Georgia Counts 301 Prison Deaths But Names Only 295

Georgia's prison system reported 301 deaths in 2025 but refuses to identify six of the deceased without charging journalists hourly fees, part of a documented pattern of manipulating mortality data.

The Georgia Department of Corrections published two contradictory official documents in January 2026: one stating 301 people died while serving state sentences in 2025, the other naming only 295 deceased individuals. When GPS requested the names of the six missing people, GDC claimed the discrepancy resulted from different data sets and offered to research the matter only if GPS paid hourly rates ($43.40-$53.00 per hour) for staff time.

Facility Breakdown

What GPS Documented (Original Findings)

• GDC published a statistical report acknowledging 301 deaths during 2025, but the mortality report named only 295 people (GPS analysis of Inmate Statistical Profile: Inmates Released During CY2025 and MortalityReport-1.1.25-12.31.25Name_Date)
• The 301 deaths comprised 289 men and 12 women (GPS analysis of Inmate Statistical Profile: Inmates Released During CY2025, Page 39)
• GPS documented at least 13 cases where GDC reported deaths as 'natural causes' when medical examiners determined they were accidental drug overdoses (GPS Mortality Database cross-referenced with medical examiner reports)
• GPS documented 31 additional cases where GDC classified deaths as 'undetermined' when autopsies revealed overdose as the cause (GPS Mortality Database)
• In the first five months of 2024, GDC reported 6 homicides while incident reports documented at least 18 homicide-categorized deaths (GPS analysis of GDC mortality reports and incident reports)
• GPS has tracked 1,730 deaths in Georgia's prison system since January 2, 2020 (GPS Mortality Database)

Data source: GPS analysis of GDC Monthly Reports, open records requests, and family interviews

What DOJ Already Confirmed

• Georgia's prison system operates with approximately 50% staffing vacancies statewide and greater than 70% vacancy rates at the ten largest facilities (Pages DOJ Report (specific pages not provided in source))
• Georgia's prison system violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment (Pages DOJ Report (specific pages not provided in source))
• 142 homicides occurred in GDC prisons from 2018-2023, with a 95.8% increase in the latter three years (Pages DOJ Report (specific pages not provided in source))
• Less than 10% of fights and less than 23% of assaults were forwarded for investigation (Pages DOJ Report (specific pages not provided in source))

What GDC Concealed

• The identities of six people who died in 2025, counted in statistics but missing from the mortality report
• GDC claims these six deaths involve people 'not in the custody of or under the care of the GDC' but still counts them in official death statistics
• GDC refuses to identify these six individuals without payment of hourly research fees ($43.40-$53.00 per hour)

Quotables

"The requested information is different because they are different data sets."

— Timothy Duff, GDC Assistant General Counsel

"If a person is serving a GDC sentence and dies — regardless of whether they are at a state prison, a private prison, a county facility, or an outside hospital — they died under the authority of the State of Georgia. Their name should be on the mortality report."

— GPS analysis

"These are not statistics. They are not line items in a data set. They were human beings — someone's child, someone's parent, someone's friend. They died under the authority of the State of Georgia. And Georgia has decided that the public doesn't have a right to know who they were."

— GPS analysis

Story Angles

• Local: Contact families of the five named victims from specific facilities (Valdosta, Telfair, Wheeler) to humanize the data manipulation — these aren't just statistics but sons, fathers, and community members whose deaths are being hidden
• Policy: Georgia risks losing federal JAG funding for non-compliance with Death in Custody Reporting Act — quantify the millions at stake and ask legislators if they're aware GDC is jeopardizing federal grants through data manipulation
• Accountability: Commissioner Tyrone Oliver oversees a system that can't account for six deaths it officially counted — track pattern of non-responses to legitimate records requests and GDC's use of fees to block transparency
• Data: Request 2020-2025 mortality reports and statistical profiles to identify patterns — how many times has this discrepancy occurred? Cross-reference with medical examiner reports to expose systematic misclassification of overdoses and homicides

Records Journalists Should Request

Georgia Open Records Act:

1. Inmate Statistical Profile: Inmates Released During CY2025 — Georgia Department of Corrections
2. MortalityReport-1.1.25-12.31.25Name_Date — Georgia Department of Corrections
3. Timothy Duff response letter dated February 27, 2026 — Georgia Department of Corrections
4. Incident reports for Jevion Benham death — Georgia Department of Corrections
5. GDC mortality reports and incident reports — Georgia Department of Corrections

Federal FOIA:

1. Georgia's Death in Custody Reporting Act submissions for 2025 — DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics
2. DOJ Civil Rights Division correspondence with Georgia regarding mortality data discrepancies — DOJ Civil Rights Division

Sources Available for Interview

Families:

• Family of Jevion Benham
• Family of Christopher Barrett
• Family of Dustin Parham
• Family of Preston Phelps
• Family of Charles Coppeak

Incarcerated Witnesses:

• Incarcerated witnesses to deaths at named facilities, anonymous, background only

Experts:

• GPS data analysts — Georgia Prisoners' Speak

Officials Who Should Be Asked for Comment

• Timothy Duff, Assistant General Counsel — Authored the February 27, 2026 response refusing to identify the six missing individuals
• Tyrone Oliver, Commissioner — Ultimate responsibility for GDC's data reporting practices and transparency

Questions GDC Has Not Answered

1. Who are the six people counted in the 301 death statistics but missing from the mortality report?
2. What are the names, GDC identification numbers, dates of death, facility locations, and cause of death classifications for all 301 individuals?
3. What does GDC mean by people 'released from a sentence because of death' but 'not in the custody of or under the care of the GDC'?
4. Is GDC complying with the Death in Custody Reporting Act's requirement to report all 301 deaths?

Source Documents

• GPS Mortality Statistics Portal — GPS's independent tracking of 1,730 deaths since January 2020, with cause of death analysis
• DOJ Findings Report - Investigation of Georgia's State Prisons — 93-page federal investigation documenting constitutional violations, 142 homicides, and systemic failures
• Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 — Federal law requiring states to report all deaths in custody to maintain JAG funding