Spencer, Gwendolyn A

Tenure Summary

Gwendolyn A. Spencer entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a Corrections Officer (SP) and rose through the custody ranks — Correctional Lieutenant (2016–2018), Correctional Captain (2019–2020), Correctional Unit Manager (2021–2023). On November 22, 2023 she moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Calhoun State Prison, a post she held through the 2024 and 2025 salary years.

Per GPS records, 15 deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure, all at Calhoun State Prison. Registry cause entries for those deaths break down as five Homicide, two Natural/Medical, and eight Unknown/Pending. She is listed as a defendant in one federal suit, Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, filed March 26, 2025 and still pending, and her tenure at the facility overlaps a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, an AJC investigation into collapsed drug-smuggling prosecutions, and a reported contraband-phone fraud network run out of the prison.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Calhoun State Prison (November 22, 2023 – present)

The 15 deaths attributed to Spencer's leadership tenure at Calhoun State Prison, per GPS's death registry:

• Kenneth Scott Piper died May 4, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 37.
• Tyler Jackson Blackwell died July 13, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 31.
• Gonzalo Colmenero-Ayala died July 17, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 54.
• Terry Paul Smith died July 20, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 62.
• William Dutton Maddox died August 1, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 62.
• Willie Andrew Willis died October 21, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 27.
• Kent Tyrik Robinson died November 5, 2024, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 26.
• Charles Owens died January 6, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Theodore Roundtree died January 19, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Gary Bernard Duncan died May 4, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 67.
• Tyler Jackson died June 28, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 30.
• Thomas Haugabook died September 25, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 67.
• Matthew Len Nutt died December 21, 2025, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 37.
• Jimmy Mcmullen died January 28, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 67.
• Freddie Lee Patterson died May 13, 2026, at Calhoun State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 51.

Two of the homicide deaths are described in GPS incident-report data as inmate-to-inmate assaults: Piper, 37, on May 4, 2024, and Colmenero-Ayala, 54, on July 17, 2024.

Federal findings reported by WALB on February 13, 2026 allege staff at Calhoun State Prison failed to follow classification and housing assignment procedures, contributing to a 2022 homicide, and that an incarcerated person at the facility died of dehydration after staff shut off his water, closed the door flap, and did not deliver meals for two days. The same reporting states the DOJ concluded Georgia's prison system fails to provide the constitutionally required minimum of reasonable physical safety, that federal investigators found people cleaning wounds with toothpaste, coffee grounds and dirt because medical help was delayed, that EMS responses averaged 30-minute delays, and that Georgia underreports homicides by listing internally identified homicides as "unknown" in official mortality data.

An AJC report dated January 21, 2025 alleges DOJ findings that staff failed to follow procedures when moving Lackey's assailant between segregation and general population, leading to Lackey being housed with and killed by his cellmate, and that staff cut off another prisoner's food and water as retaliation, causing death from dehydration and renal failure. AJC reporting dated June 19, 2025 documents that GDC failed to submit drug evidence in at least 11 dismissed cases, that the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department failed to submit evidence in 12, and that nearly two dozen Calhoun-related cases leading to 33 arrests between 2018 and 2021 were dismissed by District Attorney Joe Mulholland — including charges against officers Corlethia Lattimore and Imani Ferguson, arrested in February 2020 over "Hot Pockets" packages allegedly holding methamphetamine and tobacco and dismissed in July 2023. A grand jury heard 35 Calhoun-related cases on June 2, 2025, with more than 300 still pending.

GPS case submissions dated April 13, 2026 describe a stabbing in a solitary confinement unit requiring emergency medical evacuation and a person with burns and assault injuries requiring transport to an outside facility. AJC reporting dated September 28, 2026 quotes a Florida sheriff describing a "huge scam" operated out of Calhoun State Prison and Wheeler Correctional Institution; Annie Ashley is accused of participating in that network and taking $15,000.

Other items dated during her tenure: two incarcerated men, Joey Amour Jackson and Lance Riddle, were convicted of a nationwide wire fraud and extortion operation run from the prison using contraband phones, involving $464,920. A Managed Access System was installed at Calhoun in mid-2025 and deployed across 34 state prisons at $50 million capital cost. Reports from February and April 2026 document the transfer of 87 lifers out of Calhoun, 79.3% to Level 5 close-security facilities, including 36 in the final week of March 2026 and 82-year-old lifer John Morgan Coleman's March 31, 2026 transfer to Hancock State Prison.

Litigation

• Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections, Case No. 4:25-cv-00111 (GAMD), filed March 26, 2025; court records list Spencer as a defendant and show the case status as pending, with no disposition amount recorded.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners' Speak death registry and case submissions — 15 deaths at Calhoun State Prison during Spencer's Deputy Warden tenure; April 2026 reports of a stabbing and of assault injuries.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — June 19, 2025 investigation into untested drug evidence and dismissed Calhoun smuggling cases; January 21, 2025 prison homicide reporting; September 5, 2024 reporting on drug networks run from Calhoun; September 28, 2026 reporting on the Florida scam network.
• WALB — February 13, 2026 reporting on DOJ findings at Calhoun State Prison and GDC.
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation findings, as reported by WALB and the AJC.
• Court records — docket for Jacobs v. Georgia Department of Corrections (4:25-cv-00111, GAMD).

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 4, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.