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Kelley, Tina
Status: active
Profile written September 6, 2026
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
Tina Kelley has a long GDC employment history, per GPS position records. She began as a correctional officer at Smith State Prison in 2003 and returned to that role in 2015, then worked as a behavioral health counselor across multiple state facilities, including Georgia State Prison in 2018 and 2021, Montgomery State Prison in 2022, and Emanuel Women’s Facility in 2023. She became a behavioral health counselor supervisor in late 2023. On September 16, 2024, she entered facility leadership as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at Rogers State Prison, and 2025 records list her as Deputy Warden there.GPS records attribute five deaths at Rogers State Prison during Kelley’s deputy warden tenure. No facility-leader deaths are attributed to her earlier staff-level posts. The provided lawsuit records include one case naming her as a defendant, Daker v. Bryson, which predates her Rogers leadership role.
What happened on their watch
Rogers State Prison — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment / Deputy Warden (Sept. 16, 2024–present)
Twelve days after Kelley’s Rogers leadership start date, Taylor Anthony Hunt, 29, died on September 28, 2024. Per a GBI Medical Examiner report received via GPS records, his cause was hanging and manner was suicide; a full autopsy was performed. GPS intelligence event records separately contain repeated allegations that Hunt’s death was suspicious and that evidence of trauma contradicted the suicide ruling; those assertions are allegations only.On February 4, 2025, David Edward Wood died. A Tattnall County coroner record lists the manner as natural, with cause of death as coronary atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease complicated by Influenza A and parainfluenza virus. On June 26, 2025, Justin Waymon Hollingsworth, 43, died by hanging in a one-man cell at Rogers, according to coroner and GBI records; the coroner narrative states access to the cell was delayed about an hour. On July 17, 2025, Randy Eugene Stewart, 60, died at Memorial University Medical Center after a two-day admission; coroner records list E. coli peritonitis from a perforated duodenum as the cause, with contributing conditions including diabetes, hypertension, cirrhosis, and chronic hepatitis-C, and manner natural. On February 19, 2026, John Meeks, 49, died; his GPS record assigns cause category 6 and includes no narrative note.
GPS intelligence records for Rogers State Prison during this period also contain unadjudicated allegations: a public Facebook account from a formerly incarcerated man says a fan motor fire in H-2 was attributed by maintenance to the motor but then charged to a prisoner; another account alleges a civilian farm supervisor supplied vapes and computer access on a dairy detail and then blamed workers; a third says a counselor known as “Cowboy” was arrested for bringing in drugs and phones. A separate GPS internal record lists a guard stabbing incident at Rogers as an allegation. The provided records include no lawsuit naming Kelley specifically in connection with the Rogers deaths.
Litigation
- Daker v. Bryson, No. 5:16-cv-00538 (GAMD), filed December 7, 2016; terminated June 9, 2017. GPS records list Kelley as a defendant. No outcome amount is recorded, and the extract includes no underlying factual claims about the suit.
Sources
- GPS personnel and position records
- GPS death records, including `deaths_by_facility` totals for Rogers State Prison
- Tattnall County Coroner records for Wood, Hollingsworth, and Stewart, via GPS
- GBI Medical Examiner report for Hunt, via GPS
- GPS intelligence records citing public Facebook comments from a Georgia prison family group and an internal Rogers State Prison incident log
- CourtListener docket, Daker v. Bryson
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment | ROGERS STATE PRISON | 2024-09-16 → present |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | 2024-01-01 → 2024-09-15 | |
| Behavioral Hlth Counselor Spv | EMANUEL WOMEN’S FACILITY | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | EMANUEL WOMEN’S FACILITY | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | MONTGOMERY STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER( AL) | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2003-01-01 → 2003-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:22-cv-00030 | GASD | 2022-04-04 | terminated |
| 5:16-cv-00538 | GAMD | 2016-12-07 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
5 people died at facilities under Kelley, Tina's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-19 | JOHN MEEKS | 49 | ROGERS STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-07-17 | RANDY EUGENE STEWART | 60 | ROGERS STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-06-26 | JUSTIN WAYMON HOLLINGSWORTH | 43 | ROGERS STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-02-04 | David Edward Wood | — | ROGERS STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-09-28 | TAYLOR ANTHONY HUNT | 29 | ROGERS STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment |
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