Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Pineiro, Aaron Thomas
Pineiro, Aaron Thomas
Status: active
Profile written September 6, 2026
Salary
$118,352
2025 · state payroll
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’s Georgia Department of Corrections record begins with a correctional officer posting at Valdosta State Prison in 2007, followed by behavioral health counselor roles at Valdosta and Georgia State Prison, deputy warden postings at Georgia State Prison (2017–2018) and Valdosta State Prison (2019–2021), and warden postings at Coastal State Prison (2022–2024) and Phillips State Prison (2024 onward). Across those leadership-linked tenures, GPS records attribute 85 deaths: 12 at Valdosta, 40 at Coastal, and 33 at Phillips. The provided deaths-by-facility table contains no Georgia State Prison entry. The court-record data associated with Pineiro includes nine cases between 2017 and 2026, with no settlement amounts listed.What happened on their watch
Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden (2019–2021)
GPS records attribute 12 deaths at Valdosta during this period. In the provided sample, three are listed as homicides by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Prince Blige (stab wound to torso, Feb. 2020), Orvonta Tillman (multiple sharp-force trauma to thorax, June 2020), and Bobby Lane Carpenter (stab wound to chest, Sept. 2020). Five sample deaths are classified as suicides in GDC’s own coding released through the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project: Michael Lee Vaughn, Shannon Small, Brandon Omar Weaver, Johnny Claude Mitchell, and Stanley Ward. Four sample deaths are classified as natural in that same GDC coding. A public Facebook comment in the record alleges that a Valdosta deputy warden retaliated with daily write-ups against a supervisor who refused to make false statements about staffing; the comment does not state that Pineiro was the deputy warden involved.Coastal State Prison — Warden (2022–2024)
GPS records attribute 40 deaths at Coastal. The provided sample includes Salomon Andres Ramirez (Oct. 2023), listed by the AJC as an apparent homicide. Numerous other sample deaths from 2022 through 2024 carry no cause category in the provided data — among them King Calloway, Hendrick Godwin, John Gardner, and Jonathan Belote. Later reporting and lawsuits in the record make allegations about Coastal: a lawsuit by Rufus Ramon Lee’s mother alleges his cell lock did not work, allowing assailants to reach and kill him; a separate AJC-reported lawsuit alleges five inmates stabbed Kion E. Parks to death. The record does not establish whether those specific deaths occurred during Pineiro’s Coastal tenure.Phillips State Prison — Warden (2024–present)
GPS records attribute 33 deaths at Phillips. Gwinnett County Medical Examiner records in the sample certify multiple homicides: David E. Fambro (July 2024), Timothy Hurley (Sept. 2024, age 19), Brandon Lashaun Mincey (Oct. 2024), Corey Madison Cochran (Dec. 2024), Jody Stokes (Jan. 2025, homicide due to strangulation), and Alonzo Carter Jr. (Sept. 2025, complications of blunt-force head trauma after a May 2025 assault at Phillips). The sample also includes suicides: Nile Baptiste Young (Oct. 2024), Christopher Blake Hines (Mar. 2025), and Terry Nichols (Oct. 2025). Many natural deaths were documented by Gwinnett ME investigator reports. In one contested case, Leroy Brooks (Dec. 2024), the Gwinnett ME declined jurisdiction; the family contests a natural-causes finding, and the record states the death certificate was to be signed by the prison physician. AJC reporting also carries Phillips-related allegations, including that officers arranged for an inmate named McBride to be on the lockdown unit the day he was killed in a gang-related stabbing, and that Dave Stone was assaulted in a mental health ward.Litigation
Court records in the provided data include the following matters:- Young v. Smith, 6:17-cv-00131, GASD, filed 2017-10-02, terminated 2021-03-16.
- Mosley v. Caraviello, 6:19-cv-00100, GASD, filed 2019-11-04, terminated 2021-05-06.
- Daker v. Ward, 7:20-cv-00113, GAMD, filed 2020-06-11, terminated 2021-11-03.
- Brewer v. Chambers, 4:22-cv-00264, GASD, filed 2022-11-09, terminated 2024-07-25.
- Browner v. Brown, 4:23-cv-00167, GASD, filed 2023-06-21, pending.
- Doe v. Georgia Department of Corrections, 1:23-cv-05578, GAND, filed 2023-12-06, pending.
- Patrick v. Moore, 4:24-cv-00242, GASD, filed 2024-10-24, pending.
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, 1:25-cv-03191, GAND, filed 2025-06-06, terminated 2026-03-30.
- Mckenzie v. Oliver, 4:26-cv-00108, GAND, filed 2026-04-28, pending.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel positions, deaths-by-facility totals, deaths-during-tenure sample, intel reports and events
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation and related prison-condition reporting
- Gwinnett County Medical Examiner open-records productions and case reports
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences toxicology/records responses
- UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset (GDC’s own coding, 2015–2021)
- WTOC, WALB, WRDW, Yahoo News, and The Georgia Virtue reporting referenced in GPS intel records
- CourtListener dockets for the litigation listed above
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 2 | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| Warden | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-06-16 → present |
| Warden | COASTAL 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 | 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
85 people died at facilities under Pineiro, Aaron Thomas's leadership.
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