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Jester, Teketa
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 2026
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 has served in the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2003, working her way up from line-staff roles at West Central Integrated Treatment Facility to the top leadership positions at two of the state’s most violent prisons. By 2023 she had risen to Deputy Warden, then Warden, at Central State Prison, and in 2024 she simultaneously held the Warden title at Baldwin State Prison, where she remains in 2025. GPS records attribute 41 deaths to facility-leader tenures held by Jester — 13 at Central State Prison and 28 at Baldwin State Prison — during a period in which both facilities were repeatedly cited by the Department of Justice, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and family advocates for systemic violence, staff corruption, and medical neglect.What happened on their watch
Jester entered the facility-leadership tier on January 1, 2023, as Deputy Warden at Central State Prison. During her six months in that role, three incarcerated men died at the facility, as documented by GPS records: Clifford Oby Booth, 71; Trong Nghia Tran, 49; and Jerry H. Page, 73. She was promoted to Warden of Central State on July 1, 2023, and remained in that post through December 15, 2024 — a period in which at least ten additional deaths occurred. Among them were two homicides in December 2023: Hollis Alan Bryant, 28, died of sharp-force trauma to the left femoral artery on December 17, and Marquis L. Johnson, 26, died of cardiac arrest secondary to a stabbing he received in the prison barbershop on December 18. According to the DOJ report, three other prisoners were criminally charged in connection with Bryant’s death. On December 9, 2024, Leon Culver Kelly, 47, was stabbed to death at Central; the coroner confirmed multiple stab wounds, per 13WMAZ. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s homicide investigation documented both the Johnson and Bryant killings. While Jester held the Central State wardenship, the facility also saw staff arrests — including a guard charged with falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees in December 2025, and three former guards accused of beating an incarcerated man and attempting a cover-up in March 2025 — though these postdate her direct tenure at the facility. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that severe staff shortages in 2023 had allowed gang members to effectively run state prisons.Jester’s oversight at Baldwin State Prison began on January 1, 2024, when she took the title of Warden 1, a role she held concurrently with her Central State post for most of that year. She became the sole Warden there on November 16, 2024, and remains in charge as Warden 2 in 2025. GPS records show 28 deaths attributed to her Baldwin leadership tenures. Four deaths occurred in 2024 before she assumed the Warden 1 title — but early in her leadership, on August 21, 2024, Vincent Reshad Dyer, 50, died from sharp-force chest trauma in a homicide involving a fight and contraband. Other 2024 deaths under her watch include James Leon Floyd, 49; Michael Jerome Brown, 52; and Al Mir Harris, 23, who died on December 31. Intel events indicate Harris, an autistic man with type 1 diabetes, died from diabetic ketoacidosis after allegedly being denied essential medical care at Baldwin. In January 2025, per the GDC-released mortality report, Henry Finley died from homicide due to multiple puncture wounds, and Walter Brown died from metastatic adenocarcinoma. The pace of deaths continued into 2026: Ricky Carroll Mathis, 38, died on April 5; the GDC reported no signs of altercation and the GBI is investigating. Broader patterns also marked Jester’s tenure: the AJC uncovered that Lt. Tracey Wise smuggled K-2-laced papers for a Bloods gang member at Baldwin in 2021, and a 2020 lawsuit alleged Joshua Emanuel Williams was negligently placed in a cell with a violent inmate, leading to his homicide. In 2026, 13WMAZ reported on a lawsuit by Akeim Burgest alleging an officer shanked him while a lieutenant watched, prompting a federal judge to order preservation of all records.
Litigation
No lawsuits in the GPS database name Teketa Jester as a defendant; the lawsuits and settlements listed in the intel feed involve GDC staffers and incidents at facilities she later led, but she is not individually named.Sources
- GPS records — death-attribution totals and per-facility counts for leadership tenures
- 13WMAZ — reporting on the Leon Kelly homicide at Central State Prison and the Burgest shanking lawsuit at Baldwin State Prison
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation covering Hollis Alan Bryant and Marquis L. Johnson deaths; reporting on staff contraband arrests and Lt. Tracey Wise
- GDC official mortality report (January 2025) — cause-of-death entries for Henry Finley and Walter Brown
- Georgia Public Broadcasting — reporting on staff shortages and violence at Central State Prison (December 2023)
- Department of Justice — report cited by AJC on criminal charges in the Bryant homicide
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 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
41 people died at facilities under Jester, Teketa's leadership.
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