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Spencer, Gwendolyn A
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Spencer, Gwendolyn A began her career in Georgia corrections as a line officer in 2015 and moved through lieutenant, captain, and unit‑manager positions before being appointed deputy warden at Calhoun State Prison in 2024. GPS records attribute 15 deaths to her tenure at that facility. While holding the deputy‑warden role, Spencer was also named as a defendant in a pending federal lawsuit filed in 2025.What happened on their watch
Spencer’s facility‑leader tenure is confined to Calhoun State Prison, where she served as deputy warden from at least January 2024 through the end of the data window. GPS records document 15 deaths during that period. Among them, several were homicides confirmed by coroner records obtained by GPS or cited in Atlanta Journal‑Constitution investigations. These include Gonzalo Colmenero‑Ayala (54, died July 17, 2024 from multiple blunt‑force injuries and neck compressions), Kenneth Scott Piper (37, killed in an inmate‑on‑inmate assault on May 4, 2024), Willie Andrew Willis Jr. (27, died October 21, 2024 from blunt‑force trauma after being thrown from a balcony and stabbed, according to WALB reporting), Theodore Roundtree (homicide by multiple stab wounds on January 19, 2025), and Matthew Len Nutt (37, homicide by blunt‑force trauma on December 21, 2025). Other inmate deaths during Spencer’s deputy‑warden tenure were attributed to natural causes—pancreatic cancer (Jimmy McMullen, 67) and a ruptured cerebral artery (Thomas Haugabook, 67)—while several were recorded with cause‑category unknown.Calhoun State Prison had long drawn scrutiny. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation covering 2018‑2023 documented systemic failures, including a 2023 dehydration death after staff shut off a prisoner’s water and a 2022 homicide caused by housing‑classification errors; the DOJ concluded the system failed to provide reasonable safety. During Spencer’s tenure, the AJC and WALB reported that the DOJ found less than 10 % of prison fights and fewer than 6 % of weapon incidents were forwarded for investigation, and that Georgia deliberately under‑reported prison homicides. A 2025 lawsuit, Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, was filed in the Middle District of Georgia and names Spencer as a defendant; it remains pending. The facility also experienced staff and inmate criminal activity that included two prisoners convicted of a nationwide wire‑fraud operation using contraband cellphones, and the dismissal of nearly two dozen drug‑smuggling cases after evidence was never sent to the state crime lab.
Litigation
- Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 4:25‑cv‑00111 (M.D. Ga., filed Mar. 26, 2025) — pending; Spencer is named as a defendant. (Source: CourtListener)
Sources
- Georgia Prisoners’ Speak database records (personnel, death, lawsuit, and intel reports)
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — coverage of prison homicides, DOJ investigation, and drug‑smuggling cases at Calhoun State Prison
- WALB — reporting on Willie Andrew Willis Jr.’s death and DOJ findings
- U.S. Department of Justice investigation of Georgia Department of Corrections (findings cited in AJC and WALB)
- Calhoun County death certificates obtained via GPS open‑records requests (confirmed homicides and natural‑cause deaths)
- CourtListener — docket for Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:25-cv-00111 | GAMD | 2025-03-26 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
15 people died at facilities under Spencer, Gwendolyn A's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-13 | FREDDIE LEE PATTERSON | 51 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2026-01-28 | JIMMY MCMULLEN | 67 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-12-21 | MATTHEW LEN NUTT | 37 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-09-25 | THOMAS HAUGABOOK | 67 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-06-28 | TYLER JACKSON | 30 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-05-04 | GARY BERNARD DUNCAN | 67 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-01-19 | Theodore Roundtree | — | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-01-06 | Charles Owens | — | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-11-05 | KENT TYRIK ROBINSON | 26 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-10-21 | WILLIE ANDREW WILLIS | 27 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-08-01 | WILLIAM DUTTON MADDOX | 62 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-07-20 | TERRY PAUL SMITH | 62 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-07-17 | GONZALO COLMENERO-AYALA | 54 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-07-13 | TYLER JACKSON BLACKWELL | 31 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-05-04 | KENNETH SCOTT PIPER | 37 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
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