Rowland, Brandon Carl

Tenure Summary

Brandon Carl Rowland has spent his career inside the Georgia Department of Corrections, rising from a correctional officer in 2015 to the rank of deputy warden. GPS records show that since his appointment as Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison on January 1, 2024, 27 incarcerated people have lost their lives inside the facility. Rowland’s transition to a facility-deputy role placed him at Baldwin during a period of documented homicides, escalating gang violence, contraband smuggling, and lawsuits over staff use of force — developments that, according to GPS records and press reports, were unfolding inside the prison on his watch.

What happened on their watch

Rowland became Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison in January 2024. Over the next two and a half years, GPS records link 27 deaths to the facility while he held that post. The deaths include both homicides and deaths attributed to medical crises. On August 21, 2024, Vincent Reshad Dyer, 50, died from sharp-force chest trauma in what incident reports describe as a homicide involving a fight and contraband, per GPS records. Henry Finley died on January 19, 2025, of homicide due to multiple puncture wounds. On April 5, 2026, Ricky Carroll Mathis, 38, died; the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards has opened an investigation, although the agency told reporters at 13WMAZ that it found no signs of an altercation. A death of a 23‑year‑old, Al Mir Harris, on December 31, 2024, from diabetic ketoacidosis drew attention when news reports and GPS incident data indicated he had been denied essential medical care. Other deaths during Rowland’s tenure involved older men who died from natural causes while incarcerated, including Richard Lyle Timmons (37), James Monroe Dailey (64), and Leroy Keye (71).

Allegations of violence and neglect at Baldwin have been aired in press reports throughout Rowland’s time as deputy warden. According to 13WMAZ, a lawsuit filed by Akeim Burgest alleges that in March 2025, an officer threw a water bottle at Burgest, later returned with a shank, and stabbed him while a lieutenant stood by and did nothing. That same month, a federal judge ordered GDC to preserve all records and camera footage related to the incident. A separate lawsuit, reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, contends that Joshua Emanuel Williams was negligently housed in a cell with an inmate who had previously stabbed others; Williams died from multiple sharp-force injuries in July 2020, before Rowland’s tenure, but the litigation and the report of the case were ongoing during Rowland’s watch.

Broader systemic issues at Baldwin surfaced repeatedly during Rowland’s posting. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented that in 2021, Baldwin Lieutenant Tracey Wise had pleaded guilty to smuggling K‑2‑laced papers into the prison for a member of the Sex Money Murder gang, and in 2023 a federal indictment charged 23 defendants — including three former correctional officers — in a gang‑led enterprise that operated inside and outside multiple state prisons. GPS records note that during Rowland’s tenure, the same facility was the subject of AJC reports citing hundreds of Georgia prison employees arrested for smuggling contraband, and advocates’ allegations that understaffing and medical neglect were fueling inmate deaths.

Litigation

• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23‑cv‑00430 (GAMD), filed October 26, 2023, terminated January 23, 2026. The case does not appear to arise from Rowland’s employment with the GDC.
• Lewis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, No. 1:14‑cv‑03838 (GAND), filed December 2, 2014, terminated August 11, 2015. The case does not appear to be connected to Rowland’s work at the prison.

Sources

• GPS records — personnel timeline, death rosters, and incident reports for Baldwin State Prison during Brandon Rowland’s tenure as Deputy Warden (2024‑2026)
• 13WMAZ — reporting on the Akeim Burgest lawsuit and Ricky Mathis death investigation
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple homicide reports and investigative pieces on contraband smuggling and gang activity inside Georgia prisons, including Baldwin
• Court records — federal indictments and civil lawsuits filed in the Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 28, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.