Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Johnson, Jacinta Booker
Johnson, Jacinta Booker
Status: active
Profile written August 9, 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
Jacinta Booker Johnson began their career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer in 2015 and rose through the ranks, serving as a sergeant and then transferring to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) in 2019. At GDCP, Johnson held progressively senior supervisory roles: lieutenant (2019–2020), captain (2021–2023), unit manager (2024–2025), and since April 2026, deputy warden of security. GPS records attribute three in-custody deaths to Johnson’s tenure as deputy warden at GDCP, all occurring within a two-week span in June 2026. No lawsuits name Johnson as a defendant.What happened on their watch
Johnson worked at GDCP continuously from 2019 onward, a period during which the facility’s systemic strains were widely documented. According to multiple Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, the prison holds roughly 4,540 people—568% of its original design capacity of 800—and has suffered from severe overcrowding, widespread infrastructure vandalism, and chronic security lapses. Contraband cell phones and homemade weapons proliferated; one newly convicted man, Shane Tassi, was photographed inside the prison with a shank and a phone within days of arrival, and in another case officers seized 35 cellphones from a single incarcerated person. An officer admitted to accepting thousands of dollars to tip off a death-row prisoner about upcoming shakedowns. During Johnson’s years as captain and unit manager, multiple deaths occurred at GDCP, including a suicide in a mental-health dorm in April 2023, a strangulation homicide in May 2023, a fatal sharp-force assault in June 2023, and the stabbing death of Brandon Trace Burrell in January 2024. An incident in April 2024 left prisoner Ronald Allen with severe frostbite injuries after he was ordered to separate frozen beef patties with inadequate protective equipment; Allen later filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging medical neglect led to the amputation of his left hand and permanent damage to his right hand.The three deaths that GPS directly attributes to Johnson’s leadership tier occurred after they became deputy warden of security in April 2026. On June 14, Phillip Dwayne Rogers, 66, died (cause category 6). On June 26, Mark Rutledge, 72, died; a user-submitted witness account cited by GPS states that “this man was beaten at GDCP on Father’s Day,” and the GDC monthly mortality report confirmed the death though it did not provide a cause. The GDC’s Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation. On June 27, Leonel Cedillo, 42, died, also classified under cause category 6. In the broader timeline, a previously unreported death of an unidentified young man by electrocution in an open dorm was filed on July 13, 2026, though it is not yet attributed to a specific leadership tier.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel positions, death-attribution data, and witness account for Mark Rutledge
- GDC June 2026 Monthly Mortality Report — confirmation of Mark Rutledge’s death
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reports on GDCP overcapacity (568% of design), infrastructure vandalism, contraband cell phones and weapons, officer corruption (Vera Jackson), inmate-on-inmate violence (Brandon Burrell stabbing, Charles Broady razor attack), and the Shane Tassi shank/phone incident
- Federal court records — Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections civil rights lawsuit (filed March 2026) concerning medical neglect and hand amputation
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden of Security | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2026-04-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CSM Correctional Captain | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | 2016-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
3 people died at facilities under Johnson, Jacinta Booker's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-27 | LEONEL CEDILLO | 42 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-06-26 | Mark Rutledge | 72 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-06-14 | PHILLIP DWAYNE ROGERS | 66 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
Submit a correction
If you are the named individual or an authorized representative and dispute information on this page, submit details below. Substantiated corrections are applied promptly. Disputes that remain unresolved are flagged on the profile.