Sampson, Gregory L

Tenure Summary

Gregory L. Sampson's GDC career began as a correctional officer at Rutledge State Prison in 2006, then moved through sergeant posts at Rutledge (2013) and Clayton Transitional Center (2014), a correctional lieutenant post (2016), correctional assistant superintendent roles from 2017 through 2019, and a correctional superintendent post in 2020. He then held facility-lead positions at four prisons.

Sampson was warden at Central State Prison from Nov. 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023; warden at Dooly State Prison from July 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2025; warden at Macon State Prison from Feb. 1, 2025 to Jan. 15, 2026; and warden at Metro Reentry Facility from Jan. 16, 2026, a facility where records also list him as Warden 3 for Jan. 1–31, 2025 and in a single-day Warden 3 entry dated Aug. 27, 2026. GPS's registry attributes 51 deaths to his leadership tenures: Macon State Prison 23, Dooly State Prison 18, Central State Prison 6, and Metro Reentry Facility 4. He is the named defendant in one pending lawsuit, and a $22,000 state liability settlement tied to Central State Prison falls inside his tenure there. His listed status is active.

What happened on their watch

Central State Prison — Warden, Nov. 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023 (6 deaths attributed). Michael Allen Stegall died December 6, 2021; Daniel Tyler Ball died May 2, 2022; Ronald Elbert Bryant died April 11, 2022; Jerry H. Page died January 11, 2023; Trong Nghia Tran died January 12, 2023; and Clifford Oby Booth died February 15, 2023, the registry shows. A Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through Open Records records a $22,000 GDC liability payout tied to Central State Prison and a 2022 incident, naming Joshua David Turk as the decedent; the record places Sampson in the warden role at that time. GDC data reported 2023 as the department's most violent year since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dooly State Prison — Warden, July 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2025 (18 deaths attributed). Willie Delane Snipes died Aug. 6, 2023; Roy Mason Morris died Oct. 15, 2023; Chad Taylor Roadifer died Oct. 27, 2023; Joel Lamar Long died Nov. 8, 2023; Willie Frank Garrett died Dec. 17, 2023; Brian Lee Wainwright died Jan. 4, 2024; Raquon Ja'Veyonte Tucker died March 22, 2024; Dwight Junior Lance died April 13, 2024; Ricky Lee Denney died May 7, 2024; Horace Rico Mosley died May 15, 2024; Carlito Omar Soldiew-Acosta died June 22, 2024; Terry J. Davis died July 5, 2024; Zeary Davante Davis died Sept. 26, 2024; Ancion Leroy Wallace died Sept. 27, 2024; Thomas Adrian Chamblee died Nov. 18, 2024; David Smith died Nov. 20, 2024; Michael Hutchins died Dec. 21, 2024; and Joshua Parrott died in January 2025. AJC reporting dated Jan. 21, 2025 states that a coroner alleged Soldiew-Acosta may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was found, and that James Yarbrough suffered uncontrolled diabetes for months at Dooly and died of ketoacidosis in a case alleging medical malpractice. In an Oct. 1, 2024 Georgia Public Broadcasting report, Cody Bailey alleged that medical staff at Dooly put his father's treatment "on the back burner," contributing to his death from sepsis. Also during this tenure, records describe Zeary Davis being stabbed at Dooly with a contraband phone used to alert staff; Magnum Jelani Neely was sentenced to 278 months for leading an Augusta-area drug ring from Dooly using contraband cellphones; Tucker died after transport to an Albany hospital; and Parrott's death was initially ruled a suicide and later reclassified as a homicide by strangulation.

Macon State Prison — Warden, Feb. 1, 2025 to Jan. 15, 2026 (23 deaths attributed). The GDC announced Sampson's appointment as warden effective Feb. 1, 2025. The registry lists these deaths in that period: Joe Dywane Rayton died Jan. 2, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending; Gregory Brent Scott died Jan. 1, 2026, Unknown/Pending; Randall Allen Cleveland died Nov. 30, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Michael Tony Cooper died Nov. 20, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Marquis Young died Oct. 22, 2025, Homicide; Gary Simpson died Oct. 8, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Clifton B Boston died Aug. 26, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Calvin Earl Noble died Aug. 26, 2025, Suicide; Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died Aug. 25, 2025, Suicide; Pierre Cedric Scott died Aug. 22, 2025, Homicide; Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, Homicide; Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, Homicide; Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, Homicide; Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, Unknown/Pending; Marion Washington died May 16, 2025, Unknown/Pending; John Austin Mitchell died April 23, 2025, Unknown/Pending; D'Andrius Brown died March 23, 2025, Homicide; and Lynn Alexander Durett died March 20, 2025, Unknown/Pending.

AJC coverage dated March 31, 2025 reported that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were unfilled as of October 2024; that a coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths; that low staffing allowed gangs to exert influence and that poorly maintained facilities where most locks did not work let prisoners make shanks from wall and ceiling materials; that staff vacancies at most of Georgia's 34 prisons reached "emergency levels," making basic protocols such as routine counts impossible; and that hundreds of GDC employees had been arrested and fired for smuggling drugs and contraband. The same reporting cited a U.S. Department of Justice report from October 2024 describing assaults, stabbings and rapes as routine in woefully understaffed Georgia prisons, and an AJC analysis finding 13 prison deaths from Jan. 1 to Feb. 4, 2025 under homicide investigation. AJC reporting dated Sept. 16, 2025 states that Jackson's family received only a brief call from the warden about his death, with a promise to follow up that never materialized, and that an investigator gave "short and vague" answers; Jackson allegedly told his sister as many as four men were packed into one cell, rotating spots just to sleep, and the investigator told her there was a rumor he died in a gang attack. Per the same reporting, Jon Edward Pippin was accused of beating Jonathan Mitchell with his foot, knee and fist, causing fatal head trauma, and reportedly confessed; a witness described a stabbing death over about 30 minutes while staff were absent; and records describe Rodney Edward Smith's August 2025 extradition to Florida on charges alleging a hunting-lease fraud scheme run with smuggled cellphones.

Metro Reentry Facility — Warden, Jan. 16, 2026 to present (4 deaths attributed). The registry lists: Thomas Allen Mckendrick died July 6, 2026, cause Unknown/Pending; Cedric Clement Pierce died April 13, 2026, Unknown/Pending; Samuel Dennis Hunt died March 1, 2026, Unknown/Pending; and Donald Woods died Jan. 31, 2026, Unknown/Pending. Separately, intel records show Silas Westbrook died Jan. 17, 2026, after being transferred to Metro Reentry following hospitalization for injuries from the Washington State Prison disturbance; GDC's Office of Professional Standards was investigating the fourth inmate death there, and his body was to be examined at the GBI crime lab for the official cause.

Litigation

• Mcneal v. Sampson, No. 5:26-cv-00039, court listed as GAMD, filed Jan. 27, 2026 — pending, no outcome amount recorded. Filed while Sampson held the warden role at Metro Reentry Facility.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Macon State Prison homicide, staffing and DOJ coverage (Sept. 16, 2025; March 31, 2025); Dooly State Prison death list and coroner accounts (Jan. 21, 2025).
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — Oct. 1, 2024 report on DOJ deliberate-indifference findings and a family allegation about Dooly medical care.
• U.S. Department of Justice — October 2024 report on conditions in Georgia prisons.
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $22,000 Central State Prison payout.
• GDC appointment announcement — Sampson named warden of Macon State Prison, Feb. 1, 2025.
• Federal court records — Mcneal v. Sampson, No. 5:26-cv-00039 (GAMD).
• GPS death registry — decedent names, dates, facilities and listed causes.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.