Sanford, Paul Anthony

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

On January 30, 2025, William Holeman and Prince Porter were found dead roughly 15‑20 feet apart in the same dorm; local media described the incident as gang‑related. Porter displayed a single puncture wound, while Holeman had no visible marks. That same year saw the stabbing deaths of Andre Weems (September 9), Corey Jose July (June 17), and the category‑6 deaths of John T. Childree and Brian Smith. In early 2026, Steven Monroe Wood, 54, was beaten by a cellmate and died after transfer to an Augusta hospital; Jerrod Johnson, 27, was fatally stabbed in February; Jaylin Bell, 32, was killed by his roommate in a G‑unit cell the same month; and Jacorey Derrelle Pearson, 36, died on April 7 under investigation by the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards.

Throughout Sanford’s deputy‑warden posting, Hancock State Prison operated under extreme staffing shortages. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution reported that by October 2024, 73.5% of correctional officer positions were vacant—only 49 officers for over 1,100 prisoners—and that consultants had found “emergency levels” of vacancies statewide, broken cell locks, and a culture that allowed gangs to run prison dorms. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described widespread violence and sexual assaults in Georgia prisons, findings that encompassed Hancock. Telegram‑relayed inmate reports from 2026 recount a stabbing in the visitation area and a dormitory attack by Gangster Disciples on Crips while victims slept.

Allegations tied to the prison’s history also resurfaced: a lawsuit (not naming Sanford) claimed that Charles “Tristen” McKee, killed in 2022 before Sanford arrived, was placed in a dorm with gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, and a 2025 conviction detailed his death by machete. A $600,000 settlement was reached in the suicide of Amanuel Geberyesus, who had been placed in a regular cell contrary to a counselor’s advice after expressing suicidal thoughts. While those events predate Sanford’s deputy warden role, the conditions they illuminate—gang impunity, broken classification systems, under‑resourced medical response—remained the backdrop for the 15 deaths documented during his time in command.

Litigation

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple reports on deaths, staffing vacancies, DOJ findings, and lawsuits at Hancock State Prison (2022‑2026)
• 13WMAZ — coverage of homicides of Andre Weems and Corey July
• Union‑Recorder — reporting on Steven Wood and Andre Weems deaths
• 41NBC — reports on Jaylin Bell death and Hancock incidents
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation describing violence and gang‑run prisons in Georgia
• GDC death records and GPS intelligence submissions — internal cause of death categorizations and real‑time inmate relay reports

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 21, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.