McKenzie, Lachaka Nicole

Tenure Summary

Lachaka Nicole McKenzie appears in GPS records as a correctional officer at Macon State Prison in 2005, then as a counselor at Dooly State Prison in 2007 and Macon in 2010, and later as a behavioral health counselor supervisor at Macon in 2016. She held the Deputy Warden post at Macon State Prison from 2017 through 2022, then moved to Central State Prison as a unit manager from 2023 into 2025, served as Central’s deputy warden in early 2025, and became Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment in May 2025. Across the facilities where she held leadership roles, GPS records attribute 41 deaths: 32 at Macon State Prison and 9 at Central State Prison. Four lawsuits appear in GPS litigation records naming McKenzie as a defendant; three were terminated and one is pending, with no outcome dollar amounts recorded in the supplied data.

What happened on their watch

Macon State Prison

McKenzie held staff roles at Macon in 2005, 2010, and 2016, and served as Deputy Warden from 2017 through 2022. The total deaths attributed to her Macon tenures is 32. The sampled records from her deputy warden years include multiple deaths documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, including Carrington Juwon Frye in March 2020, whom the AJC lists with stab wounds to the neck and chest; Bobby Edward Lee Jr. in July 2020, listed with ligature strangulation; and Carlos Maurice Fisher Jr., listed with multiple sharp force injuries. The AJC reporting also states that four gang members ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner at Macon. Family allegations include Frye’s mother claiming he bled for more than half an hour before help arrived, and a federal lawsuit alleging Bobby Edward Lee Jr. was placed with a convicted murderer cellmate despite pleas for protection because of understaffing and official indifference. Additional AJC reporting describes Macon State Prison as critically understaffed, with a coroner reporting only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths.

Central State Prison

McKenzie’s Central State Prison tenure began in 2023 as unit manager and continued into a deputy warden role in 2025 and Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment from May 2025 onward. The total deaths attributed to her Central tenure is 9. The sampled records include Joseph Hamm in October 2025, whose GPS entry says “Accidental overdose” and cites a source who resided in the dorm; the account describes Hamm being told at 11 p.m. to pack for a facility transfer and being found at 1 a.m. with a ruptured balloon of opiates in his mouth. A GPS entry for Steve Allen Burk in July 2026 carries the note “Beaten To Death,” with the source listed as a warden who called from the prison. Miguel Angel Duran’s March 2026 death is recorded as a suicide in the segregation unit, per a Telegram relay source. Richard Palmer’s June 2026 death was confirmed by GPS against the GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report, which acknowledges the fact of death but carries no cause. Separate 13WMAZ reporting describes three former Central State Prison guards accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up in March 2025, and a guard charged in December 2025 with falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees. Georgia Public Broadcasting reporting from late 2023, tied to Central State Prison in GPS records, stated that severe staff shortages had allowed gangs to effectively run Georgia prisons and left families without information about deaths.

Litigation

• Tucker v. Holt, 5:24-cv-00360, Middle District of Georgia, filed October 16, 2024, terminated June 11, 2025.
• Tucker v. Wellpath Llc, 5:24-cv-00215, Middle District of Georgia, filed July 3, 2024, pending.
• Smith v. Ward, 1:19-cv-03871, Northern District of Georgia, filed August 12, 2019, terminated June 7, 2023.
• Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections, 5:19-cv-00236, Middle District of Georgia, filed June 14, 2019, terminated September 30, 2022.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation and prison-system failure reporting.
• CourtListener docket records for Tucker v. Holt, Tucker v. Wellpath Llc, Smith v. Ward, and Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections.
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — reports on staffing shortages, violence, and lack of family information in Georgia prisons.
• 13WMAZ — Central State Prison guard misconduct and inmate violence reporting.
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset — GDC-coded cause classifications for certain 2020–2021 deaths.
• GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report — used by GPS to confirm the death of Richard Palmer.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.