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Jones, Deshawn B
Status: active
Profile written June 7, 2026
Salary
$122,163
2025 · state payroll
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
Deshawn B. Jones rose through the Georgia Department of Corrections from entry-level officer to facility lead, holding warden or superintendent positions at three state prisons since 2020. GPS records attribute 149 deaths during his leadership tenures: 6 at Rutledge State Prison, 14 at Phillips State Prison, and 129 at Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP), where he has served as warden since January 2024. Federal civil rights lawsuits naming Jones as a defendant began accumulating during his ASMP posting, and the state has paid millions of dollars in settlements for in-custody deaths at the facility, though some of those deaths occurred before Jones arrived.What happened on their watch
Rutledge State Prison (2020–2021)
Jones began as Correctional Superintendent in 2020 and became Warden 1 in 2021. GPS records list six deaths attributed to Rutledge during this period. Five of the deaths carry a cause category of 6, indicating an unspecified or pending determination. One death — that of Curtis Mincey, 74 — was classified as a homicide; an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation documented blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and extremities. Mincey’s sister later filed a lawsuit alleging he suffered from mental illness but did not receive appropriate medical or psychological assistance, according to the AJC. During Jones’s time at Rutledge, the AJC also reported that a sergeant at the prison was subsequently accused of providing contraband to prisoners in exchange for money, though the report did not indicate whether Jones was aware of that conduct.Phillips State Prison (2022–2023)
Jones served as Warden 1 in 2022 and Warden 2 in 2023. The facility recorded 14 deaths during his tenure. Six of those were homicides: Quafabian Melik McBride (19, stab wound to chest), Jacob Daniels (18, stab wounds to neck, shoulder, and arm), Sidney Neally (22, stab wounds to torso), Jamal Cymonne Johnson (32, stab wounds to head), Alim Racheed Lovett (33, stab wounds of the back), and Arthur Wimbush (46, blunt force trauma with fracture of thyroid cartilage). An AJC investigation alleged that officers arranged for McBride to be brought to the lockdown unit on the day he was killed in a gang-related stabbing, and separately that a prisoner named Dave Stone was assaulted in a mental health ward with pipes. A lawsuit, Leaphart v. Jones, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in May 2023 and was terminated in March 2024; court records do not detail the case’s substance or outcome. The dense cluster of young prisoners killed by sharp or blunt weapons marked a notable pattern of violence at Phillips during Jones’s watch.Augusta State Medical Prison (2024–present)
Jones became Warden 3 at ASMP in January 2024, and GPS records show 129 deaths under his facility leadership. The list includes multiple homicides: Kendius Hill (anoxic brain injury and septic shock, ruled homicide, January 2025), Jerry Merritt (stabbed by another prisoner, January 2026), and a May 2026 incident in D2 unit that left one person dead and one hospitalized. A DOJ investigation found that Rodarick Lee Hayes, who died at ASMP in May 2024, had been attacked on multiple occasions before his death, pointing to what the department described as a failure to protect him. The AJC reported allegations that a correctional officer aided in the attack that led to Hayes’s death, and that guards moved a prisoner with a history of strangulation into a cell, resulting in a homicide later the same day. Broader GDC-wide revelations — including a 2024 DOJ report describing horrific violence, sexual assaults, and gang-run prisons enabled by a culture of indifference — overlapped with Jones’s tenure. Although two high-profile deaths at ASMP occurred years earlier, the state paid $5 million in January 2025 to settle the family’s lawsuit over Thomas Henry Giles’s smoke-inhalation death, and $550,000 for Jimmy Lucero’s starvation in solitary confinement, both settled while Jones was warden. Several federal lawsuits naming Jones as a defendant remain pending, and a federal judge held the GDC in contempt for defying court orders, an environment that framed conditions at the facility.Litigation
- Leaphart v. Jones, No. 1:23-cv-02227 (N.D. Ga., filed May 17, 2023, terminated Mar. 28, 2024). Outcome not publicly recorded.
- Doe v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:23-cv-05578 (N.D. Ga., filed Dec. 6, 2023) – pending.
- Graham v. Jones, No. 1:24-cv-05022 (N.D. Ga., filed Nov. 1, 2024) – pending.
- Ryhme v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:24-cv-04156 (N.D. Ga., filed Sep. 16, 2024) – pending.
- Emery v. Holt, No. 1:24-cv-03486 (N.D. Ga., filed Aug. 6, 2024) – pending. (Jones named as a defendant.)
- Keys v. Jones, No. 1:25-cv-00570 (N.D. Ga., filed Feb. 6, 2025) – pending.
- Morgan v. Oliver, No. 1:25-cv-01700 (N.D. Ga., filed Mar. 31, 2025) – pending. (Jones named as a defendant.)
- Williams v. Jones, No. 1:25-cv-05570 (N.D. Ga., filed Sep. 29, 2025) – pending.
- Naji v. Jones, No. 1:25-cv-07468 (N.D. Ga., filed Dec. 31, 2025) – pending.
- In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:20-md-02974 (N.D. Ga., filed Dec. 16, 2020) – pending. This multidistrict litigation names Jones as a defendant but appears to involve product liability claims unrelated to his corrections role.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel timeline, death counts, and facility-level death data.
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — investigations into Georgia prison homicides, corruption, and understaffing, including specific allegations cited in the narrative.
- U.S. Department of Justice — investigation findings regarding attacks on Rodarick Lee Hayes and systemic conditions in Georgia prisons.
- CourtListener / PACER — dockets for the federal lawsuits listed in the Litigation section.
- Settlement records reported by AJC — Thomas Henry Giles ($5M) and Jimmy Lucero ($550,000) settlements.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 3 | AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| Warden | AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON | 2024-06-16 → present |
| WARDEN 2 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | ATLANTA TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| SOCIAL SVCS PRGM MGR 3 | ARRENDALE TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | Arrendale State Prison | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | Arrendale State Prison | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:25-cv-07468 | GAND | 2025-12-31 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-05570 | GAND | 2025-09-29 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-01700 | GAND | 2025-03-31 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-00570 | GAND | 2025-02-06 | pending |
| 1:24-cv-05022 | GAND | 2024-11-01 | pending |
| 1:24-cv-04156 | GAND | 2024-09-16 | pending |
| 1:24-cv-03486 | GAND | 2024-08-06 | pending |
| 1:23-cv-05578 | GAND | 2023-12-06 | pending |
| 1:23-cv-02227 | GAND | 2023-05-17 | terminated |
| 1:20-md-02974 | GAND | 2020-12-16 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
149 people died at facilities under Jones, Deshawn B's leadership.
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