Major, LEE

Tenure Summary

Lee Major's GDC career runs from 2010 to the present. GPS records show him entering as a correctional officer at Burruss Correctional Training Center (2010), moving to the tactical squad at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2011) and a Security Management Response Team (2012), then returning to Burruss as a correctional officer (2016). He rose through custody ranks: sergeant at Metro Reentry Facility (2017) and lieutenant there (2018), lieutenant at Burruss (2019–2021), then lieutenant (2022) and captain (2023) at the Special Management Unit, and unit manager at SMU from November 2023 into January 2025. In January 2025 he moved to Dooly State Prison as Deputy Warden and, from January 16, 2025, served as Deputy Warden of Security through August 15, 2026, with a further Deputy Warden entry dated August 27, 2026.

GPS records attribute 10 deaths to his leadership tenures — all 10 at Dooly State Prison, and all falling while he held the Deputy Warden of Security post. Two are recorded in the homicide cause category, three in the overdose category, and five as unknown/pending. No settlement or outcome amount is recorded in either federal suit listing him as a defendant.

What happened on their watch

Burruss C.T.C. (2010, 2016, 2019–2021); Metro Reentry Facility (2017–2018) — GPS records attribute no deaths to his tenures at either facility. During his 2021 Burruss lieutenant year, a federal suit naming him was filed (see Litigation).

Special Management Unit (2022–2024) — No deaths are attributed to his SMU years. AJC investigations published in 2026 describe systemic problems at SMU spanning a period that includes these years: that GDC falsified and backdated prisoner review forms to appear that required hearings were timely held; that prisoner Ricardo Daughtry went nearly seven hours unchecked before his body was found despite a 30-minute check policy, with records later showing him at table time and recreation after he had been pronounced dead; that GDC's own consultants found its PREA investigations defective in 2022; and that GDC stalled compliance with a court injunction on SMU for more than four years. These are allegations reported against the agency and facility, not findings against Major.

Dooly State Prison (Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security, January 2025–present) — Ten deaths are attributed here. Horatio Philmore, 58, died February 2, 2025 in the homicide category (a GPS provenance note records the entry was reclassified from official-GDC sourcing to a prisoner report). Timothy Glenn Williams, 56, died April 17, 2025, coded overdose, with a note reading "Natural/Drug OD." Orlando Perez Glass, 49; Marshall Davis Crews, 69; Willie Mote, 70; and Paul Counts, 60 died between August 17 and October 30, 2025, all coded unknown/pending. Darrow Brown, 58, died November 7, 2025 in the homicide category; a GPS user report states Brown was killed on the walk while being escorted back to his building by an officer, by a member of the Crips gang, and describes Brown as unaffiliated. Dexter Andres Levy, 32, died November 16, 2025, coded overdose after a GBI autopsy (report R002085-082626) was applied in September 2026; the medical examiner's manner is recorded as accident. Samuel Jacob Blackmon, 40, died January 19, 2026, coded overdose, with a provenance note that the cause came from a prisoner report. Martez Desmond Terry, 42, died April 29, 2026, coded unknown/pending. Ages across the ten range from 32 to 70; eight died in 2025.

Overlapping his Dooly tenure, GDC-reported violence includes gang-related fights injuring five inmates (March 23, 2026), six hospitalized with three airlifted (April 1, 2026), nine injured in a May 22, 2026 fight that preceded a systemwide GDC lockdown, and a three-inmate altercation with one hospitalization (June 2026). GPS intake also logged April 2026 stabbing reports in F2 and D building and a May 2026 inmate report of a "nurse used as a human shield." AJC reporting alleges a coroner found Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was found at Dooly, and that James Yarbrough died of ketoacidosis after months of uncontrolled diabetes in a case alleging medical malpractice. A January 31, 2026 report event states Dooly held 1,593 people in a facility designed for 500, with staffing vacancies averaging 50% statewide.

Litigation

• Dorsey v. Lee, No. 5:21-cv-00435 (M.D. Ga.), filed December 7, 2021, terminated November 7, 2024; no outcome amount recorded. Filed while Major was a lieutenant at Burruss C.T.C.
• Mccarthian v. Melton, No. 1:11-cv-02654 (N.D. Ga.), filed August 10, 2011, terminated September 10, 2014; no outcome amount recorded. GPS data lists this among suits naming Major as a defendant; the docket is styled against Melton.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides list (Dooly, Soldiew-Acosta; GDCP); "Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions" (Yarbrough); reporting on falsified/backdated records, Daughtry check failures, PREA consultant findings, and SMU injunction compliance; "Locked Up But Not Stopped"; editorial on prison reform
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — DOJ deliberate-indifference and violence findings in Georgia prisons
• WGXA, 13WMAZ, WALB — Dooly gang-related fight reports; Rivas fraud scheme; Williams meth-smuggling sentencing
• WESH / News-Journal Online — Rivas impersonation and staff-awareness claims at Dooly
• GPS incident intake (Telegram relay and case submissions) — April 2026 Dooly stabbing reports; "nurse used as a human shield"
• GPS provenance notes — cause-of-death sourcing corrections for Philmore, Williams, Blackmon, and Levy
• CourtListener dockets — Dorsey v. Lee; Mccarthian v. Melton

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 13, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.