Spencer, Gwendolyn A

Tenure Summary

Those 15 deaths—recorded from May 2024 through May 2026—include at least five homicides that resulted from inmate‑on‑inmate violence, alongside natural deaths and several cases where the cause remains classified under a catch‑all category. A pending federal lawsuit, Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, stems from a 2023 death at the same prison, and the facility became a focus of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that documented systemic staff shortages, delayed emergency medical responses, and a pattern of underreported homicides across Georgia’s prison system.

What happened on their watch

On October 21, 2024, Willie Andrew Willis Jr., 27, died of blunt‑force trauma after being thrown from a balcony, per WALB reporting; his family alleged it took nearly an hour before he was airlifted. GPS research and a death certificate list the manner as homicide. The next month, Kent Tyrik Robinson (26) died similarly under an unclassified cause.

The violence persisted into 2025. In January, Theodore Roundtree was killed by multiple stab wounds (homicide, per coroner records), and Charles Owens died from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. May brought the deaths of Gary Bernard Duncan (67) and Tyler Jackson (30); both are listed without a detailed cause. On June 28, 2025, Jackson’s name appears again with an identical entry, and later that year Thomas Haugabook (67) died of a natural intracranial hemorrhage. December 21, 2025, Matthew Len Nutt, 37, died from blunt‑force trauma in a restrictive‑housing unit; a GPS user report described the death as a “homocide in the hole,” and the coroner subsequently ruled it a homicide.

Two deaths in early 2026—Jimmy McMullen (natural, pancreatic cancer) and Freddie Lee Patterson (cause‑6)—are also attributed to Spencer’s watch. The DOJ report, released in 2026, found that EMS teams statewide averaged a 30‑minute response delay because of understaffing, a factor that the Willis family contends may have contributed to his death. Contraband cell‑phone use was rampant during this period: two inmates were convicted of running a nationwide wire‑fraud and extortion ring from Calhoun, and the state’s $50 million Managed Access System was finally activated at the prison in mid‑2025.

Litigation

• Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 4:25‑cv‑00111 (M.D. Ga., filed March 26, 2025) — pending. The suit concerns a 2023 death at Calhoun State Prison and names the department, though not Spencer individually.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation, DOJ findings on housing‑classification failures, and reports on drug‑evidence dismissals at Calhoun State Prison.
• WALB — family demands answers after Willie Andrew Willis Jr.’s death, DOJ documentation of dehydration death and EMS delays.
• Calhoun County coroner records (death certificates obtained by GPS via open‑records request) — manner and cause for Colmenero‑Ayala, Nutt, Roundtree, Willis, Haugabook, McMullen.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger — $3.25 million settlement for Reginald Jacobs Jr. (2023 incident).
• GPS intelligence logs — contraband‑phone convictions, lifer transfers, and deployment of Managed Access System.
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation report (2026) — systemic violence, underreporting, and unsafe conditions at GDC facilities including Calhoun.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 12, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.