Yancey, Jody LEE

Tenure Summary

Jody Lee Yancey has held security and administrative leadership roles at two Georgia Department of Corrections facilities across nearly two decades, beginning as Assistant Chief of Security at McRae Women's Facility in 2007 and ascending to Warden there in January 2025, a post GPS records show he continues to hold. Between his two stints at McRae, Yancey served in deputy-level roles at Coffee Correctional Facility from 2022 through 2024. GPS records attribute twelve deaths to facilities during Yancey's leadership tenures: ten at Coffee Correctional Facility (while he held Assistant Warden and Deputy Warden roles) and two at McRae Women's Facility (while he served as Warden). The deaths at Coffee include at least one confirmed homicide. A single pending federal lawsuit names Yancey as a defendant, though it is unrelated to conditions of confinement.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Coffee Correctional Facility — Assistant Warden (2022)

GPS records attribute six deaths to Coffee Correctional Facility during Yancey's tenure as Assistant Warden in 2022. Five of the six fall under cause category 6; the sixth — Hendricks Riley Gunn, 42, who died January 2, 2022 — is documented as a homicide. Per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, Gunn died from blunt force injuries to the head and neck. The remaining five decedents ranged in age from 27 to 75: Enrique Alejandro Lopez (37, March 30), Maurice Bernard White (48, January 17), Robbie Lee Collins (45, January 18), Aydin M. Rashidov (27, August 18), Charles J. Edwards (75, September 26), and Karl Eugene Pundt (78, November 25). The AJC also reported that a former Coffee Correctional officer, Dacia Gaskins, was indicted during this period for conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone, and marijuana as part of a drug-trafficking operation — an allegation that points to broader contraband-control concerns at the facility. A separate AJC report alleges that a 2020 homicide of Kendall Ja'Mal Cromer — stabbed in the neck and chest — involved four other inmates, per an incident report; that death predates Yancey's posting but is documented in GPS facility event records for Coffee.

Coffee Correctional Facility — Deputy Warden (2024)

GPS records attribute three additional deaths to Coffee Correctional Facility during Yancey's 2024 Deputy Warden tenure, all under cause category 6: Jeffery B. Russell (60, January 8), Robert Adams (52, February 8), and William Eric Green (61, May 24).

McRae Women's Facility — Warden (January 15, 2025–present)

Yancey assumed the Warden role at McRae Women's Facility on January 15, 2025, at an annualized salary of $88,312. GPS records attribute two deaths to the facility during his Warden tenure. Jadia Corine Rozier, 23, died July 20, 2025; GPS research notes her obituary was published through Mathis Funeral Home and that a related habeas corpus case was filed — her death falls under cause category 3. Beverly Suzanne Sipple, 59, died March 16, 2026, under cause category 6. No additional notes are recorded for Sipple.

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Litigation

• In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:20-md-02974, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (GAND), filed December 16, 2020; status pending as of GPS records. This is a multi-district products liability matter; no connection to correctional conditions of confinement is indicated in the record.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; reporting on homicide of Hendricks Riley Gunn and Coffee Correctional drug-trafficking indictment of Dacia Gaskins
• GPS records — deaths during tenure, position history, salary data, and Rozier obituary/habeas corpus notation
• CourtListener / GAND court records — In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, 1:20-md-02974
• Mathis Funeral Home obituary — Jadia Corine Rozier (cited via GPS research notes)

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