The Georgia Department of Corrections has garnered a notorious reputation, marked by rampant corruption and a staggering history of violence.
With a staggering 74% of inmates classified as violent offenders, the statistics paint a grim picture.
From 2022 to 2023 alone, Georgia prisons reported an alarming total of 68 homicides and over 80 suicides.
The situation raises serious questions about the safety and management of these facilities.
In 2019, the environment within Georgia’s correctional system was further highlighted when 428 correctional officers were arrested for various crimes, including illicit relationships with inmates and drug smuggling.
The starting salary for prison guards in Georgia is around $42,000, which has led some to accept bribes from inmates desperate for contraband.
Reports indicate that inmates have paid between $2,500 and $10,000 for the smuggling of drugs, food, luxury clothing, and even cell phones.
One particularly outrageous incident involved an inmate serving a 15-year sentence for armed robbery.
This individual managed to obtain a cell phone and, posing as a billionaire, convinced a bank to wire him $11 million, which he used to purchase a lavish $4.4 million home in Atlanta.
When authorities caught up with him, he had amassed a staggering $31 million in his bank account.
After completing his sentence in 2021, he was immediately taken into federal custody and handed an additional 11-year sentence.
This narrative leads us to the harrowing tale of Nathan Weeks, who began his journey in the infamous Smith State Prison.
Sentenced to 17 years in 2012 for a series of armed robberies committed as a teenager, Weeks quickly found himself entangled in a web of crime and corruption.
While incarcerated, he befriended Chris Sumlin, another inmate with a checkered past involving firearms and drugs.
Weeks’s charm and manipulative tactics enabled him to cultivate romantic relationships with several female prison guards.
He even enlisted the help of the prison warden and male guards to orchestrate a million-dollar drug operation from behind bars.
One guard, Jessica Gerling, fell under his spell and began smuggling contraband items into the prison, coordinating drone drops that delivered methamphetamine right to the inmates.
Gerling’s lucrative side hustle earned her thousands, allowing her to splurge on a new Mercedes-Benz.
However, her luck ran out in June 2020 when she was caught with marijuana during a routine search.
Although she initially evaded serious consequences, she remained under Weeks’s control, who threatened her life and that of her daughter if she attempted to quit the operation.
As the pressure mounted, Weeks orchestrated a deadly plan involving Gerling and another prison guard, Dennis Kraft.
On June 28, 2021, Kraft met Gerling outside her home, where he fatally shot her before fleeing the scene.
The shocking murder was just one part of a larger scheme orchestrated by Weeks, who continued to manipulate those around him even after Gerling’s death.
Weeks’s criminal enterprise didn’t stop there.
After recruiting more guards, including Officer Murphy and Officer Jones, he sought revenge against Jerry Lee Davis, a food delivery driver who had stopped smuggling drugs into the prison.
In a chilling turn of events, Sumlin broke into Davis’s home and shot him while he slept beside his daughter, showcasing the lengths to which Weeks would go to maintain his operation.
The corruption within Smith State Prison spiraled further when Weeks bribed the prison warden with $30,000 to falsify documents and facilitate the smuggling of prohibited items.
However, not all guards were willing to turn a blind eye.
Officer Rubin stood firm against contraband, disrupting Weeks’s operations and ultimately becoming a target herself.
In a tragic mistake, the assassination plot against Officer Rubin went horribly wrong when Sumlin killed the wrong man, Bobby Kicklider, an innocent 88-year-old neighbor.
This blunder led to a swift investigation, unearthing the web of corruption that had spread throughout the prison.
Detectives linked the crime back to Sumlin through DNA evidence found on a ski mask he discarded during the escape.
As the investigation unfolded, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation launched a comprehensive probe into the prison’s inner workings, resulting in multiple arrests, including that of Warden Brian Adams.
Weeks and his accomplices faced a slew of charges, including murder, conspiracy, and drug trafficking, revealing the extensive network of crime that had flourished within the prison walls.
Despite being placed in solitary confinement, Weeks continued to manipulate the situation, with a lieutenant caught moving $30,000 on his behalf through Cash App.
Now, the state of Georgia is pursuing the death penalty for both Weeks and Sumlin, though delays in the trial process have occurred due to Weeks’s claims of financial hardship.
The saga of Nathan Weeks and the corrupt practices within Georgia’s prison system serves as a cautionary tale, illustrating the dire need for reform and accountability in a system plagued by violence and malfeasance.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the ramifications of this scandal will undoubtedly reverberate throughout the state’s correctional facilities for years to come.
