Kaigler, Briana

Tenure Summary

Briana Kaigler joined the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2017 as a Behavioral Health Counselor 2, advancing through clinical and supervisory roles before transitioning to facility leadership. She has served as Deputy Warden at Coastal State Prison continuously since 2022 and remains active in that role as of 2025. GPS records show 90 deaths at Coastal State Prison during her Deputy Warden tenure, spanning January 2022 through February 2026. The overwhelming majority fall under cause category 6 (unspecified); three are classified as homicides (cause category 3), and two are attributed to acute respiratory failure (cause category 1). The facility has been the subject of a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation, multiple health inspection failures, and ongoing media reporting describing conditions workers and inmates characterize as a human rights crisis.

What Happened on Their Watch

Coastal State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2022–present

Kaigler has held the Deputy Warden role at Coastal State Prison since at least January 2022. GPS records attribute 90 deaths at the facility during this period. The large majority carry cause category 6 with no further detail in available records. Three deaths are classified as homicides: Salomon Andres Ramirez, 43, died October 20, 2023 in what the GDC classified as an apparent homicide, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia Prison Homicides investigation; Ryan Chase Archer, 25, died December 13, 2023 from a stab wound to the chest and was due for release in 2024, per GPS records; and Aiden Snapp, 21, died February 26, 2026 from what a user report migrated into GPS records describes as a brutal beating resulting in brain death and internal bleeding from a liver injury. A fourth death, Anteveis Brown, 49, on February 26, 2026, is attributed in GPS user and Telegram relay reports to a stabbing in Dorm A2. Raymond Littles, 49, died April 16, 2024 in an incident GPS records classify as a homicide, with another prisoner disciplined. Two additional deaths — Lloyd Chapman (January 28, 2025) and Ricky Chamblee (January 18, 2025) — are attributed to acute respiratory failure, per GPS records listing cause category 1. The deaths span a wide age range, from 21 to 91, with multiple decedents in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, suggesting a significant elderly or medically vulnerable population.

Beyond the death record, the facility has drawn sustained scrutiny. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation found Georgia prisons, including Coastal State, are failing to protect inmates from violence, neglect, and unconstitutional conditions, concluding GDC violates the Eighth Amendment. According to WTOC, workers and inmates have alleged that correctional officers regularly beat inmates, that staff withhold food as punishment, and that lockdowns lasting seven to ten days without shower access are routine — with the DOJ report specifically criticizing Coastal State's overuse of lockdowns and isolation on victims of sexual abuse. WTOC further reported that GDC records show no correctional officers were disciplined for violence against inmates over a six-month period in 2025, despite employees describing such violence as common. A health inspection conducted April 23, 2026 by the Georgia Department of Public Health resulted in a score of 70, with inspectors citing live roaches, a dead mouse floating in backed-up mop water, mold on kitchen ceiling tiles, food held below required temperatures, a mildew-like substance inside the ice machine, and multiple plumbing failures, according to The Georgia Virtue — several of which were repeat violations. WTOC obtained maintenance records showing over $5,000 spent on pest control from May to November 2025, while GDC stated it had no records of mold remediation. A GPS inmate report from May 2026 alleges the kitchen was closed for fumigation, that some inmates received no food at supper, and that commissary access is capped at one $80 purchase per two weeks, with the reporter characterizing conditions as "literally starving us." According to the AJC, a lawsuit alleges five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death at Coastal State in September 2021, and a separate lawsuit by Rufus Ramon Lee's mother alleges a broken cell lock allowed assailants from other cells and dorms to reach and kill him in December 2021 — both incidents predating Kaigler's Deputy Warden tenure but reflecting longer-standing security conditions at the facility. According to WALB, a March 2020 assault at Coastal State was forwarded for investigation but no records of such an investigation exist, and the same individual later strangled a cellmate to death at another prison.

Litigation

• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23-cv-00430, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — filed October 26, 2023; terminated January 23, 2026. Kaigler is listed as a defendant. Disposition amount not available in GPS records.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides investigation; Salomon Andres Ramirez homicide; Kion E. Parks lawsuit allegation; Rufus Ramon Lee lawsuit allegation
• WTOC — February 12, 2026 report on human rights crisis at Coastal State Prison; staff violence allegations; food withholding allegations; infrastructure and sanitation conditions; lockdown practices; GDC officer discipline records
• WALB — February 13, 2026 report on 2020 assault investigation gap at Coastal State Prison
• The Georgia Virtue — Health inspection findings, Coastal State Prison kitchen
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation into Georgia prison conditions, including Coastal State Prison
• Georgia Department of Public Health — April 23, 2026 health inspection of Coastal State Prison (score: 70)
• CourtListener / PACER — Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23-cv-00430 (GAMD)
• GPS records — death records, cause categories, inmate reports, Telegram relay reports, intel events for Coastal State Prison (facility ID 25)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.