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Peoples, Delvin Rasaunn
Status: active
Profile written August 23, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Delvin Rasaunn Peoples is a Georgia Department of Corrections employee whose record spans line staff and facility leadership: correctional officer at Lee State Prison in 2006 and 2015, correctional lieutenant in 2016–2017, assistant superintendent at McEver Probation Detention Center in 2018, correctional superintendent at Calhoun State Prison in 2019, deputy warden at Calhoun from 2020 through August 2024, then Macon State Prison as special assistant to the warden starting September 2024, deputy warden in 2025, and warden effective January 16, 2026.GPS records attribute 47 deaths to facility-leader tenures held by Peoples: 19 at Calhoun State Prison and 28 at Macon State Prison. No deaths are attributed to his 2018 McEver Probation Detention Center posting in the records provided.
What happened on their watch
Calhoun State Prison (2019–August 2024)
Peoples held the correctional superintendent role in 2019 and the deputy warden role from 2020 through August 2024. Among the 19 deaths attributed to this tenure, GPS records and coroner documents identify several homicides: Gonzalo Colmenero-Ayala, 54, died July 17, 2024; the Calhoun County death certificate lists multiple blunt force injuries and neck compressions, with homicide as the manner. Martel Orlando Dorsey, 32, died November 24, 2023, with a coroner-recorded cause of “stabbed by other or others with sharp instruments.” Kenneth Scott Piper, 37, died May 4, 2024; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s prison homicides investigation identified an inmate-to-inmate assault. DaQuavious Lackey, 21, died May 16, 2022, from a stab wound to the neck and multiple blunt force injuries, per coroner records.The Calhoun tenure also included the February 6, 2023 death of Reginald Jacobs Jr., 24. A death-record annotation states he was held in segregation in J Building for over a year and that the medical examiner ruled dehydration with renal failure. A First Amended Complaint in Jacobs v. GDC alleges a GDC employee disabled his water supply; that allegation is not an established fact in the GPS record. Christopher Edward Oliva, 43, died April 9, 2022; the GBI medical examiner certified suicide by hanging.
Broader findings overlap this period. According to WALB’s reporting on the DOJ investigation, federal investigators documented staff failures in classification and housing procedures in a 2022 Calhoun homicide and a death from dehydration after water was shut off. The AJC reported that drug evidence in Calhoun-area smuggling cases, including the 2020 “Hot Pockets” arrests of two correctional officers, was never submitted for testing; charges were later dismissed.
Macon State Prison (September 2024–present)
Peoples moved to Macon State Prison as special assistant to the warden in September 2024, became deputy warden in 2025, and was named warden effective January 16, 2026. GPS records attribute 28 deaths to his Macon tenure. Documented examples include Jonathan Mitchell, who died January 21, 2025; a GDC-released January 2025 mortality entry lists “Homicide due to Head Trauma.” Sanchez Jackson, 48, died June 19, 2025; a coroner record lists the death as a reported homicide. Other deaths recorded during this period include Marquis Young, Pierre Scott, Xavier Adams, Lukas Way, and D’Andrius Brown, several with GPS notes indicating they were killed in the hole, and Calvin Noble and Cassiem Johnson, whose records list suicide. David Gill’s January 30, 2025 death was originally recorded by GDC as “Suicide due to a Drug Overdose,” but a later GBI medical examiner report certified the manner as natural, with the cause “sudden cardiac death.”The AJC has alleged severe understaffing at Macon State Prison, reporting that about two-thirds of correctional officer posts were unfilled as of October 2024. 13WMAZ and CBS News have documented contraband-cellphone drug and fraud operations tied to Macon prisoners, and GPS event logs note four correctional officers arrested at Macon State Prison in September 2024 on charges of violating their oath and providing false statements. These allegations are attributed to the cited outlets and law enforcement actions, not established findings against Peoples individually.
Litigation
- Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 4:25-cv-00111 (M.D. Ga.), filed March 26, 2025. The GPS litigation record lists the case as pending; a death-record annotation states the case was removed from Muscogee County State Court No. SC2024CV002716 and references a notice of settlement on August 15, 2025, with an all-defendant stipulation of dismissal on December 16, 2025.
Sources
- Georgia Prisoners’ Speak personnel, death, and intel records
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation; DOJ findings; Calhoun drug-evidence reporting; Macon understaffing allegations
- WALB — DOJ investigation reporting and family allegations tied to Calhoun State Prison
- Calhoun County death certificates and coroner records obtained via GPS open-records requests
- GBI Medical Examiner reports for Oliva and Gill
- GDC-released January 2025 mortality data PDF
- UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset, citing GDC classifications obtained via open records
- Court records: Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, 4:25-cv-00111 (M.D. Ga.), via CourtListener
- CBS News and 13WMAZ — Macon State Prison contraband cellphone and fraud/drug trafficking allegations
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Warden | MACON STATE PRISON | 2026-01-16 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | MACON STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Special Assistant to the Warden | MACON STATE PRISON | 2024-09-01 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2024-08-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | McEVER PROBATION DETENTION CENTER | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | LEE STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | LEE STATE PRISON | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:25-cv-00111 | GAMD | 2025-03-26 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
47 people died at facilities under Peoples, Delvin Rasaunn's leadership.
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