Turner, Dennis J

Tenure Summary

Dennis J. Turner's GDC career began as a correctional officer at Calhoun State Prison on January 4, 2011, with a promotion to sergeant there on December 1, 2012. From mid-2015 he worked as a Public Safety Trainer — at Augusta State Medical Prison (June 2015–April 2016), Baldwin State Prison (April 2016–October 2017) and Pulaski State Prison (November 2017–September 2020) — before returning to the Special Management Unit as a trainer in April 2022, then serving as CSM Correctional Unit Manager there (April–October 2023) and Deputy Warden (October 16, 2023–July 31, 2025). He became Deputy Warden at Central State Prison on August 1, 2025, and Deputy Warden of Security there from July 16, 2026. His personnel record lists his status as active.

GPS's death registry attributes 24 deaths to his leadership tenures: 22 at Central State Prison and 2 at the Special Management Unit. The registry classifies 18 of the 24 as Unknown/Pending, two as Homicide, two as Overdose, one as Natural/Medical and one as Suicide. His SMU tenure overlaps a federal contempt order and the DOJ's findings on Georgia's prison system; his Central State tenure overlaps published homicide accounts and a series of staff arrests.

What happened on their watch

Special Management Unit — CSM Correctional Unit Manager (Apr–Oct 2023), then Deputy Warden (Oct 16, 2023–Jul 31, 2025). Two deaths are attributed to this facility during his tenure: Emilio Christopher Canales died October 22, 2024, at the Special Management Unit; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 40. Ricardo Castavio Daughtry died June 10, 2024, at the Special Management Unit; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 41.

Daughtry was the lead plaintiff in the SMU litigation. Per Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting cited in GPS's records, he was not checked on for nearly seven hours before his body was discovered, despite a policy requiring checks every 30 minutes, and prison records showed him attending "table time," recreation and the book cart after he had already been pronounced dead. The same AJC investigation reports that GDC falsified and backdated prisoner review forms and that Ahmed Holt swore under oath that prisoners were receiving required out-of-cell time, programming and adequate staffing — assertions the reporting says evidence contradicted. In April 2024, U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell held GDC in contempt, with a 100-page order finding the agency and its officials were "thumbing their noses" at the 2019 SMU settlement and had stalled compliance until the injunction neared expiration. Per the AJC, the Justice Department's October report called Georgia's prisons inhumane and described GDC obstructing federal investigators; AJC also reported that in March 2024 GDC stopped including preliminary cause of death in monthly mortality reports, and that a contraband cellphone was seized from Arthur Lee Cofield Jr. inside the SMU while GDC knew of his financial crimes as early as 2018 but did not charge him until 2020.

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden (from Aug 1, 2025), Deputy Warden of Security (from Jul 16, 2026). Twenty-two deaths are attributed to Central State Prison during his tenure. In the registry's classifications and dates: Adel Eackles died February 10, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 64); Deanthony Terrell Fleming died February 14, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 37); Jeremiah Eugene Taylor died April 21, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 41); Thomas Dewayne Kiker died June 22, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 49); Anthony Le Ray Baugher died October 26, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 68); Leon Culver Kelly died December 9, 2024 (Homicide, age 47); Brandon Jamal Pool died December 29, 2024 (Unknown/Pending, age 38); Matthew Maddox died January 28, 2025 (Unknown/Pending; no age listed); Lamancha Ware died March 2, 2025 (Unknown/Pending, age 48); Ricky Eugene Rogers died April 21, 2025 (Overdose, age 68); Travis Jamal Gaither died April 21, 2025 (Unknown/Pending, age 41); Ricky D Ring died July 16, 2025 (Unknown/Pending, age 56); James Theodore Miller died September 22, 2025 (Unknown/Pending, age 64); Joseph Hamm died October 8, 2025 (Overdose, age 36); Ronald Goss died October 23, 2025 (Unknown/Pending, age 60); Miguel Angel Duran died March 1, 2026 (Suicide, age 44); Michael Lane Brooks died April 19, 2026 (Unknown/Pending, age 77); Richard Palmer died June 2, 2026 (Unknown/Pending, age 57); Raemonte Gentale Harris died July 3, 2026 (Unknown/Pending, age 39); Mickey Barrett died July 11, 2026 (Natural/Medical, age 64); Demetris Raynard Keller died July 17, 2026 (Unknown/Pending, age 38); Steve Allen Burk died July 20, 2026 (Homicide, age 38).

Per AJC reporting citing the DOJ report, Marquis L. Johnson was stabbed in the prison barbershop on December 8 and later died of cardiac arrest secondary to the stabbing, and Hollis Alan Bryant was stabbed to death, with three other prisoners criminally charged. Inmate submissions logged to this facility during his tenure describe two stabbings during a lockdown with tension attributed to officers (July 9, 2026); a death after which video of the body circulated on social media and a tactical team occupied the housing unit for hours (June 2, 2026); six people hospitalized during a statewide lockdown, and skeleton-crew staffing linked to delayed meals (May 2026); and an allegation that a person with stroke symptoms was denied timely medical attention (April 13, 2026). Staff-level arrests during the period include accounting technician Zacarra Oliver, charged in October 2026 with sexual contact with a person in custody and trading with inmates — charged, not convicted — and correctional officer Only Souffrance, charged October 22, 2026 with aggravated battery, false statements and violation of oath, also charged but not convicted. 13WMAZ reporting also logged a guard charged with falsely imprisoning four DFCS employees (December 2025) and three former guards accused of beating an inmate and covering it up (March 2025).

Litigation

• Gumm v. Jacobs, No. 5:15-cv-00041 (GAMD) — filed February 12, 2015; terminated May 7, 2019. Turner is listed as a defendant; no outcome amount is recorded.

Sources

• GPS death registry — cause classifications and dates for the 24 deaths during Turner's leadership tenures
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — DOJ-based homicide accounts (Marquis L. Johnson, Hollis Alan Bryant); SMU contempt and falsified-records reporting; Ricardo Daughtry death and check-failure reporting; mortality-report and Cofield reporting
• U.S. Department of Justice report on conditions in Georgia prisons (as reported by the AJC)
• 13WMAZ — Central State Prison staff arrest and assault reporting
• Bibb County Sheriff's Office inmate search — bookings of Zacarra Oliver and Only Souffrance
• Court records, Gumm v. Jacobs (GAMD 5:15-cv-00041) via CourtListener
• GPS case submissions — inmate and family reports from Central State Prison, 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 25, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.