Sanford, Paul Anthony

Tenure Summary

Paul Anthony Sanford entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer and rose through the custody ranks: correctional lieutenant (2016–2018), correctional captain (2019–2020), correctional unit manager (2021–2022), and deputy warden from 2023. His leadership-tier postings were concentrated at Hancock State Prison, where he served as deputy warden from 2023 through 2025 and, from July 16, 2026, as Deputy Warden of Security — a post with no end date in the records. A single one-day deputy warden entry is recorded at Washington State Prison on November 22, 2023. His status is listed as active, with no sourced status change.

Twelve deaths are attributed to Sanford's leadership tenure, all of them at Hancock State Prison. Seven of the twelve are recorded as homicides, one as a suicide, and four with a cause listed as unknown or pending. No lawsuit naming Sanford as a defendant appears in these records.

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2023 through 2025

AJC reporting during this tenure described conditions at the facility: 73.5 percent of correctional officer positions vacant as of October 2024, leaving 49 officers for more than 1,100 prisoners, and more than 70 percent vacancy as of October 2024 in a separate report. AJC-cited consultants found vacancies at 20 of Georgia's 34 prisons had reached "emergency levels" and that cell locks were broken at many prisons; a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described violence, sexual assaults and gang-run prisons "fueled by a culture of indifference." The DOJ investigation examined the death of Charles "Tristen" James McKee, finding he jumped through stair railings to escape gang members beating and stabbing him and was stabbed again below. A lawsuit alleges McKee was placed in a dorm with known gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, and AJC reporting states staff failed to act on his repeated requests to be moved the day before he was killed. Cleveland Gary was convicted of the McKee slaying after striking him six times in the head with a 17-inch homemade machete.

Deaths recorded during his Hancock leadership tenure:

• Roland Lamont Phillips died June 28, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 33.
• Francisco Melgar-Saldivar died August 12, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 26. A claim filed against the state alleges he was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked by another prisoner, per the AJC.
• Timothy Dale Hicks died August 22, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 37.
• Ralph Thompson died October 8, 2024, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 53.
• Travon Montrell Walthour died October 13, 2024, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 29.
• William Holeman died January 30, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Prince Porter died January 30, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• John T Childree died April 9, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 60.
• Corey Jose July died June 17, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 33. Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Vershaun Smith chasing July, cornering him at a locked gate and stabbing him multiple times in the yard, per WGXA and 41NBC.
• Brian Smith died July 24, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 30.
• Andre Rashad Weems died September 9, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 36.

Washington State Prison — Deputy Warden, November 22, 2023

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, from July 16, 2026

• Albert Chapa died July 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison, two weeks into this posting; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 57.

Intel items dated to this posting include an inmate report of a stabbing at Hancock by an incarcerated person with untreated mental illness, with the victim hospitalized and later returned to the dorm (the report states a social-media claim that someone was killed was inaccurate); a report of a tactical-team operation involving roughly 100 officers targeting multiple housing units and the annex; a stabbing reported through a Telegram group and characterized in the report as hearsay; and a report describing the IRT using force against an incarcerated person suspected of having a weapon. Vershaun Smith was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to life without parole in the June 2025 killing of Corey July, per the district attorney's office as reported by WGXA; a Hancock County jury returned the verdict and Judge Alison T. Burleson imposed sentence.

Litigation

No lawsuit naming Sanford as a defendant appears in these records. Facility-level actions reported during his tenure:

• Claim against the state alleging Francisco Zaldivar Melgar-Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked by another prisoner at Hancock State Prison (reported by the AJC, January 21, 2025).
• Lawsuit alleging Charles "Tristen" James McKee was placed in a dorm with known gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, contributing to his death (reported by the AJC, January 21, 2025).
• Lawsuit filed by the parents of Rashad Bolton claiming he was stabbed to death at Hancock State Prison on January 4, 2021 — a death that predates Sanford's deputy warden tenure there (reported by the AJC, January 21, 2025).

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Hancock vacancy figures, gang-related deaths, lawsuits and claims, consultants' staffing findings, January and March 2025 reporting
• WGXA — malice murder conviction and life-without-parole sentence in the Corey July killing
• 41NBC — account of the July 2025 stabbing in the prison yard
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on violence, sexual assaults and gang-run prisons; investigation into the death of Charles "Tristen" James McKee
• Georgia Department of Corrections incident report data and death certificate data, as cited in AJC reporting
• GPS death registry — cause and age entries for the deaths above

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.