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Rowland, Brandon Carl
Status: active
Profile written June 7, 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
Brandon Carl Rowland began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer in 2015, earning $27,742.52 that year, per GPS personnel records. Over the following decade, he rose through the ranks, serving as a sergeant, lieutenant, and unit manager before being promoted to Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison in 2024, a role he continued to hold into 2025 with a salary of $77,773.02. GPS records attribute a total of 25 deaths to his leadership tenure, all occurring at Baldwin State Prison during his time as Deputy Warden. Those deaths span from January 2024 through April 2026 and include homicides, deaths from natural causes, and cases still under investigation, coinciding with a period when the facility faced federal scrutiny, a major gang indictment, and multiple lawsuits alleging staff misconduct and contraband smuggling.What happened on their watch
Rowland was appointed Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison effective January 1, 2024. According to GPS records, 25 incarcerated individuals died at the facility during his tenure in that role. The recorded deaths began almost immediately; on January 17, 2024, Clint Donavan Shelley, 50, died, and the deaths continued with regularity through the latest entry, Ricky Carroll Mathis, 38, on April 5, 2026. While many of the deaths recorded during Rowland's tenure are categorized under natural causes—for instance, Walter Brown’s death in January 2025 was noted as metastatic adenocarcinoma—several other categories appear. The death of Al Mir Harris, 23, on December 31, 2024, is recorded in GPS intel as being from diabetic ketoacidosis after an alleged denial of essential medical care. Henry Finley’s death on January 19, 2025, was listed as a homicide due to multiple puncture wounds, and an incident report for Vincent Reshad Dyer describes his August 2024 death as a homicide from sharp force chest trauma during a fight involving contraband. Ricky Mathis’s April 2026 death prompted a standard investigation by the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards, with his body sent to the GBI crime lab, per GPS event logs. A GPS user-submitted note regarding Isaac Evan Robinson’s death in January 2026 includes an anonymous allegation published on social media that wardens routinely watch as inmates in protective custody are forcibly removed from dining halls and returned to housing units in handcuffs, claiming the warden over care and treatment “does not care.”The systemic context at Baldwin State during Rowland’s watch was severe. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a federal indictment in November 2023 charged 23 defendants connected to the Sex Money Murder gang, including three former Baldwin correctional officers, with running a criminal enterprise from inside the prison that coordinated drug trafficking and murders. The AJC also reported that Lieutenant Tracey Wise admitted to smuggling K-2-laced papers for a Bloods gang member three times, and that by 2023, at least 360 Georgia prison employees had been arrested on contraband charges since 2018. The DOJ announced in 2021 it was investigating violence and conditions in Georgia prisons. Multiple intel reports from the AJC and 13WMAZ, dated during Rowland’s tenure, summarize advocacy group allegations of violent, understaffed conditions and medical neglect. A lawsuit filed by the mother of Joshua Emanuel Williams alleges her son died at Baldwin in 2020 after being negligently placed in a cell with an inmate known for stabbing others; a separate 2026 lawsuit by Akeim Burgest alleges an officer shanked him while a lieutenant watched, leading a federal judge to order GDC to preserve all records and footage.
Litigation
- Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, Case 5:23-cv-00430 (GAMD), filed Oct. 26, 2023, terminated Jan. 23, 2026. Court records show this is a lawsuit against an insurance company; its connection to Rowland’s GDC role is not evident from the provided docket summary.
- Lewis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Case 1:14-cv-03838 (GAND), filed Dec. 2, 2014, terminated Aug. 11, 2015. Court records list Rowland as a defendant in an action against a federal pension agency, predating his Baldwin appointment by nearly a decade; its subject matter does not appear facially tied to his corrections duties.
Sources
- GPS personnel and salary records — career progression, accountability tier, and salary data for Rowland, Brandon Carl.
- GPS death attribution database — total deaths (25) during Rowland’s tenure and per-facility count at Baldwin State Prison; decedent sample list with cause categories and incident notes.
- GPS intel reports — aggregated allegations from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 13WMAZ regarding contraband smuggling, staff misconduct, understaffing, and violent conditions at Baldwin State Prison.
- GPS intel events — timeline entries for individual deaths, lawsuits (Burgest, Williams), federal indictments, contraband arrests, and the DOJ investigation announcement.
- Court records via CourtListener — docket summaries for Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company and Lewis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER(WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:23-cv-00430 | GAMD | 2023-10-26 | terminated |
| 1:14-cv-03838 | GAND | 2014-12-02 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
25 people died at facilities under Rowland, Brandon Carl's leadership.
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