McKenzie, Lachaka Nicole

Tenure Summary

Lachaka Nicole McKenzie has held multiple roles in the Georgia Department of Corrections since 2005, beginning as a correctional officer at Macon State Prison, then counselor at Dooly State Prison and Macon, and later behavioral health counselor roles. She served as Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison from 2017 through 2022. In 2023 she moved to Central State Prison as Correctional Unit Manager, and in 2025 she held deputy warden roles there, including Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment from May 2025 onward.

GPS records attribute 43 deaths to the facility-leadership tenures documented here: 32 at Macon State Prison and 11 at Central State Prison. Court records list four lawsuits naming McKenzie as a defendant; three are terminated and one is pending, with no settlement amounts recorded in the available data.

What happened on their watch

Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2017–2022

GPS records show 32 deaths at Macon State Prison during the period McKenzie held the deputy warden role. The available records include a cluster of homicides documented in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation: Johnny Young (sharp force injury to mouth/tongue, January 2020), Carrington Frye (stab wounds to neck and chest, March 2020), Rafael Blass (stab wounds to upper torso, March 2020), David Dennis (multiple sharp force injuries, May 2020), Cody Silvers (asphyxia, May 2020), Bobby Lee (ligature strangulation, July 2020), Ryan Darville (stab wounds to chest, December 2021), Carlos Fisher (multiple sharp force injuries, May 2021), and several 2022 stabbing deaths, including James McLeroy, Dan Brooks, and Joseph Brown. Other deaths from 2020 are recorded as natural or suicide in GDC’s own classifications obtained through the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project; GPS notes caution these are GDC classifications, not autopsy findings.

AJC reporting on Macon State Prison describes critical understaffing, with a coroner reporting only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. Family allegations include Frye’s mother alleging he bled for more than half an hour before help arrived, and Kendrick Brown’s mother alleging he was placed with a prisoner known to be dangerous shortly before his scheduled release. A federal lawsuit alleged Bobby Lee was strangled by his cellmate due to understaffing and official indifference; a DOJ report summarized by AJC states four gang members ran past an officer and fatally stabbed a prisoner at Macon.

Central State Prison — Unit Manager, 2023–2025; Deputy Warden, 2025

GPS records show 11 deaths at Central State Prison. Available records from 2025–2026 include Joseph Hamm, whose GPS notes carry a resident-source report of an accidental opiate overdose after a balloon of opiates burst in his mouth; the notes do not confirm a medical examiner finding. Other recorded deaths include Ronald Goss, James Miller, Ricky Ring, Michael Brooks, Richard Palmer, Demetris Keller, and Steve Burk, whose GPS notes state “Beaten To Death” with the source listed as “Warden called me from the prison.” A Telegram relay classified by AI reported a suicide in the segregation unit in March 2026, later associated in GPS records with Miguel Duran. GDC’s June 2026 monthly mortality report confirmed Richard Palmer’s death as a fact only, per GPS notes, not a cause.

Central State Prison also saw reported violence and staffing problems during this period. 13WMAZ reported that three former guards were accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up in March 2025, and that a guard faced charges in December 2025 after allegedly falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees. The same outlet reported three inmates charged with stabbing another in June 2025. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that severe staff shortages have allowed gangs to effectively run Georgia prisons and that families are left without information. AJC articles summarizing a DOJ report on Central State Prison state that Hollis Alan Bryant was stabbed to death and Marquis L. Johnson was stabbed in the prison barbershop and later died.

Litigation

• Tucker v. Holt, No. 5:24-cv-00360 (GAMD), filed October 16, 2024; terminated June 11, 2025.
• Tucker v. Wellpath Llc, No. 5:24-cv-00215 (GAMD), filed July 3, 2024; pending.
• Smith v. Ward, No. 1:19-cv-03871 (GAND), filed August 12, 2019; terminated June 7, 2023.
• Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 5:19-cv-00236 (GAMD), filed June 14, 2019; terminated September 30, 2022.

No settlement or judgment amounts are listed in the GPS records provided.

Sources

• GPS structured personnel, death, litigation, and intel records.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation and prison-system failure reporting.
• CourtListener docket records for the four listed cases.
• DOJ investigation findings as summarized by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset — GDC classifications obtained via open records.
• 13WMAZ — Central State Prison incident and guard-arrest reporting.
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — GDC staffing, violence, and family-notification reporting.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 30, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.