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Sampson, Gregory L
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 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
Gregory L. Sampson’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spans two decades, rising from correctional officer at Rutledge State Prison in 2006 to warden positions across the system. His track record at the facility-leadership level is marked by a high volume of in-custody deaths: GPS records attribute 53 deaths to facilities where Sampson served as a superintendent or warden. The deaths are concentrated at four prisons — Macon State Prison (23), Dooly State Prison (21), Central State Prison (6), and the Metro Reentry Facility (3) — and include numerous homicides and suicides. A federal lawsuit, Mcneal v. Sampson, was filed against him in January 2026 and remains pending.
What happened on their watch
Central State Prison (2021) — 6 deaths
Sampson held the title of Correctional Superintendent at Central State Prison during the 2021 calendar year, a period in which six people died in custody. One of those deaths, the July 28 fatality of Joshua Carl Lester, was a homicide; according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s prison homicide database, Lester died from a stab wound to the chest. The other five deaths — including those of Demetrius Richardson, Joseph Dewayne Hamby, and Adam Clint West — are categorized under an unspecified cause in GPS records. No lawsuits naming Sampson in connection with his Central tenure appear in the database, though the facility later attracted news coverage for staff arrests and inmate-on-inmate violence.Dooly State Prison (2023–2024) — 21 deaths
As Warden 1 at Dooly State Prison from January 2023 through December 2024, Sampson’s facility recorded 21 in-custody deaths. At least four were homicides: Dimitri Merci Jackson (stab wound to chest), Chad Taylor Roadifer (delayed complications of blunt force head trauma), Brian Lee Wainwright, and Zeary Davante Davis. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation documented that Davis’s death on September 26, 2024, involved an inmate assault where the victim bled on the dormitory floor, and a subsequent GDC internal report confirmed the homicide. The same AJC investigation noted that a coroner alleged Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta, who died in June 2024, may have been dead for more than 24 hours before his body was discovered.During Sampson’s tenure, intelligence reports and news accounts reveal a facility contending with contraband and violence. An inmate, Abraham Rivas, allegedly ran fraud schemes from inside the prison, and a corrections cadet was caught with 640 grams of methamphetamine in a December 2025 search. Gang-related fights sent multiple inmates to hospitals. A deputy warden was bitten by an inmate in December 2025. Later investigations would document severe overcrowding (the prison held 1,593 people in a facility designed for 750) and chronic staffing shortages, though the data does not specify exactly when the population surge began.
Macon State Prison (February 2025 – January 2026) — 23 deaths
Sampson became warden of Macon State Prison on February 1, 2025. Over roughly 11 months, 23 people died — a rate of more than two per month. At least seven of those deaths were homicides: Marquel Smith (February 14), D’Andrius Brown (March 23), Sanchez Jackson (June 19), Lukas Lance Way (June 22), Xavier Anthony Adams (July 22), Pierre Cedric Scott (August 22), and Marquis Young (October 22). Two deaths, Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (August 25) and Calvin Earl Noble (August 26), were suicides by hanging, according to GPS case notes.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Jackson’s family received only a brief call from the warden after his death, and an investigator gave “short and vague” answers; they were told there was a rumor Jackson died in a gang attack. At Macon, severe understaffing was a documented fact during Sampson’s tenure: a 2024 AJC report noted that roughly two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at the prison were unfilled, and a coroner stated that only five to eight officers might be on duty for the entire facility. Contraband cellphones were used to coordinate a drug trafficking ring from inside the prison, leading to federal guilty pleas by inmate Devito Duran Young and others. Four correctional officers were arrested in September 2024 for violating their oath and making false statements. A federal lawsuit, Mcneal v. Sampson, was filed on January 27, 2026, shortly after Sampson left the post.
Metro Reentry Facility (2026) — 3 deaths
Sampson began a second stint as warden at the Metro Reentry Facility on January 16, 2026. Since then, GPS records show three in-custody deaths: Donald Woods (January 31), Samuel Dennis Hunt (March 1), and Cedric Clement Pierce (April 13). All are listed under an unspecified cause category. No allegations directly tied to these deaths appear in the available intelligence files.Litigation
- Mcneal v. Sampson, No. 5:26-cv-00039 (M.D. Ga.), filed January 27, 2026. Status: pending.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation (cause-of-death data for Lester, Jackson, Roadifer, Wainwright, and others), staffing reports, and coroner allegations
- GPS Case Management and inmate death records — individual decedent names, dates, cause categories, and narrative notes (e.g., Davis homicide, Johnson and Noble suicides)
- 13WMAZ — Macon State Prison drug trafficking guilty pleas and Dooly State Prison gang fights
- Wesh.com / WALB — Dooly State Prison fraud scheme operated by Abraham Rivas
- Court records — Mcneal v. Sampson docket
- Georgia Public Broadcasting — reports on statewide prison understaffing and violence
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Warden | METRO REENTRY FACILITY | 2026-01-16 → present |
| Warden | MACON STATE PRISON | 2025-02-01 → present |
| WARDEN 3 | METRO REENTRY FACILITY | 2025-01-01 → present |
| WARDEN 1 | DOOLY STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | 2017-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTION OPERATIONS | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Sergeant | CLAYTON TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2014-01-01 → 2014-12-31 |
| Sergeant | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2013-01-01 → 2013-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:26-cv-00039 | GAMD | 2026-01-27 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
53 people died at facilities under Sampson, Gregory L's leadership.
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