Scott-Gist, Laura C

Tenure Summary

Laura C Scott-Gist appears in GPS records first as a Training & Development Specialist 3 in 2017, then as an Education Program Specialist 3 in 2018–2019 and a Behavioral Health Counselor 2 in 2020–2021. In 2022, Scott-Gist became Correctional Assistant Superintendent at Helms Facility, a role the records show continuing through 2025, with reported annual pay rising from $67,013.70 in 2022 to $79,318.50 in 2025. A separate one-day Helms Facility assistant superintendent entry dated August 27, 2026 also appears in GPS records.

GPS records attribute six deaths to Scott-Gist’s facility-leadership tenure, all at Helms Facility. The supplied extract lists no lawsuits naming Scott-Gist as a defendant, no intel reports or intel events tied to their facilities, and no news mentions.

What happened on their watch

At Helms Facility, where Scott-Gist held the Correctional Assistant Superintendent role beginning January 1, 2022, GPS records attribute six deaths. The listed decedents are:

• Mitchell Lebron Dunn, 60, January 26, 2022. DeKalb County Medical Examiner case notes in GPS records list the manner as natural and the cause as lung cancer.
• Kenneth Clyde, 65, February 25, 2022. GPS records list cause category 6 and provide no further notes.
• Walton Jerome Thomas, 56, June 26, 2022. GPS records list cause category 6 and provide no further notes.
• Frank Eugene Huffman, 66, April 23, 2023. DeKalb County Medical Examiner case notes in GPS records list the manner as natural, with cardiac death and cirrhosis, liver cell carcinoma, COPD, and coronary artery disease. The notes state he was transferred from Washington State Prison to Helms, described as a medical facility, as his health declined.
• Robert Lee Hines, 63, May 17, 2023. GPS records list cause category 6 and provide no further notes.
• James Michael Stafford, 59, July 20, 2023. DeKalb County Medical Examiner case notes in GPS records list the manner as natural, with cause as GI bleed, hepatitis, and liver cancer. The notes state he was found unresponsive around 4:00 a.m. after a GI bleed and that officers called 911.

The decedents ranged in age from 56 to 66. Three deaths are documented in the supplied records as natural; three are listed under cause category 6 without explanatory notes in the extract. The records provided include no lawsuits, intel reports, news mentions, or allegations of misconduct tied to Scott-Gist’s Helms Facility tenure.

Sources

• GPS personnel and salary records — positions, dates, facility assignments, and compensation for Laura C Scott-Gist.
• GPS death records — total deaths attributed, per-facility counts, decedent names, dates, ages, and cause categories.
• DeKalb County Medical Examiner case notes referenced in GPS records — case numbers 22-0216, 23-0770, and 23-1277.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 30, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.