Major, LEE

Tenure Summary

Lee Major began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2010 as a Correctional Officer at Burruss Correctional Training Center. Over the next fourteen years, he rotated through tactical squad and sergeant roles, eventually advancing to lieutenant positions at the Metro Reentry Facility, Burruss, and the Special Management Unit. At the SMU, GPS records show he served as a Correctional Lieutenant (2022), Correctional Captain (2023), and Correctional Unit Manager (2024), a period during which the unit faced intense scrutiny for systemic failures. In January 2025, Major was promoted to Deputy Warden at Dooly State Prison, becoming Deputy Warden of Security two weeks later. GPS records attribute a total of 11 deaths to his tenure at Dooly — all occurring during his service in the deputy warden ranks. Additionally, two federal lawsuits naming Major as a defendant were terminated without recorded payouts, one filed while he was a lieutenant at Burruss.

What happened on their watch

As Deputy Warden and later Deputy Warden of Security at Dooly State Prison from January 2025 onward, Major oversaw security at a facility that experienced a surge of violence. GPS records document 11 deaths between January 12, 2025, and April 29, 2026. Homicides were prominently recorded: according to GPS death data, Joshua Parrott, 45, died on January 12 due to strangulation; the user report for Horario Philmore, 58, who died on February 2, notes “Homocide”; and Darrow Brown, 58, was allegedly killed by a gang member while being escorted on November 7, 2025, per a user-submitted report. The remaining deaths included a range of causes — Timothy Williams, 56, was listed as “Natural/Drug OD”; Orlando Glass, 49, Marshall Crews, 69, Willie Mote, 70, Paul Counts, 60, Dexter Levy, 32, Samuel Blackmon, 40, and Martez Terry, 42, all died during this period, though specific medical or traumatic causes for most are not detailed in the record.

Multiple gang-related fights erupted under Major’s security watch. On March 23, 2026, a dormitory brawl injured five inmates, all with non-life-threatening injuries, according to WGXA; an April 1 incident required six inmates to be taken to hospitals — three by Life Flight — after a gang-linked disturbance. A May 22, 2026, gang-related altercation sent another nine inmates to the hospital and triggered a statewide lockdown of all GDC facilities, with Dooly’s visitation canceled for the holiday weekend, according to GPS incident logs. A security investigation in November 2025 found housing units at Dooly that went unsupervised for entire shifts because of staffing collapse, a period that overlaps with the wave of homicides. Separately, news reports allege that inmate Abraham Rivas carried out a telephone fraud scheme from within the prison, with Rivas claiming that staff were aware of the activity, per Wesh.com and WALB. Also during this time, a corrections officer cadet was arrested after a routine search found 640 grams of pure methamphetamine intended for an inmate.

Major’s earlier facility assignments occurred against a backdrop of systemic problems documented by the Department of Justice and the news media. While he was a unit supervisor at the Special Management Unit (2022–2024), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that GDC falsified and backdated prisoner review forms, failed to check on inmate Ricardo Daughtry for nearly seven hours, and entered the deceased inmate into logs for recreational activities. Another AJC story noted that inmate Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., housed in the SMU, used a contraband cellphone to steal $11 million, illustrating the depth of security lapses. At Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, where Major served on the tactical squad in 2011, later allegations (not tied to his short tenure) included widespread vandalism and a death-row officer who admitted receiving payments for inside information — but no deaths during his leadership are attributed to that facility.

Litigation

• Dorsey v. Lee, No. 5:21-cv-00435 (M.D. Ga., filed December 7, 2021, terminated November 7, 2024) — federal lawsuit naming Lee Major as a defendant, terminated with no recorded settlement amount.
• Mccarthian v. Melton, No. 1:11-cv-02654 (N.D. Ga., filed August 10, 2011, terminated September 10, 2014) — lawsuit naming Lee Major as a defendant, terminated without a recorded payout.

Sources

• GPS records (positions, death data, facility-attributed fatalities)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on falsified records at the Special Management Unit, inmate Arthur Lee Cofield Jr.’s $11 million theft from prison, Dooly Yarbrough medical malpractice case, and systemic GDC obstruction of DOJ investigations
• WGXA — gang-related fights at Dooly State Prison, meth smuggling arrest of corrections cadet
• WALB — inmate Abraham Rivas fraud scheme at Dooly, staff knowledge allegations
• Wesh.com — Rivas claims correctional staff aware of scams, used proceeds for marijuana
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — family allegation of medical neglect contributing to sepsis death at Dooly
• CourtListener (Dorsey v. Lee docket, Mccarthian v. Melton docket)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 12, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.