Watson, Kochelle

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Johnson State Prison (2019–2021)
Although Watson’s deputy warden tenure at Johnson State Prison accounts for only a portion of the 67 attributed deaths, the period includes several homicides that later drew intense scrutiny. On November 12, 2020, Jerry Lee Brown, 61, died from stab wounds to the head and blunt force injury to the face, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigation of Georgia prison homicides. The state later paid a $1,449,640 settlement to Brown’s family. One year later, on October 16, 2021, David Lamar Henegar, 44, was killed by his cellmate after what an AJC report describes as a prolonged attack lasting hours. A lawsuit filed by Henegar’s family alleges that officers failed to intervene despite other prisoners screaming for help, that Henegar was housed with a mentally ill cellmate who had previously attacked him, and that prison staff ignored repeated reports about the cellmate’s dangerous behavior. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution further reported that Henegar was kept in custody past his scheduled release date due to an administrative delay, leaving him exposed to the fatal attack. The state ultimately settled the civil suit for $4 million. During this same deputy‑warden period, GPS records show numerous additional deaths attributed to natural or undetermined causes.

Warden, Johnson State Prison (2024–present)
Watson returned to Johnson State Prison as warden in January 2024. The facility’s death count continued to climb. Among the deaths recorded during her warden service, several have been classified as homicides. Kenneth Adam Robinson, 50, died on August 10, 2024; incident report data obtained by the AJC indicates a homicide. Kevin Kosturi, 29, died on December 13, 2024, also in a death categorized as homicide in GPS records. In 2025, Paul Russell Brewster, 48, and Justin Brandon Hulett, 38, died in homicides, according to prisoner reports. Early 2026 brought additional homicides: Michael Elias Peschel, 36, was stabbed 20 times by a cellmate who, GPS notes state, should have been housed alone after a prior confrontation; Phillip Lamar Byrd, 46, was killed in an incident described in prisoner reports as a gang‑related assault and forced drug overdose. In April 2026, Martrese Jamon McKay, 30, died at Johnson under circumstances initially reported as a suicide but later challenged by information indicating the man “just dropped dead,” according to an AI‑classified Telegram relay flagged in GPS records.

A whistleblower account from former GDC CERT Commander Tyler Ryals, recorded on his YouTube channel, describes a snapshot of Johnson State Prison in spring 2024 – directly within Watson’s warden tenure. Ryals recounted a Saturday when the roughly 1,400‑man compound operated with only four staff members, no lieutenant, and a single officer in the lockdown building. Responding alone to an inmate crisis, he deployed a Taser and had to accept help from incarcerated aides to complete the restraint; the officer‑in‑charge later failed to file the required use‑of‑force report. Ryals also described female officers being escorted by inmate “bodyguards” and a previous incident in which a female officer running lockdown showers alone was stabbed in the neck. In 2026, GPS intel reports documented contaminated food‑service trays causing illness among incarcerated people at Johnson, tied to degraded dishwashing infrastructure.

Litigation

• Wade v. Morgan (3:23‑cv‑00073, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, filed August 31, 2023). The case remains pending. The lawsuit names Kochelle Watson as a defendant and arises from the October 2021 death of David Lamar Henegar at Johnson State Prison. The Henegar family alleged staff ignored repeated warnings and failed to protect him from a violent cellmate; the state separately settled for $4 million before trial.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution – multiple homicide reports during Watson’s tenure at Johnson State Prison, including the Henegar and Brown cases, and the $4 million settlement.
• GPS records – death logs, personnel timeline, facility attribution.
• Tyler C. Ryals (YouTube) – whistleblower account of understaffing and safety failures at Johnson in spring 2024.
• Court records – Wade v. Morgan docket (via CourtListener).
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services settlement ledger – payouts for Henegar ($4M) and Brown ($1.45M) incidents at Johnson.
• Telegram relay group (AI‑classified) – conflicting reports on McKay’s death in 2026.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 2, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.