Lawson, Nancy LEE

Tenure Summary

Nancy Lee Lawson joined the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer and rose steadily through the ranks — lieutenant (2016), captain (2017–2020), and unit manager (2021–2023) — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison beginning in 2024, a post she continues to hold as of 2025. GPS records attribute 49 deaths at Macon State Prison during her tenure as Deputy Warden (January 2024 through February 2026), spanning homicides, suicides, and deaths of undetermined or natural cause. Her tenure at the facility coincides with what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported as a record 332 total prisoner deaths and 66 investigated homicides across Georgia prisons in 2024 alone — the bloodiest year on record — and with a period in which the AJC reported that Macon State Prison had roughly two-thirds of its correctional officer positions unfilled as of October 2024.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden (January 2024–present)

GPS records attribute 49 deaths at Macon State Prison during Lawson's tenure as Deputy Warden. Of those, at least 16 are categorized as homicides (cause category 3), at least 3 as suicides (cause category 2), and the remainder as deaths of undetermined or other cause (cause category 6). The homicide victims ranged in age from 28 to 48 and died by means documented in AJC investigative reporting and GPS case records: sharp force trauma, blunt force head trauma, and inmate-to-inmate assault. Per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, specific causes include exsanguination from sharp force trauma (Shannon Wayne Pickett, age 48, July 21, 2024); sharp force chest and neck trauma from a homemade weapon (Mathis Lee Ward, age 37, June 8, 2024); blunt force head trauma (Reginald Lamar Ginn, age 31, March 13, 2024, reportedly beaten with a fan motor tied to a belt per GPS event records); and sharp force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and upper extremities (Kenneth Keith Malcom, age 38, February 12, 2024). Among the 2025 homicides, GPS case records note that Pierre Cedric Scott (age 41, August 22, 2025) was reported killed in a segregation unit by a cellmate; Lukas Lance Way (age 32, June 22, 2025) and D'Andrius Brown (age 30, March 23, 2025) also died in segregation units; and Sanchez Jackson (age 48, June 19, 2025) was stabbed to death, with family confirmation reported by 13WMAZ, WGXA, and 41NBC. Three suicides are recorded during this period: Calvin Earl Noble (age 25, August 26, 2025), reported by a source inside the facility as a hanging in a single-occupancy cell; Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (age 55, August 25, 2025), reported via GPS case management; and David Gill (January 30, 2025), listed in GPS records as a drug overdose suicide. The death of Eric Roberts (February 9, 2026) was reported with no signs of foul play; GPS event records show the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation, which remained ongoing at the time of reporting.

The systemic context documented during Lawson's tenure is extensive. According to the AJC, about two-thirds of correctional officer positions at Macon State Prison were vacant as of October 2024, and the Macon County Coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. The AJC further reported that low staffing allows gang influence to go unchecked, that most locks at the facility do not function, and that prisoners can readily fabricate weapons from wall and ceiling materials. A source inside the facility alleged to the AJC that as many as four men were packed into a single cell, rotating spots to sleep — a claim attributed to the family of Sanchez Jackson. Jackson's family also alleged, per the AJC, that they received only a brief call from the warden following his death, with a follow-up that never came, and that the investigating officer provided only "short and vague" answers. A federal lawsuit, cited by the AJC, alleges that Bobby Edward Lee Jr. — who died at Macon State Prison on July 13, 2020, before Lawson's deputy warden tenure — was strangled by a cellmate with a prior murder conviction after officials ignored his pleas for protection and no officers responded until after his death; that case is noted here as part of the facility's documented pattern. The AJC also reported that a DOJ report documented a March 2023 incident in which four gang members ran past an officer and fatally stabbed a prisoner in the kitchen area, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed. In June 2024, GPS event records document that inmate Glen Christian Krauch was allegedly tortured and left for dead under a bunk for approximately three weeks at Macon State Prison. Governor Brian Kemp proposed a $600 million investment in Georgia prisons in January 2025, citing consultant findings on staffing and infrastructure failures.

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Litigation

The two lawsuits in GPS records naming Lawson as a defendant do not appear, based on case names and courts, to be prisoner civil rights actions arising from her GDC role:

• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23-cv-00430 (M.D. Ga.), filed October 26, 2023; terminated January 23, 2026. No outcome amount recorded.
• Lechter v. Aprio LLP, No. 1:20-cv-01325 (N.D. Ga.), filed March 26, 2020; status listed as pending. No outcome amount recorded.

GPS records do not identify the nature of Lawson's involvement in either case, and neither case name indicates a prisoner rights or conditions-of-confinement claim on its face.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (multiple homicide cause-of-death entries for Macon State Prison, 2024); reporting on record 2024 statewide prison deaths (66 homicides, 332 total); reporting on Macon State Prison staffing vacancies (approx. two-thirds of CO positions unfilled, October 2024); reporting on understaffing, gang influence, and facility disrepair; reporting on Sanchez Jackson death and family allegations (2025); reporting on Jonathan Mitchell homicide and Jon Edward Pippin allegations (2025)
• 13WMAZ, WGXA, 41NBC — Sanchez Jackson stabbing death confirmation, June 2025; Antony Carnell Knight death, December 2024; Johnathan Douglas Vann death, November 2024
• Solitary Watch — allegation that authorities cut hot water to prisoners at Macon State Prison during the 2010 strike
• GPS Case Management Records — GPS-DEATH-2025-CD311 (Marquis Young); GPS-DEATH-2025-2EF74 (Calvin Earl Noble); GPS-DEATH-2025-54697 (Cassiem Mahlon Johnson); GPS-DEATH-2025-BEAF7 (Pierre Cedric Scott); GPS-DEATH-2025-B834B (Xavier Anthony Adams); GPS-DEATH-2026-DF391 (Eric Roberts)
• GPS Event Records — GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation into Eric Roberts death; Glen Christian Krauch torture incident, June 2024; Gregory Sampson warden appointment, February 2025; Governor Kemp $600 million prison investment proposal, January 2025
• CourtListener / PACER — Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 5:23-cv-00430 (M.D. Ga.); Lechter v. Aprio LLP, 1:20-cv-01325 (N.D. Ga.)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.