Kendrick, Lameka A

Tenure Summary

Lameka A. Kendrick's GDC personnel record begins in 2015 with a behavioral health counselor post, moving through supervisory counselor roles from 2017 to 2021, a correctional unit manager position in 2022, and correctional sergeant assignments from 2023 through 2025. The records also list a CSM Correctional Sergeant assignment at Macon State Prison dated Nov. 22, 2023, and a CSM Correctional Unit Manager assignment at Macon State Prison dated Aug. 27, 2026. On Aug. 16, 2026, she is listed as Deputy Warden of Security at Dooly State Prison, a facility-deputy leadership position with no end date recorded. Her status is listed as active.

GPS's death registry attributes two deaths to her leadership tenure, both at Dooly State Prison. No lawsuits naming her as a defendant appear in the records. During the same Dooly tenure, internal reports forwarded to GPS describe staffing and safety conditions — a meal-scheduling gap that a report says exceeded GDC's own food-service policy, a pair of October 2026 housing-unit incidents, and an assault report in which a deputy warden is said to have been present.

What happened on their watch

Dooly State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, from Aug. 16, 2026

Two deaths are attributed to Kendrick's tenure in this role, both at Dooly State Prison:

• Jerry Jerome Smith died August 21, 2026, at Dooly State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. He was 61.
• Gary L. Harshaw died October 25, 2026, at Dooly State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.

On the date of Smith's death, an inside report to GPS stated that an incarcerated person had been reported dead at Dooly, that the cause was unconfirmed, and that the facility was reportedly in lockdown. GPS's registry has not recorded a cause for either death.

Other reports dated inside the tenure, each recorded with Kendrick in the Deputy Warden of Security role:

• Aug. 20, 2026 — Per WGXA, former GDC cadet Julius Deshawn Williams Jr. was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus five years of supervised release for smuggling methamphetamine into Dooly State Prison. WGXA reported he smuggled 640 grams of 100% pure methamphetamine into the facility; that he had pleaded guilty in December to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia; and that the investigation began in June 2024, when GDC officers found four packages of meth hidden in his pants during a routine search, with a later vehicle search uncovering four more packages and a pistol. The underlying conduct predates Kendrick's deputy-warden tenure.
• Oct. 8, 2026 — Two inside reports describe, separately, a tactical squad accompanied by state officers moving through the facility overnight and entering a housing unit before leaving, and a disturbance in which roughly a dozen officers entered a housing unit and an incarcerated person was reportedly struck; the reports do not specify who struck the person.
• Oct. 10, 2026 — An inside report states that the last meal of the day was served at 12:10 p.m. and the next meal was breakfast at 5 to 6 a.m. the following morning, a gap of about 17 hours. GDC's own food-service policy, SOP 409.04.02, states the gap between the evening meal and breakfast should be no more than 14 hours, including on weekend days when only two meals are served, according to the report.
• Nov. 3, 2026 — A report from inside describes one incarcerated person striking another in the head and cutting someone's head open in a housing area while a deputy warden was present, and alleges the official did not intervene. The report as recorded does not name the official.

Sources

• GPS death registry — cause and date listings for Jerry Jerome Smith (Aug. 21, 2026) and Gary L. Harshaw (Oct. 25, 2026), both at Dooly State Prison
• Inside reports submitted to GPS — Aug. 21, 2026 death/lockdown report; Oct. 8, 2026 tactical-squad and disturbance reports; Oct. 10, 2026 meal-gap report citing GDC SOP 409.04.02; Nov. 3, 2026 assault report
• WGXA — reporting on the sentencing of former GDC cadet Julius Deshawn Williams Jr. for smuggling methamphetamine into Dooly State Prison
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia — as cited by WGXA for Williams's guilty plea
• Georgia Department of Corrections personnel records — positions and salary history, 2015–2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 8, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.