Sampson, Gregory L

Tenure Summary

Gregory L. Sampson's GDC career began in 2006 as a correctional officer at Rutledge State Prison, where he returned as a sergeant in 2013. He served as a sergeant at Clayton Transitional Center in 2014, held correction operations and correctional lieutenant posts in 2015–2016, was a correctional assistant superintendent from 2017 through 2019, and became a correctional superintendent in 2020. From 2021 until June 30, 2023 he led Central State Prison (superintendent, then warden from Nov. 1, 2021); from July 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2025 he was warden at Dooly State Prison; from Feb. 1, 2025 to Jan. 15, 2026 he was warden at Macon State Prison; since Jan. 16, 2026 he has been warden at Metro Reentry Facility. Payroll records also list a Warden 3 assignment at Metro Reentry Facility for January 2025, before the Macon appointment. His recorded status is active; no other sourced status appears in the records.

Substantively: 51 deaths are attributed to the facilities he led — 23 at Macon State Prison, 18 at Dooly State Prison, 6 at Central State Prison and 4 at Metro Reentry Facility. He is a named defendant in one pending federal lawsuit, Mcneal v. Sampson.

What happened on their watch

Central State Prison — Superintendent (2021); Warden (Nov. 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023). Six deaths are attributed to Central during this tenure:

• Michael Allen Stegall died December 6, 2021, at Central State Prison, age 46.
• Ronald Elbert Bryant died April 11, 2022, at Central State Prison, age 61.
• Daniel Tyler Ball died May 2, 2022, at Central State Prison, age 37.
• Jerry H. Page died January 11, 2023, at Central State Prison, age 73.
• Trong Nghia Tran died January 12, 2023, at Central State Prison, age 49.
• Clifford Oby Booth died February 15, 2023, at Central State Prison, age 71.

GDC data recorded during this period stated that 2023 was the department's most violent year since before the COVID-19 pandemic. A state liability payout of $22,000 tied to Central State Prison, incident year 2022, appears in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records; the decedent listed is Joshua David Turk.

Dooly State Prison — Warden (July 1, 2023 – Jan. 31, 2025). Eighteen deaths are attributed to Dooly during this tenure:

• Willie Delane Snipes died August 6, 2023, at Dooly State Prison, age 39.
• Roy Mason Morris died October 15, 2023, at Dooly State Prison, age 64.
• Chad Taylor Roadifer died October 27, 2023, at Dooly State Prison, age 45; event records list delayed complications of blunt force head trauma sustained months earlier.
• Joel Lamar Long died November 8, 2023, at Dooly State Prison, age 53.
• Willie Frank Garrett died December 17, 2023, at Dooly State Prison, age 53.
• Brian Lee Wainwright died January 4, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 59; his death was ruled a homicide, per event records.
• Raquon Ja'Veyonte Tucker died March 22, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 26; event records cite complications of blunt force head trauma.
• Dwight Junior Lance died April 13, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 55.
• Ricky Lee Denney died May 7, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 68.
• Horace Rico Mosley died May 15, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 57.
• Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta died June 22, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 38, from complications of blunt force trauma; a coroner told a TV station he may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was found, per the AJC.
• Terry J. Davis died July 5, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 52.
• Zeary Davante Davis died September 26, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 31; a county coroner told a TV station he was stabbed to death.
• Ancion Leroy Wallace died September 27, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 25.
• Thomas Adrian Chamblee died November 18, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 32.
• David Smith died November 20, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 53.
• Michael Hutchins died December 21, 2024, at Dooly State Prison, age 75.
• Joshua Parrott died January 12, 2025, at Dooly State Prison, age 45; his death was initially ruled a suicide and later reclassified as a homicide by strangulation.

Intel records from this posting include an AJC report that James Yarbrough died of ketoacidosis after months of uncontrolled diabetes, in a case alleging medical malpractice, and a GPB report in which Cody Bailey alleged Dooly medical staff put his father's treatment "on the back burner," contributing to his death from sepsis. GPS event records list the October 1, 2024 sepsis death of James Michael Bailey, 44, from pneumonia caused by an infected insect bite, and the 278-month sentence of inmate Magnum Jelani Neely for leading an Augusta-area drug ring using contraband cellphones from Dooly.

