McAlister, Christopher A

Tenure Summary

Christopher A. McAlister entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer in 2015, was listed as a CSM correctional lieutenant in 2016, and served as a CSM Correctional Unit Manager from 2017 through 2020. In 2021 he was named Deputy Warden at Hays State Prison, a posting the records show him holding through 2025; from July 2026 he is listed as Deputy Warden of Security at the same facility.

Thirty deaths are attributed to his leadership tenure, all of them at Hays State Prison, per GPS's death registry. The registry's cause entries across those deaths include homicide, suicide, accident, natural/medical and unknown/pending. He is also named as a defendant in two federal lawsuits, one pending and one terminated, and a $35,000 state liability payout tied to a 2022 incident at Hays appears in the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger covering the period he served as Deputy Warden there.

What happened on their watch

Hays State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021–2025) and Deputy Warden of Security (from July 2026)

The deaths recorded at Hays during his tenure, as listed in GPS's death registry, include:

• Barcel Roylee Ward died November 28, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 39).
• James Cannon died October 25, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 48).
• Raymont Savion Farley died June 15, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 36).
• Tommy Joe Strickland died June 4, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 60).
• Ralph Carter died March 5, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 39).
• Joey Griffin died December 26, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 54).
• Thomas Johnson died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 82).
• Lawrence L Williams died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 30).
• Mackendy Pierrette died September 13, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 50).
• Keith Johnson died August 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 57).
• Timothy Darmofal died May 22, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 58).
• Freddie Lee Iii Talley died May 6, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 31).
• Theron Morrell Hendrix died April 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 31).
• Jeremy Edward Price died March 2, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 36).
• Talore Stihles Blackford died October 28, 2023, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 31).
• Randoulf Gutierrez died October 19, 2023, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 42).
• Ronnie Joe Criswell died August 15, 2023, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 67).
• Robert Millan Cook died July 17, 2023, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 57).
• Quane Laquaus Johnson died January 15, 2023, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Accident (age 33).
• Robert Lee Burton died December 13, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 58).
• Tony Christopher Williams died October 14, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide (age 34).
• John Terrell Bohannon died September 20, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending (age 79).
• Quintez Deshon Smith died August 29, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide (age 25).
• Alberto Eddie Deleon died July 11, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide (age 51).
• Yaheed Tyquan Brooks died May 23, 2022, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide (age 28).

Incident records detail several of the homicides: Jeremy Price, 36, died March 2, 2024, from stab wounds to the neck and chest, classified as a homicide in incident reports and confirmed by his death certificate; his mother, Tammy Price, told the AJC she still does not know what happened to her son. Freddie Talley, 31, died May 6, 2024, of a stab wound to the chest in a murder involving four other prisoners and multiple sharpened weapons ranging from 10.5 to 22 inches; three inmates received disciplinary reports but had not been charged, per reporting logged in January 2025. An earlier stabbing death, Jorge Renberto Ventura-Cabrera, 35, was recorded June 5, 2021, with an incident report showing two other inmates involved.

The facility's wider record during his tenure includes a $35,000 state liability payout tied to a 2022 Hays incident (Synita Hudgins), per the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger; a former Hays guard sentenced in February 2025 for smuggling methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for over a month; Tammy Price's allegation, reported by the AJC in January 2025, that GDC hides its inability to protect prisoners by omitting manner-of-death information from mortality reports; and the October 2025 announcement of a $24 million hardened 126-bed unit at Hays within a $600 million prison spending surge. A family member wrote in a public Facebook comment in the Georgia prison family group that people in Hays infirmary strip cells were barred by policy from phone calls and visitation, including during a 2024 mental-health crisis involving food refusal — the same account describes a warden personally intervening over months, bringing food and arranging visits and calls, to keep one man alive.

After he moved into the Deputy Warden of Security role, inmate reports submitted to GPS described a 2026 disturbance in which a group allegedly tried to take a package from an officer, stabbed a lieutenant and restrained another officer, with National Guard presence reported; a separate submission described an officer taken hostage and a staff member stabbed, alleging no tactical response. A media report in July 2026 recorded that the warden of Hays died unexpectedly, creating a leadership vacancy. In late October 2026 a gang-related fight among four inmates at Hays sent three to a hospital and triggered lockdowns across more than two dozen state prisons, with restricted movement continuing into November. A February 2023 event record logged to Hays notes the arrest of GDC warden Brian Adams on charges related to misconduct.

Litigation

• Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26-cv-00108 (Northern District of Georgia, GAND) — filed April 28, 2026; pending, per court records.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND) — filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026, per court records.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 30 deaths at Hays State Prison during McAlister's leadership tenure; cause classifications and decedent details above.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on the Jeremy Price and Freddie Talley stabbing deaths, the former guard's contraband smuggling, and Tammy Price's allegations about mortality reporting.
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — $35,000 payout tied to Hays State Prison, 2022 incident.
• CourtListener dockets — Mckenzie v. Oliver; Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order.
• GPS case submissions (inmate reports) — 2026 disturbance and hostage/stabbing accounts at Hays.
• Facebook, Georgia prison family group (public comment) — strip-cell visitation and phone restrictions; account of warden intervention.
• Published obituary (funeral-home death notice) — July 2026 death of the Hays warden.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 8, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.