Scott, Tracey

Tenure Summary

Tracey Scott has worked within the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2015, beginning as a behavioral health counselor before transitioning into correctional officer and then supervisory roles. GPS records show Scott has served as Deputy Warden at Calhoun State Prison continuously from 2020 through at least 2025. During that deputy-warden tenure, GPS records attribute 28 deaths at Calhoun State Prison to Scott's period of facility-deputy accountability — spanning natural and illness-related causes, confirmed homicides, and deaths under disputed circumstances. The facility has drawn scrutiny from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's prison homicides investigation and from federal investigators whose findings, reported by WALB and the AJC, document systemic failures at Calhoun specifically and across GDC broadly.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Calhoun State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2020–present

Scott held the Deputy Warden role at Calhoun State Prison beginning in 2020. GPS records attribute 28 deaths at the facility during this period. The majority are categorized as natural or illness-related causes, including deaths of older incarcerated people (ages ranging into the 60s and 80s). At least six deaths are categorized as homicides. Per the AJC's Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, Kenneth Scott Piper, 37, was killed in an inmate-to-inmate assault on May 4, 2024; Gonzalo Colmenero, 54, died July 17, 2024 following an inmate-to-inmate assault per incident report data; Martel Orlando Dorsey, 32, was stabbed by other prisoners in November 2023; and DaQuavious Lackey, 21, died May 16, 2022 from a stab wound to the neck and multiple blunt force injuries. A user report alleges that Matthew Len Nutt, 37, was killed in the restrictive housing unit ("the hole") on December 21, 2025. Theodore Roundtree's death on January 19, 2025 is recorded with a cause of multiple stab wounds, per GPS records.

Regarding the Lackey homicide, the AJC and WALB both report that the DOJ found staff at Calhoun failed to follow classification and housing assignment procedures when moving Lackey's assailant between segregation and general population, resulting in Lackey being housed with and killed by that individual. Per WALB, federal investigators documented a separate incident in which an incarcerated person at Calhoun died of dehydration after staff shut off his water, closed his cell door flap, and withheld meals for two days. The AJC separately reported the allegation that prison staff cut off a prisoner's food and water as retaliation, leading to his death from dehydration and renal failure. GPS records also document an intel event noting that a 24-year-old prisoner died of dehydration with renal failure at Calhoun following an incident in which he threw water through his cell door flap.

Regarding Willie Andrew Willis Jr., who died following a reported balcony incident on October 21, 2024 (GPS cause category: homicide), per WALB and National Today, Willis's family alleges he was thrown from a balcony by other inmates and that it took nearly an hour before he was airlifted for treatment. The family further alleges that nurses provided a conflicting account of his condition. GPS records list blunt force trauma as the cause; medical records cited by a facility intel event list sepsis.

Beyond individual deaths, the facility has been the subject of multiple systemic findings during Scott's tenure. Per the AJC, GDC investigators allegedly failed to submit drug evidence to the state crime lab in at least 11 dismissed cases involving 15 defendants, including five prison employees, at Calhoun — undermining the agency's stated zero-tolerance policy on drug smuggling. Correctional officers Corlethia Lattimore and Imani Ferguson were each alleged by the AJC to have smuggled contraband into the facility; those cases were among those dismissed. Per WALB, the DOJ found that less than 10% of prison fights, less than 23% of inmate-on-inmate assaults, and less than 6% of incidents involving weapons were forwarded for investigation system-wide. A federal report cited by National Today describes an "environment of fear and complacency" within GDC, with a disturbing pattern of violence, neglect, and lack of accountability. Per WALB, the DOJ also concluded that Georgia's prison system fails to provide incarcerated persons with the constitutionally required minimum of reasonable physical safety.

GPS intel events further document that two incarcerated people — Joey Amour Jackson and Lance Riddle — were convicted of running a nationwide wire fraud and extortion operation targeting approximately 119 victims across six states using contraband cell phones from Calhoun State Prison; a Managed Access System was installed at the facility in mid-2025, after that operation had already occurred. GPS records also document a grand jury hearing 35 Calhoun-related cases on June 2, 2025, with more than 300 cases remaining pending. Separately, GPS records note that 87 people serving life sentences were systematically transferred out of Calhoun beginning in early 2026, with 79.3% sent to Level 5 close-security facilities.

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Litigation

The following cases list Tracey Scott as a defendant of record. GPS records do not confirm that all cases are directly related to Scott's GDC role; case subject matter is noted where determinable from the record.

• Wade v. Morgan, No. 3:23-cv-00073 (S.D. Ga.), filed August 31, 2023 — pending as of GPS records.
• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23-cv-00430 (M.D. Ga.), filed October 26, 2023 — terminated January 23, 2026; no outcome amount recorded.
• Richardson v. The Georgia Department of Transportation, No. 1:19-cv-00054 (N.D. Ga.), filed January 3, 2019 — terminated March 29, 2019; no outcome amount recorded.
• Jones v. Univar Inc, No. 1:18-cv-00596 (N.D. Ga.), filed February 8, 2018 — terminated March 11, 2019; no outcome amount recorded.
• Cunningham v. Fulton County Georgia, No. 1:16-cv-00533 (N.D. Ga.), filed February 19, 2016 — terminated March 29, 2019; no outcome amount recorded.
• Webb v. CVS Caremark Corporation, No. 5:11-cv-00106 (M.D. Ga.), filed March 16, 2011 — terminated February 7, 2012; no outcome amount recorded.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (Lackey, Piper, Colmenero, Dorsey homicide findings); drug smuggling/evidence failures at Calhoun SP; Edwin Murillo murder-for-hire allegation; DOJ prison conditions reporting
• WALB — Willie Andrew Willis Jr. balcony death and family allegations; DOJ findings on GDC homicide underreporting, assault investigation rates, emergency response delays, and Calhoun classification failures
• National Today — Willis family allegations; federal report findings on emergency response delays and "environment of fear and complacency"
• GPS records — death records, position/salary data, intel events (lifer transfers, wire fraud convictions, MAS installation, grand jury proceedings, dehydration death, Lackey homicide detail)
• CourtListener / federal court dockets — six civil cases listing Scott as defendant (GAMD, GASD, GAND)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.