Jones, Deserre'

Tenure Summary

Deserre' Jones began her GDC career in administrative and financial roles before transitioning to facility leadership. GPS records show she has served continuously as Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison from 2018 through at least 2025 — a span of roughly seven years in a facility-deputy accountability role. During that tenure, GPS records attribute 91 deaths at Macon State Prison to her posting period, spanning cause categories that include homicide, suicide, and undetermined/other causes. No lawsuits naming Jones as a defendant appear in GPS records, but a federal lawsuit and multiple family allegations documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution concern deaths that occurred while she held the Deputy Warden role.

What Happened on Their Watch

Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2018–present

GPS records attribute 91 deaths at Macon State Prison during Jones's tenure as Deputy Warden. Of those, at least 30 are categorized as homicides (cause category 3), at least 3 as suicides (cause category 2), and the remainder as other or undetermined causes (cause category 6). The homicide deaths span the full tenure period, beginning with Johnny Eugene Young (age 24, January 27, 2020) and continuing through Marquis Young (age 37, October 22, 2025) and Eric Roberts (age 33, February 9, 2026), whose death the GDC Office of Professional Standards was investigating as of GPS records. According to the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, documented causes of death in the homicide cases include sharp force trauma, stab wounds to the neck and chest, blunt force head trauma, ligature strangulation, and asphyxia. Two suicides recorded in August 2025 — Calvin Earl Noble (age 25) and Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (age 55) — are noted in GPS case management reports, with Noble's death described as a hanging in a single-occupancy cell on tier 2.

Several individual deaths generated specific allegations. According to the AJC, the mother of Carrington Juwon Frye — stabbed to death on March 20, 2020 — alleged her son bled for more than half an hour before help arrived. A federal lawsuit, reported by the AJC, alleges Bobby Edward Lee Jr. (strangled July 13, 2020) was placed in a cell with a convicted murderer despite his pleas for protection, and that no officers responded until after he was dead; the AJC further reports officials were aware the cellmate had previously killed a fellow parolee. According to the AJC, Kendrick Malik Brown's mother alleged he was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous shortly before his scheduled release; Brown died of blunt force head injury on October 16, 2022. A March 2023 mass stabbing incident — in which Carlos Sabino Ramos died and eleven prisoners were stabbed — is described in a DOJ report cited by the AJC as involving four gang members who ran past an officer to the kitchen area, indicating a failure to prevent the assault. Around June 2024, GPS records document an incident in which inmate Glen Christian Krauch was allegedly tortured and left for dead under a bunk for approximately three weeks. According to the AJC, Sanchez Jackson (stabbed to death June 18–19, 2025, confirmed by family and reported by 13WMAZ, WGXA, and 41NBC) had allegedly told his sister that as many as four men were packed into one cell rotating spots to sleep; the AJC further reports Jackson's family received only a brief call from the warden with a follow-up that never came, and that an investigator gave "short and vague" answers.

Systemic conditions at Macon State Prison during Jones's tenure are documented in multiple AJC reports. According to the AJC, as of October 2024 approximately two-thirds of correctional officer positions at Macon State Prison were unfilled, and the Bibb County coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. The AJC further reports that low staffing allows gang influence to expand, that most locks at the facility do not function, and that prisoners can fabricate weapons from wall and ceiling materials. GDC statewide, the AJC reports, investigated a record 66 homicides and 332 total prisoner deaths in 2024 — a roughly 27 percent increase over the prior year. In January 2025, Governor Brian Kemp proposed a $600 million investment in Georgia prisons to address staffing, emergency repairs, and infrastructure, per GPS records. A new warden, Gregory Sampson, was appointed at Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025, per GPS records; Jones's Deputy Warden salary record continues through 2025.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; reporting on Macon State Prison homicides, staffing vacancies, and systemic conditions (multiple articles, 2020–2025)
• 13WMAZ, WGXA, 41NBC — reporting on Sanchez Jackson stabbing death, June 2025; Antony Knight death, December 2024; Johnathan Vann death, November 2024
• GPS Records / GPS Case Management — deaths of Calvin Earl Noble, Cassiem Mahlon Johnson, Marquis Young, Pierre Cedric Scott, Xavier Anthony Adams, Lukas Lance Way, D'Andrius Brown, Marquel Smith, David Gill, Jonathan Mitchell, James McDougal, and Eric Roberts
• DOJ report (as cited by AJC) — March 2023 mass stabbing incident; Taurean Hardy cellmate altercation, December 2023
• Solitary Watch — allegation that authorities cut hot water to prisoners at Macon State Prison during the 2010 strike
• Federal lawsuit (as reported by AJC) — Bobby Edward Lee Jr. strangulation death, July 2020

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.