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Pineiro, Aaron Thomas
Status: active
Profile written June 14, 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
Aaron Thomas Pineiro began his Georgia Department of Corrections career as a correctional officer and behavioral health counselor before rising to leadership roles. During his higher-accountability positions—deputy warden and warden—a total of 80 deaths were attributed to facilities under his watch: 12 at Valdosta State Prison as deputy warden, 30 at Coastal State Prison as warden, and 38 at Phillips State Prison as warden. No deaths were attributed to his earlier deputy warden tenure at Georgia State Prison. His career has been marked by persistent allegations of extreme understaffing, contraband networks, crumbling infrastructure, and failures to prevent violence, as documented by news investigations and inmate reports.What happened on their watch
Deputy Warden, Georgia State Prison (2017–2018)
GPS records show no deaths attributed to Pineiro’s tenure as deputy warden at Georgia State Prison. Facility conditions later became the subject of media accounts, but those reports describe periods after his departure.Deputy Warden, Valdosta State Prison (2019–2021)
During Pineiro’s three years as deputy warden, 12 people died in the facility. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation, at least three of these were homicides: Bobby Lane Carpenter (stab wound to the chest, September 2020), Orvonta Casmir Tillman (multiple sharp force trauma, June 2020), and Prince Blige (stab wound to the torso, February 2020). The remaining decedents—including Stanley Ward, Ralph Bell Johnson, Norman Leon Davis, Ray Starlin Nichols, Johnny Claude Mitchell, Brandon Omar Weaver, Gary Thomas Keown, Shannon Small, and Michael Lee Vaughn—are recorded under a cause-of-death category that GPS records do not further specify.Media reports from the period paint a picture of systemic breakdown. The AJC reported that 80% of correctional officer positions were vacant, making supervision virtually impossible. Yahoo.com detailed a drug trafficking network tied to Mexican cartels that was operated by inmate Luis Ramirez using contraband cellphones. The AJC also uncovered that six officers were indicted for smuggling drug-soaked paper, pills, and tobacco for another prisoner. Although the most notorious event—the fatal stabbing of Hakeem Williams and the subsequent destruction of video evidence by GDC—occurred after Pineiro’s tenure, a federal judge later sanctioned the department for destroying footage, and a notice of intent to sue alleged that inmate Shane Griffith was beaten, burned, and killed by eleven inmates over hours while staff were absent.
Warden, Coastal State Prison (2022–2023)
As warden, Pineiro oversaw a facility where 30 deaths were attributed. Named decedents range in age from 25 to 85. The AJC identified Salomon Andres Ramirez as an apparent homicide victim in October 2023. During this period, workers and inmates told WTOC that the prison was experiencing a “human rights crisis,” with staff routinely beating prisoners, withholding food as punishment, and subjecting people to lockdowns lasting seven to ten days without showers. Infrastructural decay described in the same report included black mold, rodent infestations, and broken HVAC systems. A DOJ review cited by WTOC criticized Georgia prisons, including Coastal, for overusing lockdowns and isolating victims of sexual abuse.Separate Georgia Department of Public Health inspections recorded a steady decline in the facility’s health score—from 87 in February 2025 to 70 by April 2026—with inspectors noting live roaches, a dead mouse in mop water, and improper food temperatures. An inmate informant told GPS of starvation conditions, with meals sometimes limited to a single hamburger and hot dog with no sides. Lawsuits filed during this chapter include allegations that five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death and that a broken cell lock allowed assailants to attack Rufus Ramon Lee.
Warden, Phillips State Prison (2024–present)
Pineiro’s current assignment has been his deadliest. Since January 2024, 38 deaths have been attributed to Phillips State Prison. Homicides feature among them: Brandon Lashaun Mincey was stabbed by other inmates in October 2024 (per WTOC and FOX 5 Atlanta), David E. Fambro died from complications of facial fractures in July 2024 (AJC), Corey Madison Cochran died under unknown circumstances in a facility GPS research describes as high-violence, and Jody Stokes was strangled in January 2025. An additional AJC report alleges that officers arranged for a prisoner named McBride to be moved to a lockdown unit on the day he was killed in a gang-related stabbing, and that Dave Stone was fatally assaulted inside a mental health ward.Litigation
Pineiro has been named as a defendant in at least nine federal civil rights lawsuits spanning 2017 to 2026:- Young v. Smith, No. 6:17-cv-00131 (S.D. Ga., filed Oct. 2017, terminated Mar. 2021)
- Mosley v. Caraviello, No. 6:19-cv-00100 (S.D. Ga., filed Nov. 2019, terminated May 2021)
- Daker v. Ward, No. 7:20-cv-00113 (M.D. Ga., filed Jun. 2020, terminated Nov. 2021)
- Brewer v. Chambers, No. 4:22-cv-00264 (S.D. Ga., filed Nov. 2022, terminated Jul. 2024)
- Browner v. Brown, No. 4:23-cv-00167 (S.D. Ga., filed Jun. 2023, pending)
- Doe v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:23-cv-05578 (N.D. Ga., filed Dec. 2023, pending)
- Patrick v. Moore, No. 4:24-cv-00242 (S.D. Ga., filed Oct. 2024, pending)
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (N.D. Ga., filed Jun. 2025, terminated Mar. 2026)
- Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26-cv-00108 (N.D. Ga., filed Apr. 2026, pending)
None of the terminated cases are recorded as having produced a monetary settlement.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; reports on staffing, contraband, and violence at Valdosta, Coastal, and Phillips
- WTOC — Reports on human rights conditions, inmate deaths, and contraband at Coastal and Valdosta state prisons
- WALB — Family allegations regarding an assault at Valdosta State Prison
- Yahoo.com — Drug trafficking ring directed from Valdosta State Prison
- FOX 5 Atlanta — Inmate death at Phillips State Prison
- The Georgia Virtue — Allegations of conditions at Georgia State Prison (post-Pineiro period)
- Georgia Department of Public Health — Coastal State Prison inspection results
- GPS records — Personnel, death counts, intel reports, and facility data
- Court records (PACER/CourtListener) — Civil dockets for lawsuits naming Pineiro
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 2 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| Warden | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-06-16 → present |
| WARDEN 2 | COASTAL STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | COASTAL STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:26-cv-00108 | GAND | 2026-04-28 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-03191 | GAND | 2025-06-06 | terminated |
| 4:24-cv-00242 | GASD | 2024-10-24 | pending |
| 1:23-cv-05578 | GAND | 2023-12-06 | pending |
| 4:23-cv-00167 | GASD | 2023-06-21 | pending |
| 4:22-cv-00264 | GASD | 2022-11-09 | terminated |
| 7:20-cv-00113 | GAMD | 2020-06-11 | terminated |
| 6:19-cv-00100 | GASD | 2019-11-04 | terminated |
| 6:17-cv-00131 | GASD | 2017-10-02 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
80 people died at facilities under Pineiro, Aaron Thomas's leadership.
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