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Pineiro, Aaron Thomas
Status: active
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 GDC career as a correctional officer at Valdosta State Prison in 2007, later returning there as a behavioral health counselor before ascending through supervisory and deputy-warden roles at Georgia State Prison and Valdosta. He reached the facility-lead tier in 2022 as Warden at Coastal State Prison, then transferred to Phillips State Prison in early 2024, where he remains as of 2025. GPS records show 57 unique deaths attributed to facilities during Pineiro's leadership-tier tenures (Coastal State Prison 2022–2023; Phillips State Prison 2024–present), spanning cause categories that include homicide, natural/illness-related deaths, and cases still under investigation. Nine federal lawsuits name him or were filed against facilities during his command, and a 2024 DOJ investigation found Coastal State Prison among Georgia facilities violating the Eighth Amendment.
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What Happened on Their Watch
Coastal State Prison — Warden (2022–2023)
Pineiro held the warden role at Coastal State Prison from 2022 through 2023, during which GPS records show 29 deaths at the facility. The majority fall into cause category 6 (illness/other); one — Salomon Andres Ramirez, 43, who died October 20, 2023 — is listed by the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation as an apparent homicide. Ryan Chase Archer, 25, died December 13, 2023, from a stab wound to the chest, per GPS records; he had been due for release in 2024. A 2024 DOJ investigation concluded that Georgia prisons, including Coastal State, failed to protect inmates from violence and unconstitutional conditions in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Health inspectors documented repeat violations at Coastal State's kitchen — live roaches, a dead mouse in backed-up mop water, mold on ceiling tiles, and improper food temperatures — with a public health inspection in April 2026 yielding a score of 70, per The Georgia Virtue and GPS records. According to WTOC, workers and inmates described crumbling infrastructure, black mold throughout housing units, rat infestations, and lockdowns lasting seven to ten days without shower access; staff are alleged to have withheld food from inmates as punishment, and GDC records show no correctional officers were disciplined for violence against inmates over a six-month period in 2025. A lawsuit alleges five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death at Coastal State in September 2021 (before Pineiro's warden tenure began); a separate AJC-reported lawsuit alleges the lock on Rufus Ramon Lee's cell did not work, allowing assailants to reach and kill him. A GPS inmate report from May 2026 describes the kitchen being closed for fumigation, meals reduced to a single hamburger and hot dog with no sides, and some inmates receiving nothing at all.
Phillips State Prison — Warden (2024–present)
Pineiro transferred to Phillips State Prison in January 2024 and remains its warden. GPS records show 28 deaths at Phillips during his tenure through February 2026. Among those classified as homicides: David E. Fambro, 69, died July 24, 2024, from complications of facial fractures with a 26-day interval, per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; Brandon LaShaun Mincey, 37, was stabbed by other inmates on October 11, 2024, per WTOC and FOX 5 Atlanta; Corey Madison Cochran, 29, died December 18, 2024, with cause unknown to family per GPS research; and Jody Stokes died January 13, 2025, with the death certificate listing homicide due to strangulation, per GPS records. Additional deaths in 2025 and early 2026 span cause categories including illness (Thomas Nicely — myocardial infarction/HTN/prostate cancer; William Pate — HIV complications; Shun Pinkston — end-stage dementia), as well as multiple category-6 deaths among individuals ranging in age from 30 to 78. According to the AJC, officers allegedly arranged for Quafabian Melik McBride to be brought to the lockdown unit on the day he was killed in a gang-related stabbing at Phillips (September 2022, before Pineiro's tenure there); the AJC also reports an allegation that Dave Stone was assaulted in the mental health ward with two pipes wrapped in cloth, resulting in brain death. A federal judge denied dismissal of a parole process lawsuit tied to Phillips in March 2026, per GPS records.
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Litigation
- Young v. Smith, No. 6:17-cv-00131 (GASD), filed October 2, 2017; terminated March 16, 2021.
- Mosley v. Caraviello, No. 6:19-cv-00100 (GASD), filed November 4, 2019; terminated May 6, 2021.
- Daker v. Ward, No. 7:20-cv-00113 (GAMD), filed June 11, 2020; terminated November 3, 2021.
- Brewer v. Chambers, No. 4:22-cv-00264 (GASD), filed November 9, 2022; terminated July 25, 2024.
- Browner v. Brown, No. 4:23-cv-00167 (GASD), filed June 21, 2023; pending.
- Doe v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:23-cv-05578 (GAND), filed December 6, 2023; pending.
- Patrick v. Moore, No. 4:24-cv-00242 (GASD), filed October 24, 2024; pending.
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026.
- Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26-cv-00108 (GAND), filed April 28, 2026; pending.
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Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (multiple facility entries including Coastal State Prison, Valdosta State Prison, Phillips State Prison)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Operation Skyhawk reporting (Valdosta State Prison contraband/drone scheme, 2024)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — GDC evidence destruction / Angela Butler sanctions reporting (Valdosta State Prison, 2026)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison conditions / DOJ investigation reporting
- WTOC — Phillips State Prison inmate deaths (Mincey, October 2024); Coastal State Prison human rights crisis reporting (February 2026)
- FOX 5 Atlanta — Phillips State Prison inmate deaths (Mincey, October 2024)
- WALB — Coastal State Prison inmate death / balcony fall reporting (February 2026); Valdosta State Prison stabbing / family notification reporting
- The Georgia Virtue — Coastal State Prison health inspection reporting; Georgia State Prison conditions reporting
- GPS records — deaths during tenure, cause categories, death certificate notations (Stokes, Nicely, Pinkston, Pate)
- U.S. DOJ — 2024 investigation into Georgia prison conditions (Coastal State Prison named)
- CourtListener — federal docket records for all nine listed lawsuits
Deaths attributed during tenure
79 people died at facilities under Pineiro, Aaron Thomas's leadership.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 2 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → 2025-12-31 |
| Warden | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-06-16 → present |
| WARDEN 2 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → 2024-06-15 |
| 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 | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| 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 |
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