Jones, Lutria Jamil

Tenure Summary

Lutria Jamil Jones entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2017 as a Behavioral Health Counselor 2 and rose through the agency's behavioral-health track — Counselor 3 (2018–2019), Counselor Supervisor (2020–2021) — before moving into custody-side administration as Deputy Warden at Ware State Prison, where GPS payroll records place them from 2022 through 2025, with a further Deputy Warden entry dated 2026-08-27. Every leadership-tier posting in Jones's record is at Ware State Prison; there is no other facility tenure.

GPS records attribute 68 deaths to Jones's leadership tenure, all 68 at Ware State Prison. Those totals come from GPS records; the accompanying decedent list is a capped sample provided for name-level citation, not a count. Across that sample, the recorded causes range from natural and accidental to suicide, homicide, drug toxicity, and unresolved cases pending autopsy. GPS records also list Jones as a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed in the Southern District of Georgia in June 2025, both still pending. For context, the AJC has alleged that ten inmates were killed at Ware between July 2020 and August 2024; that window only partly overlaps Jones's deputy-warden tenure, which began in 2022.

What happened on their watch

Ware State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022 onward)

2022–2023. Early in the tenure, the Ware County Coroner recorded Kaleb Jordan Roberts, 25, dead by hanging on 2022-01-11; a GBI autopsy certified suicide, but the decedent's father disputes the ruling (per GPS records, family contact 2026-07-25), and the autopsy notes the ligature did not accompany the body to examination, the hands were not bagged, and toxicology returned methamphetamine and THC. The same GDC production, retrieved in 2026, shows the incident report carrying no record of warden review. Coroner records also list homicides by sharp force — Va'Darian LaVianta Carr, 26 (2022-09-18), Kyle Anthony Strother, 31 (2022-06-05), Thomas Jerome McCoy, 38, with three other prisoners involved (2023-10-07) — and Alfonso Marquez Moore, 30, beaten by a cellmate (2023-06-19). Suicides by hanging were recorded for Courtney Sherrod Jackson (2022), Kaleb Roberts (2022), Tyler Grogan and Trevanti Givens and Anthony Castleberry and Rickey Barron (2023). Methamphetamine-toxicity deaths were recorded for Robert Dillard Anderson II (2022), John Ekers (2022), Brian Dukes (2022), Isaac Cullins and Timothy Beam (2023). The GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained by open records, lists a $20,000 state liability payout tied to Ware State Prison and a 2023 incident (Jimmy Mack Rice).

2024. The coroner recorded homicides by stab or sharp force for Leonardo Lamont Anderson, 49 (2024-04-20), Christopher Michael Taylor, 33 (2024-05-28), Samuel Kieth Ellis, 31 (2024-08-01), Squaier Lamar Jiles, 35 (2024-09-16), and David Renfro, 43 (2024-10-16). On 2024-12-20, Ted Daniel Karras, 67, died; GBI certified the manner undetermined, stating that neck compression was found and that "homicidal strangulation cannot be excluded." GPS's own assessment classifies that death as a homicide; that reading is GPS's, not the medical examiner's. Narissa Wright alleges, per Georgia Public Broadcasting, that no counts or welfare checks were conducted at Ware, allowing her son DonTavis Mintz's body to go undiscovered for days (recorded 2024-10-01).

2025. Homicides recorded: Christopher Allen Barrett, 46, whose cellmate admitted the assault (2025-12-01), and Charles Johnny Rice, 62 (2025-04-27) — again certified undetermined by GBI, with the autopsy expressly contemplating homicidal smothering or strangulation with postmortem positioning of the body. GPS classifies Rice's death as a homicide; the homicide reading is GPS's, not the certifying examiner's. Suicides were recorded for Scott Bardwell (2024), Dakota Duffin and Antonio Moses (2025), and Marty Wright (2025, reclassified from homicide per coroner). Drug deaths: Barry Rutherford (2025, methamphetamine) and Lon Taylor Willbanks, 31 (2025, synthetic cannabinoid). A riot and punitive lockdown at Ware is dated 2025-07-12 in GPS event records.

2026. The coroner recorded homicides for Christopher Henry, 48 (2026-02-12), Anthony Terrell Grover, 25, multiple sharp-force injuries (2026-05-11), Justin Dean Pulley, 48, blunt force plus ligature strangulation (2026-05-20), and Kojack Thomas Jr., 27, blunt head trauma and ligature asphyxia (2026-05-31); GDC's Office of Professional Standards was reported as leading the Thomas investigation. Jonathan Hardman-Simmons, 36, was found hanged (2026-05-20); the coroner noted he was the named perpetrator of Henry's in-custody homicide. GPS case submissions (Telegram-relayed, unverified) allege further stabbings and gang-related violence at Ware in 2026.

Several natural deaths in the sample — Humphrey, McClarin, Motin, Mendez-Pimental, Parker, Wright, Reese, Norris — carry GBI DOFS declinations stating no cause and no manner; GPS notes those decisions cannot be audited from the documents.

Litigation

• Brown v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00062 (S.D. Ga.), filed 2025-06-30 — status pending; GPS records list Jones as a defendant.
• Jackson v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00051 (S.D. Ga.), filed 2025-06-09 — status pending; GPS records list Jones as a defendant.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Ware State Prison homicide list (ten deaths, July 2020–August 2024) and reporting on the August 1, 2020 "disturbance" characterization.
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — Narissa Wright allegations regarding counts/welfare checks at Ware State Prison (2024-10-01).
• Ware County Coroner / GBI Division of Forensic Sciences records — cause and manner certifications cited above, including the two undetermined asphyxial deaths (Karras, Rice).
• GBI DOFS autopsy and toxicology records — Kaleb Jordan Roberts (Case 2022-6000186).
• GDC official mortality reports and GDC production R030520-072626 — cited for Vazquez and the 2022-01-11 Ware incident report.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — Ware State Prison payouts.
• Federal court dockets, Southern District of Georgia (CourtListener) — Brown v. Odum; Jackson v. Odum.
• GPS records and case submissions — decedent list, tenure attribution, and facility events.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 13, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.