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Turner, Dennis J
Status: active
Profile written August 9, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Dennis J. Turner began his Georgia Department of Corrections career as a public safety trainer in 2015, later serving in ascending trainer ranks and a unit manager role before becoming deputy warden at Central State Prison in 2024. GPS records attribute 20 deaths at Central State during his leadership tenure there — the only facility where his position carried facility-level accountability. No settled lawsuits directly targeting Turner were identified, though he was a defendant in an earlier civil rights case that was terminated without a monetary outcome.What happened on their watch
Turner assumed the deputy warden post at Central State Prison in January 2024. Between February 10, 2024, and July 20, 2026, GPS records document 20 deaths at the facility during his tenure. The deceased ranged in age from 36 to 77. Causes varied: Leon Culver Kelly, 47, died from multiple stab wounds on December 9, 2024, a homicide confirmed by the coroner, according to 13WMAZ reporting; Miguel Angel Duran, 44, died by suicide in the segregation unit on March 1, 2026, per a Telegram-based GPS intelligence feed; Joseph Hamm, 36, died on October 8, 2025, in what a fellow resident described as an accidental opiate overdose after a balloon of drugs burst in his mouth; and Matthew Maddox’s January 28, 2025, death was attributed to cerebral herniation from extremely high blood pressure, as recorded in a GDC mortality report. For the remaining sixteen deaths, GPS records list no publicly established cause; many are categorized as unclassified, presumed natural, or await further documentation.During Turner’s deputy warden tenure, Central State also generated multiple allegations of violence and staff misconduct. In March 2025, three former guards were accused of beating an incarcerated man and attempting a cover‑up (13WMAZ). That June, three incarcerated men were charged with stabbing another prisoner. In December 2025, a guard was arrested after falsely imprisoning four Department of Family and Children Services employees over a child‑support dispute (13WMAZ). GPB reporting had earlier highlighted severe staff shortages across Georgia prisons, creating conditions in which gangs exercised control and families received little information after a loved one’s death — systemic problems that persisted at Central State through Turner’s time there.
Litigation
- Gumm v. Jacobs, No. 5:15‑cv‑00041 (M.D. Ga. filed Feb. 12, 2015, terminated May 7, 2019). Dennis J. Turner was named as a defendant. The docket does not record a monetary judgment or settlement.
Sources
- GPS intelligence database, mortality records, and case‑management portals
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution (DOJ‑cited reports on stabbing deaths at Central State)
- 13WMAZ (reports on guard assaults, false imprisonment, and inmate‑on‑inmate violence)
- Georgia Public Broadcasting (coverage of systemic understaffing and deaths)
- Court Listener (Gumm v. Jacobs docket)
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | 2023-10-16 → 2025-07-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | 2023-04-01 → 2023-10-15 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 3 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | 2022-04-16 → 2023-03-31 |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 3 | 2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 2 | 2020-10-01 → 2021-05-31 | |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 1 | 2016-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 1 | PULASKI STATE PRISON | 2017-11-01 → 2020-09-30 |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 1 | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2016-04-16 → 2017-10-31 |
| PUBLIC SAFETY, TRAINER 1 | AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON | 2015-06-01 → 2016-04-15 |
| PUBLIC SAFETY TRN (WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| SERGEANT | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2012-12-01 → 2015-05-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL OFFICER | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2011-01-04 → 2012-11-30 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:16-cv-00378 | GAND | 2016-02-08 | terminated |
| 5:15-cv-00041 | GAMD | 2015-02-12 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
20 people died at facilities under Turner, Dennis J's leadership.
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