Stokes, David

Tenure Summary

GPS records document David Stokes as a career Georgia Department of Corrections employee, beginning as a Correctional Officer at Coastal State Prison in 2013 and 2015, then a CSM Correctional Sergeant there in 2016. He held lieutenant postings from 2017 onward and became Assistant Superintendent at Long Unit in 2019. Overlapping records show Stokes as Correctional Superintendent/Superintendent at Long Unit from early 2024 into late 2024. He then became Warden at Central State Prison effective December 16, 2024, serving until May 31, 2026. According to a GPS-recorded appointment event, Commissioner Tyrone Oliver announced Stokes’s reassignment to Warden at Coastal State Prison effective June 1, 2026. Across those facility-leadership and deputy-leadership tenures, GPS attributes 18 deaths: 11 at Central State Prison, 5 at Coastal State Prison, and 2 at Long Unit.

What happened on their watch

Long Unit (2019–2024)

Stokes was listed as Assistant Superintendent at Long Unit from January 2019 to February 2024, with overlapping facility-lead entries in 2024. GPS attributes two deaths at Long Unit during these tenures. On August 24, 2020, Charles E. Daniels, 51, died while Stokes was Assistant Superintendent. GPS notes that this death came from GDC’s own coding, obtained through the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset, which classified it as “Natural.” On February 13, 2024, Cameron Ryan Paquette, 43, collapsed during a work detail while Stokes was listed as Correctional Superintendent. Per the Long County Coroner death-investigation report and a GBI Coastal Lab autopsy, Paquette’s death was natural — hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Central State Prison (December 2024–May 2026)

Stokes became Warden at Central State Prison on December 16, 2024. GPS attributes 11 deaths at the facility during his tenure. Named deaths in the GPS sample include Brandon Jamal Pool, 38; Matthew Maddox, whose cause per a GDC-released January 2025 mortality PDF was “Cerebral Herniation due to Extremely High BP”; Lamancha Ware, 48; Travis Jamal Gaither, 41, and Ricky Eugene Rogers, 68, both on April 21, 2025; Ricky D. Ring, 56; James Theodore Miller, 64; Joseph Hamm, 36; Ronald Goss, 60; Miguel Angel Duran, 44; and Michael Lane Brooks, 77. Most entries carry GPS cause-category 6 and no published cause. A source in the dorm told GPS that Hamm was found with a burst balloon of opiates while transferring from the hole and called it an accidental overdose. Duran’s death was reported as a suicide in segregation via a Telegram relay. 13WMAZ reported that three former guards were accused of beating an inmate and attempting a cover-up in March 2025, and that a Central guard faced charges in December 2025 after allegedly falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported severe staff shortages have allowed gang members to effectively run Georgia state prisons.

Coastal State Prison (June 2026–present)

Stokes became Warden at Coastal State Prison on June 1, 2026. GPS attributes five deaths at Coastal during his warden tenure: Ronald Tyrone Waller, 57; Bobby Clinton Biggs, 77; Corey Marcel Mitchell, 50; Phillip Alexander George, 66; and Sheldon Leroy Burns, whose death window GPS estimates as August 28–September 3, 2026. Four of the five carry no noted cause in GPS records. For Burns, a public Facebook post reproduced by GPS alleged he had complained of health issues ignored by medical staff, that Officer Flowers left her post, that residents beat on doors and windows for 30–40 minutes before staff arrived, and that officers leaving posts is routine at Coastal. GPS identified the officer as Mariah Flowers from the Coastal roster and noted no official GDC mortality entry had appeared as of the review date. A separate September 5, 2026 Facebook witness claim by a man who completed a GDC sentence in June 2026 alleges widespread violence at Coastal, including four killings, sexual assaults, and torture. These are allegations, not verified findings. In May 2026, News.google.com items summarized workers and inmates alleging a human rights crisis at Coastal.

Litigation

• Pugh v. Fleming, No. 1:24-cv-02733, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, filed June 21, 2024; terminated August 9, 2024. No outcome amount is recorded.

Sources

• GPS personnel and mortality records
• CourtListener docket 68877534, Pugh v. Fleming
• Long County Coroner report 91-010-24 and GBI Coastal Lab autopsy 2024-6000957
• GDC-released January 2025 mortality PDF
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset, GA-Individual.csv
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides list / DOJ report findings
• 13WMAZ — Central State Prison reporting
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — prison conditions and staffing
• WTOC — Coastal State Prison human rights crisis reporting
• The Georgia Virtue — Coastal State Prison health inspection coverage
• News.google.com RSS summaries
• Public Facebook posts — Sheldon Leroy Burns death report and separate Coastal witness claim

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