Johnson, Curtis Tyrone

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

The first death occurred on January 6, 2025: Charles Owens, who died from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm (cause category 6). On January 19, Theodore Roundtree was killed; the incident is classified as a homicide (cause category 3) with GPS notes citing “multiple stab wounds.” Three more deaths followed in the spring and summer: Gary Bernard Duncan, age 67, on May 4 (cause category 6); Tyler Jackson, 30, on June 28 (cause category 6); and Thomas Haugabook, 67, on September 25 (cause category 6). On December 21, Matthew Len Nutt, 37, died. A user report submitted to GPS describes the death as a “homicide in the hole”; the record shows cause category 3. The seventh death, Jimmy McMullen, 67, on January 28, 2026, was attributed to a long battle with cancer (cause category 1).

Johnson’s tenure unfolded against a backdrop of well-documented, systemic dysfunction at Calhoun. Although a U.S. Department of Justice investigation covered 2018–2023, its findings – released in 2026 – outlined persistent failures that shaped the prison’s environment: staff deliberately underreporting homicides, failure to follow classification and housing rules, and medical responses delayed by chronic understaffing. At Calhoun, the DOJ had flagged the February 2023 death of an incarcerated person from dehydration after staff allegedly cut off his water and food, as well as a 2022 homicide linked to improper cell-assignment practices. Those incidents predate Johnson’s leadership, yet the patterns they illustrated persisted. In early 2025, a grand jury heard 35 Calhoun‑related criminal cases while more than 300 remained pending, according to court officials. Meanwhile, major contraband operations continued: in January 2026, two prisoners were convicted of running a nationwide wire‑fraud and extortion scheme from inside the prison using smuggled cell phones. The scheme had been active before the facility installed a $50 million Managed Access System in mid‑2025 to block unauthorized phones. In early 2026, the prison also carried out a large-scale transfer of 87 lifers to higher-security institutions, a move some observers connected to escalating safety concerns.

Litigation

• Benvenutti v. Geico General Insurance Company Do Not Docket in This Case, No. 5:22‑cv‑00182 (M.D. Ga., filed May 11, 2022, terminated May 30, 2024)
• United States v. Johnson, No. 2:19‑mj‑00032 (S.D. Ga., filed Dec. 6, 2019, terminated Dec. 10, 2019)
• Beatovic Curtis v. Ethicon Inc, No. 1:17‑cv‑04706 (N.D. Ga., filed Nov. 22, 2017, pending)
• Curling v. Raffensperger, No. 1:17‑cv‑02989 (N.D. Ga., filed Aug. 8, 2017, terminated Mar. 31, 2025)
• Wby Inc v. Dekalb County Georgia, No. 1:14‑cv‑00253 (N.D. Ga., filed Jan. 28, 2014, terminated Feb. 12, 2018)
• Jackson v. Healthport Technologies Llc, No. 1:11‑cv‑01687 (N.D. Ga., filed May 24, 2011, terminated Oct. 5, 2011)
• Lattimer v. United States, No. 4:10‑cv‑00081 (S.D. Ga., filed Apr. 8, 2010, terminated Nov. 19, 2010)

Sources

• GPS records – death counts, incident details, and personnel data for Curtis Tyrone Johnson at Calhoun State Prison.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution – multiple reports on DOJ findings, underreporting of homicides, failure to follow housing procedures, and the dismissal of drug smuggling cases at Calhoun.
• WALB – family allegations of delayed medical care after a balcony fall at Calhoun; DOJ findings on systemic violence, deliberate indifference, and evidence-handling failures.
• CourtListener – dockets for the lawsuits naming Johnson as a defendant.
• GPS incident submissions – Telegram‑relayed reports of stabbings and violence at Calhoun in 2026.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 31, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.