Stokes, David

Tenure Summary

David Stokes entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2013 as a correctional officer at Coastal State Prison, moving through sergeant (2016) and lieutenant ranks before being named Assistant Superintendent at Long Unit on January 1, 2019, a post he held until February 15, 2024. He served as Correctional Superintendent at Long Unit from January 2024 through December 2024, then became Warden at Central State Prison on December 16, 2024. Per the appointment record, Commissioner Tyrone Oliver reassigned him to Warden at Coastal State Prison effective June 1, 2026; the position record lists him there with no end date, alongside a Warden 2 entry at Coastal dated August 27, 2026.

Across his facility-leadership tenures, 18 deaths are attributed to Stokes: 11 at Central State Prison, 5 at Coastal State Prison, and 2 at Long Unit. One federal lawsuit naming him as a defendant appears in court records. Multiple deaths at Central State Prison and Coastal State Prison carry no determined cause in the registry.

What happened on their watch

Long Unit — Assistant Superintendent (Jan. 2019–Feb. 2024); Correctional Superintendent / Superintendent (Jan. 2024–Dec. 2024). Two deaths are attributed to this tenure. Charles E. Daniels died August 24, 2020, at Long Unit; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 51, while Stokes held the Assistant Superintendent role. Cameron Ryan Paquette died February 13, 2024, at Long Unit; the cause is listed as Natural/Medical, age 43, while Stokes held the Correctional Superintendent role.

Central State Prison — Warden (Dec. 16, 2024–May 31, 2026; recorded as WARDEN 1 for 2025). Eleven deaths are attributed to Stokes's tenure here:

• Brandon Jamal Pool died December 29, 2024, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 38.
• Matthew Maddox died January 28, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending.
• Lamancha Ware died March 2, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 48.
• Travis Jamal Gaither died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 41.
• Ricky Eugene Rogers died April 21, 2025, at Central State Prison; Overdose, age 68.
• Ricky D Ring died July 16, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 56.
• James Theodore Miller died September 22, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 64.
• Joseph Hamm died October 8, 2025, at Central State Prison; Overdose, age 36.
• Ronald Goss died October 23, 2025, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 60.
• Miguel Angel Duran died March 1, 2026, at Central State Prison; Suicide, age 44.
• Michael Lane Brooks died April 19, 2026, at Central State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 77.

Most of these deaths carry an undetermined cause — per the GPS death registry — with two overdoses and one suicide among the remainder; the deceased ranged in age from 36 to 77. Intel records from this period include Telegram reports that six people were hospitalized at Central State Prison during a 2026 statewide lockdown, that the facility ran on skeleton-crew staffing the report linked to meal delays, and that multiple stabbings and a concurrent medical emergency drew multiple ambulances. A family member or witness alleged that an incarcerated person showing stroke symptoms was denied timely medical attention. 13WMAZ reported that a guard at the facility faced charges after falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees in December 2025, and that three former guards were accused of beating an inmate and covering it up in March 2025. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing the DOJ report, states that Marquis L. Johnson was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8 and later died after cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing, and that Hollis Alan Bryant was stabbed to death, with three other prisoners criminally charged. Records also show a January 2026 inmate fight and hospitalization and June 2025 charges against three inmates for stabbing another inmate.

Coastal State Prison — Warden (from June 1, 2026). Five deaths are attributed to this tenure:

• Ronald Tyrone Waller died June 10, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 57.
• Bobby Clinton Biggs died June 25, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 77.
• Corey Marcel Mitchell died July 15, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 50.
• Phillip Alexander George died July 16, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; Unknown/Pending, age 66.
• Sheldon Leroy Burns died August 30, 2026, at Coastal State Prison; Natural/Medical.

Four of the five are recorded as Unknown/Pending. Two public Facebook posts are recorded during this tenure: one formerly incarcerated person reported that accurate counts were rare, that he witnessed multiple killings and abuse including sexual assault, humiliation, restraint for days, and burning, and that he was stabbed, beaten by a correctional response team, and thrown down stairs — noting that GPS mortality records for the same 2021–2026 period list 103 deaths at the facility, nearly all without public cause of death. A second post reported witnessing four deaths and multiple beatings, restraints, and torture, being stabbed eleven times and suffering a broken jaw, and stated that CERT members and officers were present during at least one life-threatening incident without effective intervention.

Litigation

• Pugh v. Fleming, No. 1:24-cv-02733 (recorded as GAND), filed June 21, 2024, terminated August 9, 2024; Stokes is listed as a defendant, with no outcome amount recorded, per the CourtListener docket. Filed while Stokes held the Superintendent role at Long Unit.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — DOJ-based homicide reporting on Marquis L. Johnson and Hollis Alan Bryant at Central State Prison
• 13WMAZ — reporting on a guard charged with falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees and on three former guards accused of beating an inmate
• Facebook public posts — witness accounts from Coastal State Prison (Aug. 31 and Sept. 5, 2026)
• gps.press case submissions / Telegram reports — hospitalization and staffing reports from Central State Prison and a denial-of-care allegation
• CourtListener — docket for Pugh v. Fleming, No. 1:24-cv-02733
• Georgia Department of Corrections appointment announcement (Commissioner Tyrone Oliver) — June 1, 2026 reassignment to Coastal State Prison
• GPS death registry — dates and listed causes for the 18 deaths above

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.