Major, LEE

Tenure Summary

Lee Major began his GDC career in 2010 as a correctional officer at Burruss Correctional Training Center and rose steadily through the ranks — Tactical Squad, Security Management Response Team, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and unit manager — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Dooly State Prison in January 2025, where he currently serves as Deputy Warden of Security. GPS records attribute 14 deaths across facilities during Major's unit-supervisor and facility-deputy tenures: 4 at the Special Management Unit (SMU) between 2022 and 2024, and 10 at Dooly State Prison between January 2025 and January 2026. No settled lawsuits with outcome amounts are recorded in GPS data. Five terminated civil cases are associated with his name in court records, though the nature of his role in each varies.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Special Management Unit — Lieutenant / Captain / Unit Manager (2022–2024)

Major held unit-supervisor roles at the SMU across three consecutive years. GPS records attribute four deaths at the facility during this period: Marcus Donnell Bartley, 34, on February 4, 2022; Marcus Eugene Sutton, 30, on February 25, 2023; Ricardo Castavio Daughtry, 41, on June 10, 2024; and Emilio Christopher Canales, 40, on October 22, 2024. All four are classified under cause category 6 in GPS records. The SMU was the subject of sustained systemic scrutiny during this period. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the AJC alleged that GDC falsified and backdated prisoner review forms to make required review hearings appear timely, and that prison records showed Daughtry — who died on June 10, 2024 — listed as attending "table time," recreation, and the book cart after he had already been pronounced dead. The AJC further alleged that GDC failed to check on Daughtry for nearly seven hours before his body was discovered, despite a policy requiring checks every 30 minutes. Separately, the AJC alleged that GDC officials, including Commissioner Ahmed Holt, swore under oath that prisoners were receiving required out-of-cell time, educational programming, and adequate staffing — all of which, the AJC alleged, evidence contradicted. The AJC also reported that GDC defendants ran a stalling strategy to avoid complying with a court injunction regarding the SMU. An inmate, Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., allegedly orchestrated a multi-million-dollar financial fraud operation from inside the SMU using contraband cellphones; the AJC reported that GDC learned of Cofield's activity as early as 2018 but did not charge him until 2020. Major held his SMU roles during the 2022–2024 window when these conditions and deaths were recorded.

Dooly State Prison — Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security (January 2025–present)

Major arrived at Dooly State Prison on January 1, 2025, initially as Deputy Warden, transitioning to Deputy Warden of Security on January 16, 2025. GPS records attribute 10 deaths at the facility during his tenure through January 2026. Joshua Parrott, 45, died January 12, 2025 — GPS records note the cause as homicide by strangulation. Horario Philmore, 58, died February 2, 2025; GPS records classify this as a homicide, though GPS intel events note the death was officially ruled a suicide while inmate reports indicated strangulation. Timothy Glenn Williams, 56, died April 17, 2025; GPS records note "Natural/Drug OD." Orlando Perez Glass, 49, died August 17, 2025; Marshall Davis Crews, 69, died September 19, 2025; Willie Mote, 70, died October 14, 2025; Paul Counts, 60, died October 30, 2025 — all four classified under cause category 6. Dexter Andres Levy, 32, died November 16, 2025, also cause category 6. Darrow Brown, 58, died November 7, 2025; a GPS user report alleges Brown was killed on a walkway while being escorted by an officer, stabbed by a member of the Crips gang, and was not gang-affiliated himself. Samuel Jacob Blackmon, 40, died January 19, 2026, classified under cause category 5.

Beyond the recorded deaths, GPS intel records document a sustained pattern of violence at Dooly during Major's tenure as Deputy Warden of Security. GPS relay-detected incidents include multiple stabbings in March and April 2026, with at least two Life Flights dispatched on April 1–2, 2026, and a gang-related altercation on April 3, 2026 that sent six inmates to hospitals, three via Life Flight, per WGXA and 13WMAZ. A corrections officer cadet, Julius Deshawn Williams Jr., pleaded guilty in December 2025 to attempting to smuggle 640 grams of methamphetamine into Dooly, per WGXA. According to WALB, an inmate, Abraham Rivas, allegedly operated a phone fraud scheme from inside the prison, with a source alleging that correctional staff were aware of inmates running such schemes. The AJC separately alleged that a coroner found that another Dooly inmate, Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta, may have been dead for more than 24 hours before his body was discovered. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that a family member alleged medical staff put a Dooly inmate's treatment "on the back burner," contributing to his death from sepsis. GPS reports document that Dooly holds 1,593 people in a facility designed for 750 — 212% of design capacity — and that the statewide correctional officer vacancy rate stands at approximately 50%.

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Litigation

• Childs v. Thurman, No. 3:11-cv-00075, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Filed May 31, 2011; closed July 10, 2012. Terminated. No outcome amount recorded. (Per court records via CourtListener.)
• McCarthian v. Melton, No. 1:11-cv-02654, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Filed August 10, 2011; closed September 10, 2014. Terminated. No outcome amount recorded. (Per court records via CourtListener.)
• Lee v. Correct Care Solutions LLC, No. 1:19-cv-00012, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Filed January 24, 2019; closed June 26, 2020. Terminated. No outcome amount recorded. (Per court records via CourtListener.)
• Dorsey v. Lee, No. 5:21-cv-00435, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Filed December 7, 2021; closed November 7, 2024. Terminated. No outcome amount recorded. (Per court records via CourtListener.)
• Nichols v. Walmart Inc, No. 1:24-cv-00236, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Filed December 18, 2024; closed April 23, 2025. Terminated. No outcome amount recorded. (Per court records via CourtListener.)

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — investigations into SMU falsified records, Daughtry death and welfare check failures, GDC misleading statements to federal investigators and lawmakers, Cofield contraband cellphone and fraud operation at SMU, Dooly medical neglect (Yarbrough), coroner allegation re: Soldiew-Acosta body discovery delay, GDC obstruction of DOJ investigators, PREA investigation failures, GDC transparency rollbacks
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — allegation of medical neglect contributing to sepsis death at Dooly State Prison
• WGXA — Julius Deshawn Williams Jr. guilty plea for methamphetamine smuggling into Dooly; gang-related fight injuring five inmates at Dooly (March 2026)
• 13WMAZ — gang-related fight at Dooly State Prison (March 2026)
• WALB — Abraham Rivas phone fraud scheme operated from Dooly; allegation that staff were aware of in-prison fraud schemes
• GPS records — deaths attributed during tenure, incident relay reports (stabbings, Life Flights, April 2026 violence cluster), Philmore death classification discrepancy, Parrott strangulation notation, Brown user report
• CourtListener / court records — five civil cases associated with Major's name (case numbers and dispositions as listed above)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.