Johnson, Curtis Tyrone

Tenure Summary

Curtis Tyrone Johnson's two decades inside the Georgia Department of Corrections trace an unusual arc: tactical and custody work first, then behavioral health, then back to custody command. He began on the Tactical (TACT) Squad at Autry State Prison in 2005, served as a Sergeant (2007) and CERT Team Sergeant (2013), then moved into counseling — Counselor (2014), Behavioral Health Counselor (2015), and Behavioral Health Counselor 3 at Albany Transitional Center (2016) — before four years as a Correctional Lieutenant from 2017 through 2020. He returned to behavioral health as a Counselor 3 from 2021, posted at Calhoun State Prison in 2023 and promoted to Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor effective November 22, 2023.

On January 1, 2025, Johnson moved into facility leadership at Calhoun, holding both Deputy Warden and Chief Counselor titles through May 15, 2025, and then Deputy Warden of Security from May 16, 2025 — the post in which GPS's registry records every one of the six deaths attributed to his leadership tenure, all at Calhoun State Prison. No lawsuit naming Johnson as a defendant appears in the records reviewed.

What happened on their watch

Calhoun State Prison — Deputy Warden / Chief Counselor, January 1, 2025 to May 15, 2025. Johnson held dual deputy-warden and chief-counselor titles during this four-and-a-half-month window. The six deaths GPS attributes to his leadership tenure are all recorded against his subsequent security post rather than this one.

Calhoun State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, from May 16, 2025. Six deaths in GPS's registry fall inside this tenure. Three are listed as Unknown/Pending, two as Natural/Medical, and one as Homicide:

• Tyler Jackson died June 28, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 30.
• Thomas Haugabook died September 25, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 67.
• Matthew Len Nutt died December 21, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 37.
• Jimmy Mcmullen died January 28, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical. He was 67.
• Freddie Lee Patterson died May 13, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 51.
• Randy Walton died August 21, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 67.

Broader systemic findings landed at Calhoun during this posting. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation, reported by WALB on February 13, 2026, concluded that Georgia's prison system "fails to provide incarcerated persons with the constitutionally required minimum of reasonable physical safety." Per WALB's account of the findings, federal investigators documented that staff at Calhoun failed to follow classification and housing procedures contributing to a 2022 homicide; that an incarcerated person at Calhoun died of dehydration after staff shut off his water, closed the door flap, and did not deliver meals for two days; that EMS responses to GDC prisons were delayed an average of 30 minutes; that fewer than 10% of fights, 23% of inmate-on-inmate assaults, and 6% of weapons incidents were forwarded for investigation; and that Georgia listed deaths internally documented as homicides as "unknown" in official mortality data. WALB also reported a Calhoun grievance alleging extortion and gang violence that was rejected as untimely with no follow-up, and recounted deaths at Calhoun predating Johnson's security tenure — Kenneth Piper, found dead in May 2024; DaQuavious Cachone Lackey, 21, stabbed to death by a cellmate; and Willie Andrew Willis Jr., who died after a fall his family alleges was a throwing from a balcony, with sepsis listed as the cause. None of those three appear among the six deaths GPS's registry attributes to Johnson's tenure.

Other matters reported at Calhoun during his security tenure include AJC reporting (June 19, 2025) that GDC failed to submit drug evidence in at least 11 dismissed cases involving 15 defendants, including five prison employees, and that the agency's public count of dismissed cases conflicted with court files; a grand jury that heard 35 Calhoun-related cases on June 2, 2025 while more than 300 remained pending; FOX 5 Atlanta and AJC reporting on contraband-cellphone fraud run from Calhoun, with inmates Lance Riddle and Joey Amour Jackson convicted federally of a jury-duty impersonation scam and Annie Ashley charged in Florida; the department's Managed Access System rollout across 34 prisons at $50 million capital cost; a transfer wave moving 87 lifers out of Calhoun, 79.3% to Level 5 close-security; and GPS case submissions describing a July 2026 stabbing and lockdown, an April 2026 assault requiring emergency transport, a September 2026 fight with two hospitalizations, and a September 2026 lockdown tied to a gang conflict.

Sources

• GPS death registry — six deaths at Calhoun State Prison during Johnson's Deputy Warden of Security tenure
• WALB — February 13, 2026 reporting on the Department of Justice findings and the Willis family
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Georgia Department of Corrections (findings as reported by WALB)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — June 19, 2025 on dismissed smuggling cases; September 28, 2026 on a Florida sheriff's scam allegations
• FOX 5 Atlanta — October 17, 2026 on jury-duty phone scam sentencings
• GPS case submissions — 2026 incident reports from Calhoun State Prison

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.