Paschal, Michael Frank

Tenure Summary

Michael Frank Paschal entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer and advanced steadily through supervisory ranks — lieutenant (2016–2017), unit manager (2018–2020) — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) in 2021, a post he has held continuously through at least 2025. GPS records show 160 deaths attributed to ASMP during his tenure as Deputy Warden (2021–2026), the overwhelming majority classified under cause category 6 (cause unspecified in available records), with confirmed homicides, at least one suicide, and at least one natural-cause death also recorded. His tenure at ASMP overlaps with a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report describing systemic violence, sexual assault, and gang-run conditions across GDC facilities, as well as an AJC investigation documenting rampant corruption, understaffing, and suppressed death information within the department.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Augusta State Medical Prison — Deputy Warden (2021–present)

Paschal held the Deputy Warden role at ASMP beginning in 2021. GPS records attribute 160 deaths at the facility during his tenure through April 2026. The large majority carry cause category 6, meaning the specific cause is not documented in available GPS records. Among the documented exceptions: Kendius Hill died January 9, 2025, with notes listing "Homicide, Anoxic Brain Injury and Septic Shock"; Stephen Prochaska died January 21, 2025, listed as "Suicide by Hanging"; Marty Reeves died January 13, 2025, listed as "Cardiopulmonary Arrest/COPD/Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer"; and Sidney Dorsey, 86, died March 2, 2026, noted as a natural-cause death. Jerry Wayne Merritt, 59, died January 20, 2026; GPS records include a user report alleging he was stabbed with a sharpened object by another incarcerated person, with John Jaquis Trimer named as the accused. DeQuan Osborne, 33, died February 17, 2026; a GPS user report alleges the prison did not notify his family until after he had been removed from life support.

Intel events documented at ASMP during Paschal's tenure include several named homicides with additional detail. Per GPS records: Ali Lamont Tanner, 45, died July 2, 2021 from a stab wound to the neck; Terry Lee Bennett II, 43, died January 10, 2021 from blunt impact to the head; Raphael Zachery Milligan, 41, died July 21, 2022 from blunt force injuries and strangulation, with another prisoner charged with his murder; Amos Bennett Huff Jr., 60, died March 30, 2023 by strangulation — per the AJC's Georgia prison homicides investigation, his 26-year-old cellmate was charged with murder; Randall Joey Futch, 61, died June 8, 2023 from delayed complications of blunt force head trauma, per GPS records; Rodarick Lee Hayes, 29, died May 25, 2024 from sharp force injury — per GPS records and the AJC, two prisoners and a correctional officer were charged with murder, with the officer accused of aiding in the attack, and the AJC further alleges Hayes had been attacked on multiple prior occasions, suggesting a failure to protect him; Thomas Preston Johnson, 56, died April 12, 2024, with GPS records listing the incident as a homicide; and Lamar Wesson Phillips, 39, died June 8, 2024 in what GPS records describe as an inmate-to-inmate assault.

The AJC also alleges that Eddie Gosier, 39, was killed by ligature strangulation on May 2, 2020 — just before Paschal's Deputy Warden appointment — after guards moved a prisoner with a prior strangulation history into his cell; and that Thomas Henry Giles, 31, died October 28, 2020 after being left in a smoke-filled cell for hours while nearby inmates were evacuated, a death the GBI ruled a homicide. The state agreed to pay Giles's family $5 million to settle a lawsuit, per GPS records. Both incidents occurred at ASMP while Paschal was serving as a unit manager, one tier below his current role.

The AJC further alleges that Jimmy Lucero was placed in solitary confinement at ASMP without required medical checks and fell into a catatonic state and starved. GPS relay-bot reports from 2026 include unverified allegations of an inmate stabbed in the eye in D building, an incarcerated person severely beaten, and four individuals arriving at ASMP with wired-shut jaws. A self-identified "GA prison mom" submitted a website comment to GPS in March 2026 describing conditions at the facility.

Paschal's tenure also coincides with broader GDC institutional findings. A 2024 DOJ report, per the AJC, described horrific violence, sexual assaults, and gang-run prisons within GDC enabled by a culture of indifference. In November 2024, a federal court granted summary judgment in Benning v. Oliver, finding GDC's email-contact restriction policy violated the First Amendment and ordering it ceased. When GDC failed to comply, a federal judge summoned GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to testify in February 2026, calling the department's conduct "shocking" and "unbelievable" and noting it acted as if "above the law," per the AJC. A separate federal court had previously found GDC in contempt for disregarding mandates to improve conditions in a high-security wing near Jackson, per the AJC.

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Litigation

• Manning v. Olin Corporation, No. 1:25-cv-03980 (GAND), filed 2025-07-17 — pending; per court records.
• Manning v. Olin Corporation, No. 1:26-cv-00072 (GASD), filed 2026-04-22 — pending; per court records.
• Jenkins v. Green, No. 1:24-cv-00012 (GASD), filed 2024-02-01, terminated 2024-04-17 — no outcome amount recorded; per court records.
• Williams v. Augusta State Prison, No. 1:23-cv-00039 (GASD), filed 2023-04-13, terminated 2023-07-11 — no outcome amount recorded; per court records.
• Jenkins v. Augusta State Medical Prison, No. 1:23-cv-00035 (GASD), filed 2023-04-07, terminated 2024-01-16 — no outcome amount recorded; per court records.
• Scott v. Hill Rom Company Inc, No. 4:17-cv-00021 (GAND), filed 2017-02-03, terminated 2019-04-18 — no outcome amount recorded; per court records.

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Sources

• GPS records — death incident data, position history, and user/relay-bot reports for Augusta State Medical Prison, 2021–2026
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation (multiple reports); AJC investigation into prison system failures and taxpayer costs; AJC reporting on federal judge's rebuke of GDC Commissioner Oliver, February 2026
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on GDC violence, sexual assault, and gang-run conditions (referenced via AJC reporting)
• Court records (CourtListener) — Manning v. Olin Corporation (GASD 1:26-cv-00072; GAND 1:25-cv-03980); Jenkins v. Green (GASD 1:24-cv-00012); Williams v. Augusta State Prison (GASD 1:23-cv-00039); Jenkins v. Augusta State Medical Prison (GASD 1:23-cv-00035); Scott v. Hill Rom Company Inc (GAND 4:17-cv-00021)
• GPS intel events — documented deaths with cause detail at ASMP, including Gosier, Giles, Tanner, Bennett, Milligan, Huff, Futch, Hayes, Johnson, Phillips, Merritt, Osborne, Hill, Prochaska, Reeves; $5 million settlement in Giles matter; Benning v. Oliver litigation timeline

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.