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Lawson, Nancy LEE
Status: active
Profile written May 31, 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
Nancy LEE Lawson’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spanned from at least 2015, advancing through staff and unit‑supervisor ranks — correctional officer, lieutenant, captain, and unit manager — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison in January 2024. Prior to that facility‑leadership role, GPS records do not attribute any in‑custody deaths to her watch. As Deputy Warden, however, Lawson assumed a senior accountability tier during a period of extreme violence and institutional crisis at Macon. GPS records document 47 deaths attributed to Macon State Prison while she held the deputy warden post, a tally that places the facility among the deadliest in the Georgia system over that span.What happened on their watch
Deputy Warden, Macon State Prison (January 2024 – 2025, with deaths recorded into early 2026)
From the start of her tenure, Macon State Prison experienced a relentless toll of fatalities. Per GPS records, the 47 deaths included numerous homicides, suicides, and cases classified as undetermined. Among those killed in inmate‑on‑inmate assaults were Kenneth Keith Malcom (sharp force trauma to head, neck, and torso), Reginald Ginn (blunt force head trauma inflicted with a fan motor tied to a belt), Mathis Lee Ward (stabbed with a homemade sharp instrument), Devontae Marquez Young (sharp force chest trauma), Shannon Pickett (bled to death from sharp force trauma), Keith Antwone Green, Jarod Quayshawn Williams, and Jonathan Mitchell (fatal head trauma). Multiple homicides occurred in the restrictive housing unit (“the hole”), including D’Andrius Brown, Lukas Lance Way, and Pierre Cedric Scott. Marquis Young and Sanchez Jackson also died violently; the AJC reported that Jackson’s family was told he may have been killed in a gang attack. Suicides recorded under Lawson’s watch included Calvin Earl Noble (hanging), Cassiem Mahlon Johnson, and David Gill (drug overdose). A large portion of deaths were logged as cause‑category 6 — undetermined — with autopsy reports pending at the time of data collection.The fatalities unfolded against a backdrop of systemic dysfunction documented by multiple sources. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, analyzing GDC incident reports and death certificates, highlighted Macon SP as a hotspot in its investigation of Georgia prison homicides. According to the AJC, the facility was operating with only five to eight officers on shift for the entire prison, and roughly two‑thirds of correctional officer posts were vacant as of October 2024. A U.S. Department of Justice report released that same month described Georgia prisons as places where stabbings, rapes, and deadly assaults had become routine because of catastrophic understaffing. In January 2025, the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a federal lawsuit alleging that dozens of men in a Macon SP dorm shared a single toilet and were denied adequate bedding and hygiene — conditions that GPS’s intelligence records link to the facility’s broader deterioration. While Lawson was deputy warden, four Macon SP officers were arrested in September 2024 on charges of violating their oath and making false statements. A drug trafficking conspiracy operated via contraband cellphones was disrupted, with multiple people pleading guilty in 2026. The governor proposed a $600 million emergency investment in the prison system in 2025 as the homicide rate surged to a record statewide. A near‑fatal torture case — Glen Christian Krauch, found in mid‑2024 with brain bleeds, broken ribs, cigarette burns, and a necrotic wound after weeks of beatings — further underscored the brutal conditions inside the prison fathered by deep staffing shortages and a collapse of basic security, per intel reports collected by GPS.
Litigation
- Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23‑cv‑00430 (M.D. Ga.), filed Oct. 26, 2023, terminated Jan. 23, 2026.
- Lechter v. Aprio Llp, No. 1:20‑cv‑01325 (N.D. Ga.), filed Mar. 26, 2020, pending.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — “Georgia prison homicides investigation,” detailing multiple deaths at Macon SP and broader GDC staffing and violence crises.
- 13WMAZ — Coverage of drug trafficking ring operated from Macon SP and arrests of four officers.
- U.S. Department of Justice — Findings cited by AJC that chronicle routine violence and understaffing in Georgia prisons (October 2024).
- Southern Center for Human Rights — Federal lawsuit filed January 2025 alleging unconstitutional conditions at Macon SP.
- GPS case‑management and death records — 47 in‑custody deaths at Macon State Prison during Lawson’s deputy warden tenure.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | MACON STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2017-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:23-cv-00430 | GAMD | 2023-10-26 | terminated |
| 1:20-cv-01325 | GAND | 2020-03-26 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
47 people died at facilities under Lawson, Nancy LEE's leadership.
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