Swinford, Jonathan D

Tenure Summary

Jonathan D. Swinford's GDC career began at the staff tier — a corrections officer in 2015, then a CSM correctional lieutenant from 2016 through 2018, a correctional officer 2 from 2019 through 2021, and a CSM correctional unit manager in 2022 and 2023. On November 22, 2023, he moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Hays State Prison, a post he held through 2025 (salary records show $84,075.41 in 2024 and $91,524.07 in 2025). Records dated July 16, 2026, list him as Deputy Warden of Administration at Hays, with an additional Deputy Warden entry dated August 27, 2026.

Fourteen deaths are attributed to his leadership tenure, every one of them at Hays State Prison. GPS's death registry classifies three of the fourteen as homicides, two as natural/medical, and nine as unknown/pending. Court records also list him as a defendant in two federal filings, one pending and one terminated. He is listed as active; no other status is sourced in the records.

What happened on their watch

Hays State Prison — Deputy Warden (November 22, 2023 – 2025), Deputy Warden of Administration (July 16, 2026 – present). All 14 deaths attributed to Swinford's leadership occurred at Hays. The registry names them:

• Jeremy Edward Price died March 2, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 36. Incident records describe stab wounds to the neck and chest, and reporting in the AJC quotes his mother, Tammy Price, saying she still does not know what happened to her child.
• Theron Morrell Hendrix died April 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 31.
• Freddie Lee Iii Talley died May 6, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 31. Incident records describe a stab wound to the chest and note seven recovered weapons ranging from 9 to 22 inches; three inmates received disciplinary reports but had not been charged as of January 2025 reporting.
• Timothy Darmofal died May 22, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 58.
• Keith Johnson died August 19, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 57.
• Mackendy Pierrette died September 13, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 50.
• Thomas Johnson died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 82.
• Lawrence L Williams died October 24, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 30.
• Joey Griffin died December 26, 2024, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 54.
• Ralph Carter died March 5, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 39.
• Tommy Joe Strickland died June 4, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 60.
• Raymont Savion Farley died June 15, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 36.
• James Cannon died October 25, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 48.
• Barcel Roylee Ward died November 28, 2025, at Hays State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 39.

Around these deaths, AJC reporting dated January 21, 2025, carries Tammy Price's allegation that GDC omits manner-of-death information from mortality reports, obscuring its inability to protect prisoners; a separate AJC report dated March 31, 2025, concerns a former Hays guard who, per federal officials, smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for over a month and was sentenced in February 2025. Family reports published to a Georgia prison family Facebook group in September 2026 allege that people held in strip cells in the Hays infirmary were barred by policy from phone calls and visitation during a 2024 mental health crisis involving food refusal, and separately describe a warden intervening over months to sustain one man on strip-cell status. Two inmate reports dated August 30, 2026, describe a 2026 incident at Hays in which an officer was reportedly taken hostage and a lieutenant stabbed, and allege little tactical or public response.

Later in his tenure, a gang-related fight among four inmates at Hays in late October 2026 preceded GDC lockdowns affecting more than two dozen prisons, and Georgia announced a $24 million hardened 126-bed unit at Hays within a $600 million prison spending surge. Records dated during his tenure also reference earlier Hays history — three homicides within one month in late 2012–early 2013 and an officer stabbed 22 times — and a 2025 report series on systemic malnutrition across Georgia prisons centered on Rogers State Prison, naming food service superintendent Ms. Gunner.

Litigation

• Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26-cv-00108 (GAND), filed April 28, 2026; pending, no outcome recorded. Court records list Swinford as a defendant.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026, no outcome amount recorded.

Sources

• GPS death registry — causes and dates for the 14 deaths at Hays State Prison during Swinford's tenure
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — January 21, 2025, report on withheld manner-of-death information and Tammy Price's allegations; March 31, 2025, report on Hays guard contraband smuggling and sentencing
• CourtListener dockets — Mckenzie v. Oliver (4:26-cv-00108); Daker v. Oliver (1:25-cv-03191)
• Facebook public comment, Georgia prison family group (September 1, 2026) — family reports on strip-cell conditions and visitation restrictions at Hays
• GPS case submissions (August 30, 2026) — inmate reports of hostage-taking and stabbing at Hays
• GDC and statewide reporting on October–November 2026 lockdowns following the Hays fight; state announcements of the $24 million hardened unit and $600 million prison spending package

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 8, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.