight; Fredrick Spears homicide; officer Clark killing; Bedarius Clark and McClinton homicides; DOJ investigation announcement (2021); Sex Money Murder cell stabbing incident
• CourtListener / federal court records — Davis v. Jester, 1:24-cv-03244 (GAND); Goetz v. Jester, 1:25-cv-00107 (GASD)
• Social Media (Georgia Prisons Exposed) — Unverified firsthand account regarding Isaac Evan Robinson death and alleged officer conduct in K-3 building, as reported in GPS user submission GPS-DEATH-2026-A5CA7

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.