Whittington, Lawrence R

Tenure Summary

Lawrence R. Whittington held a series of Georgia Department of Corrections posts from 2015 through 2023, according to GPS personnel records: correction administration in 2015, correctional unit manager in 2016, deputy warden from 2017 through 2020, and Warden at Wilcox State Prison from Dec. 1, 2020, to Jan. 14, 2023. GPS records attribute 10 deaths to Whittington's Warden tenure, all at Wilcox State Prison. The records identify no lawsuits naming Whittington as a defendant. Separate Georgia DOAS settlement records show state liability payouts tied to Wilcox State Prison incidents, including $750,000 for James Wheeler (2017 incident), $550,000 for Jimmy Lucero (2016), $48,242.29 for Ricky Johnson (2016), and $13,000 for Barrington Morrison (2023 incident); these settlements do not establish any finding against Whittington.

What happened on their watch

Wilcox State Prison — Warden, Dec. 1, 2020–Jan. 14, 2023

During Whittington's tenure as Warden, GPS records attribute 10 deaths at Wilcox State Prison. The decedents ranged in age from 37 to 67. Five deaths were classified as natural by the Wilcox County Coroner: Larry E. Sharp, 62, cardiac tamponade due to malignant pericardial effusion from metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung; Christopher Chron Parker, 45, coronary atherosclerosis; Kelvin Lowe, 58, portal-vein thrombosis due to hepatitis B and C; Clayton Wesley Carleton, 67, metabolic acidosis due to ischemic bowel related to pharyngeal cancer; and Kemarrio Laquan Clark, 39, hypertension due to diabetes and obesity. Two deaths were ruled accidental drug toxicity: Tony Royce Smith, 56, fentanyl intoxication, and Robert Mitchell Woodland, 38, combined toxic effects of methamphetamine and diltiazem.

Corey Dewberry, 37, was ruled a suicide by hanging. A GBI autopsy noted that he had been placed in solitary confinement after reporting thoughts of self-harm and was found suspended from a light fixture, with no resuscitative attempts performed. James Forest Williams, 43, was a homicide, with the coroner and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation citing blunt and sharp force injuries to the head, torso, and extremities.

Mark Antonio Calcaterra, 44, carries conflicting classifications in the GPS file: GPS retains a medical-neglect/diabetic-ketoacidosis classification based on a family-sourced report, while the Wilcox County Coroner ruled the death natural from acute respiratory distress syndrome due to COVID-19. GPS also logged a cause-coding conflict in the Smith case: the coroner ruled accidental fentanyl intoxication, while GDC's own coding, obtained by the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project through an open-records request, read "Natural." GPS notes this was part of a set of conflicts in which GDC coded as natural a death attributed by a medical examiner or coroner to violence, overdose, suicide, or accident.

The GPS intelligence file contains no allegations specifically tied to Whittington's Warden tenure. Later-recorded allegations and incidents at Wilcox State Prison — including a September 2023 gang-related fight that killed Maurice Brown and injured nine others, and a 2025 gang-related homicide — postdate Whittington's tenure. A public Facebook post alleging lockdowns during staff gatherings and lapses in inmate supplies references Warden Micheal Thomas and is dated 2026.

Sources

• GPS personnel and deaths records — Whittington personnel file; deaths at Wilcox State Prison
• Wilcox County Coroner records, Janice B. Brown — cases 2021–2023
• GBI Medical Examiner / DOFS autopsy report for Corey Dewberry, 2021
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation and related GDC reporting
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project / Georgia Department of Corrections open-records cause coding
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.