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Perry, James Kevin

Status: active

Profile written September 6, 2026

Current Position Warden 3 Augusta State Medical Prison

Salary $32,499 2025 · state payroll

Deaths Under Their Watch 5 during their tenure

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

James Kevin Perry’s recorded GDC career spans Correction Administration in 2015, Correctional Asst. Supt in 2016, Deputy Warden roles from 2017 through 2020, Warden 2 in 2021–2022, and Warden 3 from 2023 through 2025, per GPS salary and position records. Records assign him to a named facility only at Augusta State Medical Prison: Interim Warden from May 16 to June 30, 2023; a one-day Warden 3 posting on November 22, 2023; and a one-day Warden 3 posting on August 27, 2026. GPS records attribute five deaths to his leadership tenures, all at Augusta State Medical Prison. He is listed as a defendant in two federal lawsuits, both later terminated.

What happened on their watch

At Augusta State Medical Prison, GPS attributes five deaths to Perry’s facility-leader tenures. Four occurred while he is listed as Interim Warden:

Daniel Lee Pack, 58, died May 28, 2023; the Richmond County Coroner’s Office summary lists hepatic failure.
Leroy McDaniel, 61, died June 2, 2023; complications of colon cancer.
Tony Mitchell, 64, died June 10, 2023; cardiogenic shock.
Dennis Burnett, 60, died June 12, 2023; multi-organ failure.

The fifth, Joshua Cain Phillips, 43, died November 22, 2023, the same date Perry is recorded in a one-day Warden 3 posting at Augusta. The coroner summary lists acute myeloblastic leukemia. GPS records classify all five deaths as cause category 1, and the coroner summaries describe natural causes; the provided notes contain no homicide or trauma classification for these deaths.

The Augusta State Medical Prison intelligence file also contains Atlanta Journal-Constitution allegations of wider failures at the facility, including reports that guards placed a prisoner with a violent strangulation history into Eddie Gosier’s cell before Gosier’s murder, that Thomas Henry Giles was left in a smoke-filled cell for hours and died, and that a correctional officer aided in the stabbing death of Rodarick Lee Hayes. A DOJ investigation finding, cited by the AJC, reported that Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his death. These facility-level incidents are not listed among the five deaths GPS attributes to Perry’s tenure.

Litigation

Danenberg v. Perry, No. 1:24-cv-00006, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, filed January 17, 2024; terminated July 8, 2024, per the CourtListener docket. No payout recorded.
Mcclinton v. Berry, No. 5:22-cv-00109, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, filed March 14, 2022; terminated February 14, 2025. GPS litigation records list Perry among the defendants. No payout recorded.

Sources

Richmond County Coroner’s Office summaries — cause-of-death determinations for the five attributed deaths.
GPS personnel, deaths, and litigation records — position history, total deaths attributed, deaths by facility, and lawsuit dockets.
CourtListener dockets — Danenberg v. Perry (1:24-cv-00006) and Mcclinton v. Berry (5:22-cv-00109).
Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigations — Augusta State Medical Prison homicide and systemic allegations, including DOJ findings cited by the AJC.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.

Positions Held

Title	Facility	Tenure
Warden 3	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2026-08-27 → present
WARDEN 3		2023-01-01 → present
Warden 3	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22
Interim Warden	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON	2023-05-16 → 2023-06-30
WARDEN 2		2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31
DEPUTY WARDEN		2017-01-01 → 2020-12-31
CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT		2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31
CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION		2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31

Lawsuits as defendant

Case #	Court	Filed	Status
4:25-cv-00136	GAND	2025-05-30	pending
1:24-cv-00006	GASD	2024-01-17	terminated
1:23-cv-01593	GAND	2023-04-12	terminated
5:22-cv-00109	GAMD	2022-03-14	terminated
7:16-cv-00141	GAMD	2016-08-17	terminated

Deaths attributed during tenure

5 people died at facilities under Perry, James Kevin's leadership.

About deaths recorded at Augusta State Medical Prison. Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) is the GDC's primary medical and end-of-life facility. It concentrates the system's most seriously ill, disabled, and dying people — many transferred there because they were already gravely ill or injured, including after violence at other prisons. A large share of the deaths counted here reflect advanced illness, and the wardens and deputy wardens listed should not be held personally accountable for every death at this facility. That said, conditions at ASMP still produce more deaths than necessary, and responsibility is shared: the State of Georgia and the Board of Pardons and Paroles bear equal responsibility for holding medically incapacitated and dying people in custody far longer than necessary. Read these figures as positional context — not as a measure of any individual official's culpability.

Date	Decedent	Age	Facility	Role at time
2023-11-22	JOSHUA CAIN PHILLIPS	43	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Warden 3
2023-06-12	DENNIS BURNETT	60	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Interim Warden
2023-06-10	TONY MITCHELL	64	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Interim Warden
2023-06-02	LEROY MCDANIEL	61	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Interim Warden
2023-05-28	DANIEL LEE PACK	58	AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON †	Interim Warden

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