Kaigler, Briana

Tenure Summary

Briana Kaigler entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2017 as a Behavioral Health Counselor 2 and rose through the clinical ranks — Counselor 3 by 2019, Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor by 2021 — before moving into custody-side administration. In 2022 she became Deputy Warden at Coastal State Prison in Chatham County, the post she held through the most recent position records in 2026. Her state salary grew from $26,507.07 in 2017 to $74,324.91 in 2025.

GPS attributes 98 deaths to Kaigler's facility-leadership tenure, all of them recorded at Coastal State Prison, her only leadership posting. No lawsuits naming Kaigler as a defendant appear in GPS records, and no settlement-ledger entry is attributed to her individually; the settlements documented at Coastal predate her tenure or are not tied to her by name.

What happened on their watch

Coastal State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022–2026). The 98 deaths attributed to this posting span 2022 through August 2026, ranging in age from 21 (Aiden Snapp, Feb. 26, 2026) to 91 (Cecil Sylvester Henderson, Sept. 26, 2025). The large majority carry no published cause of death — consistent with GPS's documentation that GDC does not routinely release cause-of-death data outside a single January 2025 mortality release.

Among deaths with recorded causes:

• Salomon Andres Ramirez, 43, died Oct. 20, 2023, in what the AJC's Georgia prison-homicides investigation lists as an apparent homicide — a FACT recorded in GPS as a homicide-category death.
• Ryan Chase Archer, 25, died Dec. 13, 2023, from a stab wound to the chest after a fight with other prisoners; he was due for release in 2024, per GPS records.
• Raymond Littles, 49, died April 16, 2024 in an incident classified as a homicide, with another prisoner disciplined, per GPS records.
• Aiden Snapp, 21, died Feb. 26, 2026; a user report alleges he was "brutally beaten" and suffered brain death and internal bleeding. Anteveis Brown, 49, died the same day; the report describes a stabbing in Dorm A2. GPS later corrected the provenance of Brown's cause, noting it came from a prisoner report, not GDC.
• Lloyd Chapman and Ricky Chamblee died Jan. 28 and Jan. 18, 2025 respectively; both causes come from GDC's own January 2025 mortality PDF — acute respiratory failure, and acute respiratory failure with hypoxia/DVT/COPD.

Two inmates died on the same day at Coastal on March 3, 2026, and a second death within one week was confirmed Feb. 26, 2026, per GPS event records. GPS also logged inmate deaths on Feb. 12 and Feb. 15, 2026.

Sheldon Leroy Burns died on or about Aug. 30, 2026 (estimated window). A public Facebook post — an ALLEGATION, not an established finding — claims Burns had complained of health issues staff ignored; that Officer Mariah Flowers left her post and could not be found; and that dorm residents beat on doors for 30–40 minutes before staff arrived. GPS resolved "Flowers" to Mariah Flowers on the Coastal roster, and notes the post describes officers routinely leaving posts at what it calls a "freestyle camp."

Two broader findings overlap this tenure. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation concluded Georgia prisons including Coastal were failing to protect inmates from violence and unconstitutional conditions, violating the 8th Amendment. A Feb. 12, 2026 WTOC investigation reported workers and inmates alleging a human rights crisis at Coastal — beatings, food withheld as punishment, mold and rodent infestation, HVAC failures, 7–10 day lockdowns without showers, and GDC records showing no officer disciplined for violence against inmates over a six-month period in 2025. A Georgia Department of Public Health inspection scored Coastal 70 on April 23, 2026 (roaches, a dead mouse, mold, unsafe food temperatures, broken equipment), continuing a decline from 87 in Feb. 2025 to 80 in October to 70. Two former prisoners released in 2026 publicly described witnessing multiple deaths at Coastal.

Lawsuits filed Jan. 21, 2025 concerning the 2021 deaths of Kion E. Parks and Rufus Ramon Lee both predate Kaigler's Deputy Warden tenure; GPS records do not name her as a defendant in either.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation (Ramirez, 2023; Parks and Lee lawsuits)
• WTOC — "Workers, inmates report human rights crisis at Coastal State Prison," Feb. 12, 2026
• WALB — reporting on the March 2020 Coastal assault forwarded for investigation
• The Georgia Virtue — Coastal State Prison health inspection coverage (roaches, dead mouse, mold)
• Georgia Department of Public Health — April 23, 2026 inspection, grade 70
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation into Georgia prison conditions
• GDC January 2025 mortality PDF (official release) — Chapman, Chamblee causes
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — Coastal settlements
• GPS records and user reports — Coastal death logs, Facebook post re: Sheldon Leroy Burns, Telegram relay reports

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.