Odum, ROY Matthew

Tenure Summary

Roy Matthew Odum's GDC career runs from a 2007 correctional officer post at Smith State Prison through lieutenant and unit-manager roles, to deputy warden at Ware State Prison (2019–2020), Warden 3 at Ware (2021–2023), Warden at Ware through Oct. 15, 2024, and Warden at Valdosta State Prison from Oct. 16, 2024 to July 15, 2025. Later position records list a non-facility Correctional Sr. Mgr post in 2025 ($111,178.87) and a subsequent "Sr Mgr, Correctional" entry. The earlier, non-leadership postings are recorded as: correctional officer, Smith SP, 2007; lieutenant, Rogers SP, 2011; correctional officer, 2015; lieutenant, Rogers SP, 2016; lieutenant, Georgia SP, 2017; unit manager, Georgia SP, 2018.

Across Odum's facility leadership tenures, 68 deaths are attributed in the records — 58 at Ware State Prison and 10 at Valdosta State Prison. Two federal lawsuits naming Odum as defendant were filed in 2025 in the Southern District of Georgia; both are pending. The state's liability settlement ledger also records payouts tied to facilities he led: $20,000 and $2,500 in 2023 and 2021 incidents at Ware, $10,000 for a 2019 Ware incident, and $2,000 for a 2025 Valdosta incident.

What happened on their watch

Ware State Prison — Deputy Warden (2019–2020). Records show a 2019 incident tied to a $10,000 state liability payout (decedent listed as Denard Brown, per the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger). On Aug. 1, 2020, per GDC records, malfunctioning doors allowed inmates out of their cells; two guards were taken hostage, one beaten and stabbed, and hundreds of inmates ransacked the prison — 33 homemade weapons and 55 security staff were involved, followed by a mass employee exodus. Decedents recorded in this period include Christopher Arnett Rawls, 32, killed by strangulation on Sept. 5, 2020, and Robert Lee Wilson III, 31, killed by multiple stab wounds on July 17, 2020, in an incident report listing 16 other inmates involved and seven injured.

Ware State Prison — Warden 3 (2021–2023) and Warden (through Oct. 15, 2024). Fifty-eight deaths are attributed to Odum's Ware tenure. Documented homicides include Christopher Eli Gresham, 39, stab wounds (Sept. 30, 2021); Kyle Anthony Strother, 31, stab wound (June 5, 2022); Va'Darian LaVianta Carr, 26, stab wounds (Sept. 18, 2022); Alfonso Marquez Moore, 30, blunt impact to the head (June 19, 2023); Thomas Jerome McCoy, 38, stab wound (Oct. 7, 2023, with three other prisoners involved); Leonardo Lamonte Anderson, 49, multiple stab wounds (April 20, 2024); Christopher Michael Drake Taylor, 33, stab wound (May 28, 2024); and Samuel Keith Ellis, 31, multiple sharp force injuries (Aug. 1, 2024, three inmates involved). Several decedents were elderly, including Eugene Talmadge Bowling, 80, and John Lewis Scott, 80. Per Georgia Public Broadcasting reporting dated Oct. 1, 2024 — during Odum's Ware tenure — Narissa Wright alleged no counts or welfare checks were conducted at the prison, allowing her son's body to go undiscovered for days; a related record identifies the decedent as DonTavis Mintz and states Wright could identify the remains only by a single tooth. The settlement ledger records a $20,000 payout for the 2023 Jimmy Mack Rice matter and $2,500 for the 2021 Bennie James Johnson matter.

Valdosta State Prison — Warden (Oct. 16, 2024–July 15, 2025). Ten deaths are attributed to this posting, among them Billy W. Chaney, 68, and Antonio D. Anderson, 49 (both Dec. 3, 2024), Matthew Dane Jackson, 37 (Dec. 31, 2024), Sinjuan Harmon (Jan. 12, 2025), Eric Lee Schermerhorn, 40 (March 4, 2025), Ryan Cornelius Rumph, 34 (March 11, 2025), Chet Elliott Kent, 45 (March 16, 2025), Brandon Dominique McGee, 33 (April 2, 2025), Anthony Vashern Prothro, 34 (April 7, 2025), and Jason Frank Jordan, 45 (June 1, 2025). The AJC reported in January 2025 that 80% of correctional officer positions were vacant, and reported a contraband scheme ("Operation Skyhawk") in which seven officers were arrested, with a federal indictment filed May 13, 2025. AJC reporting also recounted 2024 Valdosta homicides — Shane Griffith (beaten and burned, 11 inmates charged with murder), Melvin Towns, Ricky Harris and Rufus Lane — several of which occurred before Odum's Oct. 16, 2024 posting; Griffith's family filed a notice of intent to sue the state. AJC also reported a claim alleging an officer placed Hakeem Olajuwon Williams handcuffed in a cell where he was attacked, and that Jenna Mitchell's suicide threats were ignored while she was in solitary. April 26, 2025 records list gang control of the kitchen and extortion of inmates for food, and advocates' reports of caged housing without toilet access. A $2,000 state payout to Kenneth Greene Jr. was recorded March 5, 2025.

Litigation

• Brown v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00062 (S.D. Ga.), filed June 30, 2025; pending, no disposition recorded.
• Jackson v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00051 (S.D. Ga.), filed June 9, 2025; pending, no disposition recorded.

Both were filed while Odum held the Valdosta warden role. The record provided does not state the claims underlying either case.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — prison homicide list, Operation Skyhawk contraband coverage, Valdosta staffing and "South Georgia prison becomes deadlier" investigations, and the $600M prison overhaul reporting.
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — Oct. 1, 2024 reporting on DOJ "deliberate indifference" findings, including the Narissa Wright allegation at Ware.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — Ware payouts (Rice $20,000; Johnson $2,500; Brown $10,000) and Valdosta payout (Greene $2,000).
• Court records via CourtListener — dockets for Brown v. Odum and Jackson v. Odum, S.D. Ga.

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