Yancey, Jody LEE

Tenure Summary

Jody Lee Yancey has held deputy- and facility-lead roles at two Georgia Department of Corrections facilities across multiple postings spanning 2007 to the present. After an early stint as Assistant Chief of Security at McRae Women's Facility in 2007, Yancey returned to GDC leadership in 2022 as Assistant Warden at Coffee Correctional Facility, later serving as Deputy Warden there in 2024 before being appointed Warden at McRae Women's Facility in January 2025, a post GPS records show Yancey continues to hold. GPS records attribute 14 deaths to facilities during Yancey's leadership tenures — 10 at Coffee Correctional Facility and 4 at McRae Women's Facility. One lawsuit names Yancey as a defendant, though it is unrelated to conditions of confinement.

What Happened on Their Watch

Coffee Correctional Facility — Assistant Warden / Deputy Warden (2022–2024)

GPS records attribute 10 deaths at Coffee Correctional Facility during Yancey's combined tenure there as Assistant Warden (2022) and Deputy Warden (2024). In 2022 alone, seven deaths occurred while Yancey held the Assistant Warden role. Among them: Hendricks Riley Gunn, 42, died January 2, 2022; per an AJC Georgia Prison Homicides investigation, the cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head and neck. Also in 2022, Maurice Bernard White, 48, and Robbie Lee Collins, 45, died within a day of each other in January; Enrique Alejandro Lopez, 37, died in March; Aydin M. Rashidov, 27, died in August; Charles J. Edwards, 75, died in September; and Karl Eugene Pundt, 78, died in November. During Yancey's 2024 Deputy Warden posting, three additional deaths are recorded: Jeffery B. Russell, 60, in January; Robert Adams, 52, in February; and William Eric Green, 61, in May. The majority of deaths across both postings fall under cause category 6 in GPS records. According to the AJC, a former Coffee Correctional officer, Dacia Gaskins, was indicted for conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone, and marijuana as part of a drug-trafficking operation — an allegation the AJC also linked to gang-related violence at the facility. A separate AJC report alleges that four inmates were involved in the stabbing death of Kendall Ja'Mal Cromer, 31, at Coffee in November 2020 — prior to Yancey's tenure there but documented in GPS intel records for the facility.

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

Yancey was designated Warden 3 at McRae Women's Facility on January 1, 2025, transitioning to the Warden title on January 16, 2025. GPS records attribute 4 deaths at McRae during this warden tenure. Jadia Corine Rozier, 23, died July 20, 2025; GPS research notes an obituary on file and a related habeas corpus case filed. Beverly Suzanne Sipple, 59, died March 16, 2026. Shannon Rush and Chasity King died on consecutive days, May 17 and May 18, 2026, respectively; both were auto-promoted from user reports in the GPS system. Ages for Rush and King are not recorded. All four McRae deaths fall under cause category 6 except Rozier, who is listed under cause category 3.

Litigation

• In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:20-md-02974 (N.D. Ga., filed December 16, 2020) — Yancey is named as a defendant in this multidistrict products liability matter. Status: pending. No outcome amount recorded. Per CourtListener, this litigation concerns IUD product liability and is unrelated to correctional facility conditions.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — AJC Georgia Prison Homicides investigation (Hendricks Riley Gunn homicide; Coffee Correctional facility violence and drug-trafficking allegations)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — gang-related violence and Dacia Gaskins indictment reporting at Coffee Correctional Facility
• GPS records — deaths during tenure, position history, and facility attribution for Yancey, Jody Lee
• CourtListener / PACER — In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, 1:20-md-02974, GAND
• Mathis Funeral Home obituary (via GPS Research) — Jadia Corine Rozier

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 24, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.