Spencer, Gwendolyn A

Tenure Summary

GPS records show that 15 deaths are attributed to Calhoun State Prison during Spencer’s tenure as deputy warden, all occurring between July 2024 and May 2026. At least five of those deaths were ruled homicides. A federal lawsuit naming Spencer as a defendant was filed in 2025 and remains pending.

What happened on their watch

In the second half of 2024, two more deaths followed: Kent Tyrik Robinson, 26, died on November 5, and Willie Andrew Willis Jr., 27, died on October 21 from blunt‑force trauma after being thrown from a balcony and stabbed, according to a WALB report and the death certificate. Willis’s family has alleged that he lay paralyzed for nearly an hour before being airlifted.

In 2025, five additional deaths occurred under Spencer’s watch. Theodore Roundtree died from multiple stab wounds on January 19 in what the GDC itself categorized as a homicide in its own January 2025 mortality data release, per GPS analysis. Others included Charles Owens (ruptured aneurysm), Gary Bernard Duncan, 67; Tyler Jackson, 30; and Thomas Haugabook, 67, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 25. Two inmates died in 2026: Jimmy McMullen, 67, from pancreatic cancer, and Freddie Lee Patterson, 51, on May 13, with no publicly listed cause.

While Spencer held the deputy warden role, Calhoun State Prison was already the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found the state systematically underreported prison homicides. According to the AJC, the DOJ’s probe also detailed a case at Calhoun in which a prisoner died of dehydration after staff shut off his water and denied meals for two days—a death that, while having occurred before Spencer’s tenure, illustrates the facility’s broader pattern of neglect. The DOJ also documented that EMS responses were delayed an average of 30 minutes at GDC prisons due to understaffing, a finding that resonates with the family’s allegation about the delay in treating Willis.

Litigation

• Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections (4:25‑cv‑00111, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, filed March 26, 2025, pending). Spencer is named as a defendant. GPS records show that the case is connected to the death of Reginald Jacobs Jr., for which the state paid a $3.25 million settlement in 2023.

Sources

• GPS records — personnel data and death attribution logs for Gwendolyn A. Spencer (positions, death counts, decedent names)
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — investigation into Georgia prison homicides, including Colmenero‑Ayala and Piper at Calhoun SP; DOJ findings on underreported homicides and the dehydration death
• WALB — reporting on the death of Willie Andrew Willis Jr. and family allegations regarding delayed airlift; DOJ findings on systemic violence and understaffing at Calhoun
• Court Listener — docket for Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections
• Georgia Department of Corrections — January 2025 mortality report (homicide classification for Roundtree)
• Death certificates and coroner records obtained by GPS via open‑records requests (Colmenero‑Ayala, Nutt, McMullen, Willis, Roundtree, Haugabook)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 9, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.