Macon State Prison — Warden (Feb. 1, 2025 – Jan. 15, 2026). Twenty-three deaths are attributed to Macon during this tenure:

• Lynn Alexander Durett died March 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 74.
• D'Andrius Brown died March 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 30.
• John Austin Mitchell died April 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 50.
• Marion Washington died May 16, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 61.
• Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 50.
• Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 64.
• Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 35.
• Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 48.
• Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 32.
• Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 36.
• Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 40.
• Pierre Cedric Scott died August 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 41.
• Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died August 25, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide. Age 55.
• Clifton B Boston died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 67.
• Calvin Earl Noble died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide. Age 25.
• Gary Simpson died October 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 63.
• Marquis Young died October 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Age 37.
• Michael Tony Cooper died November 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 73.
• Randall Allen Cleveland died November 30, 2025, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 77.
• Gregory Brent Scott died January 1, 2026, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 68.
• Joe Dywane Rayton died January 2, 2026, at Macon State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 56.

Two further Macon deaths during this tenure also appear in GPS's death registry: Marquel Smith died February 14, 2025, at Macon State Prison, age 29, and Michael Alvin Reddings died March 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison, age 64.

Among the Macon deaths named above from the registry list, six are recorded as homicides and two as suicides. An AJC analysis recorded in this period found 13 prison deaths from Jan. 1 to Feb. 4, 2025 being investigated as homicides — the bloodiest start to a year in at least a decade. AJC reporting from his Macon tenure alleged that roughly two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon were unfilled as of October 2024; that a coroner found only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths; that hundreds of GDC employees had been arrested and fired for smuggling contraband; and that low staffing let gangs exert influence while poorly maintained locks and building materials enabled shanks. A September 16, 2025 AJC report described Sanchez Jackson's family receiving only a brief call from the warden about his death with a promised follow-up that never came, and his sister's account that as many as four men were packed into one cell. Event records include the beating death of Jonathan Mitchell, in which fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin was accused of using his foot, knee and fist; a stabbing death in which a witness described the man dying over 30 minutes while staff were absent; and the extradition of inmate Rodney Edward Smith to Florida on fraud charges tied to an alleged hunting-lease scheme run with smuggled cellphones. The U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 report, described in these records, found assaults, stabbings and rapes routine at woefully understaffed Georgia prisons.

Metro Reentry Facility — Warden (Jan. 16, 2026 – present). Four deaths are attributed to Metro Reentry during this tenure:

• Donald Woods died January 31, 2026, at Metro Reentry Facility; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 65.
• Samuel Dennis Hunt died March 1, 2026, at Metro Reentry Facility; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 64.
• Cedric Clement Pierce died April 13, 2026, at Metro Reentry Facility; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 61.
• Thomas Allen Mckendrick died July 6, 2026, at Metro Reentry Facility; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. Age 82.

Event records from this posting also log the January 17, 2026 death of Silas Westbrook at Metro Reentry Facility after a medical emergency on arrival; the GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation, and his body was sent to the GBI crime lab to determine the official cause.

Litigation

• Mcneal v. Sampson, No. 5:26-cv-00039, filed January 27, 2026 in GAMD; status pending, no disposition recorded.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records): a $22,000 state liability payout tied to Central State Prison (incident year 2022), recorded with decedent Joshua David Turk — a payout record, not a suit naming Sampson.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide coverage during the Macon State Prison tenure (Sept. 16, 2025; March 31, 2025); Dooly State Prison death reporting (Jan. 21, 2025).
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — Oct. 1, 2024 report on the Dooly death of James Michael Bailey.
• U.S. Department of Justice — October 2024 findings on Georgia prison conditions.
• Court records — docket for Mcneal v. Sampson (GAMD).
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger — open-records payout entry for Joshua David Turk.
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigation into the death of Silas Westbrook.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 27, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.