Johnson, Curtis Tyrone

Tenure Summary

Curtis Tyrone Johnson’s GDC record begins in 2005 with a TACT squad posting at Autry State Prison, followed by roles including sergeant, CERT Team Sergeant, counselor, behavioral health counselor, and correctional lieutenant across multiple years. In 2025, GPS records place him at Calhoun State Prison as Deputy Warden and Chief Counselor from January 1 to May 15, then as Deputy Warden of Security from May 16, 2025 onward. GPS records attribute five deaths to Johnson’s facility-deputy tenure at Calhoun State Prison. GPS records list no lawsuits naming Johnson as a defendant.

What happened on their watch

Calhoun State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (May 16, 2025 onward)

GPS records attribute five deaths at Calhoun State Prison to Johnson’s tenure as Deputy Warden of Security:

• Tyler Jackson, 30, died June 28, 2025. GPS records list cause category 6 with no additional notes.
• Thomas Haugabook, 67, died September 25, 2025. A Calhoun County death certificate obtained by GPS lists the manner as natural, caused by intracranial hemorrhage due to a ruptured cerebral artery; an autopsy was performed.
• Matthew Len Nutt, 37, died December 21, 2025. The death certificate lists the manner as homicide, with cause of blunt force trauma from an assault by another individual; an autopsy was performed. A user report to GPS described the death as a homicide in the hole at Calhoun.
• Jimmy McMullen, 67, died January 28, 2026. The death certificate lists the manner as natural, caused by pancreatic cancer; no autopsy was performed. GPS records include a social media note that McMullen had battled cancer for a long time.
• Freddie Lee Patterson, 51, died May 13, 2026. GPS records list cause category 6 with no additional notes.

Across the five records, ages span 30 to 67 and include two coroner-certified natural deaths, one coroner-certified homicide, and two deaths with only GPS cause-category codes.

During the same posting, broader facility-level findings and allegations are documented in external reporting, some describing earlier periods at Calhoun. According to a DOJ investigation reported by WALB and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Calhoun State Prison staff failed to follow classification and housing assignment procedures, contributing to a 2022 homicide; staff shut off an incarcerated person’s water and did not deliver meals for two days, causing an earlier dehydration death; and GDC systematically underreported prison homicides. WALB also reported a family allegation that Willie Andrew Willis Jr. was thrown from a balcony and that nearly an hour passed before he was airlifted for treatment. The AJC reported that drug-smuggling cases tied to Calhoun State Prison and the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department were dismissed after evidence was not submitted to the GBI crime lab. These are documented allegations and systemic findings about the facility, not attributions of personal responsibility to Johnson.

GPS records also log facility events during Johnson’s deputy warden tenure: the mid-2025 installation of a Managed Access System at Calhoun at a $50 million capital cost, the early 2026 systematic transfer of 87 lifers out of Calhoun to close-security facilities, and a wire-fraud conviction involving two men accused of operating from the prison with contraband cell phones.

Sources

• GPS personnel records and death records, including Calhoun County death certificates obtained via open-records request
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Georgia Department of Corrections, as referenced in WALB and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Calhoun State Prison smuggling cases, dismissed drug charges, and DOJ-identified classification failures
• WALB — reporting on the Willie Andrew Willis Jr. family allegations and DOJ findings

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 16, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.