Commissioner: Gregory C. Dozier

Director of Public Affairs: Joan Heath

FORSYTH, Ga. – The execution of condemned murderer J.W. Ledford, Jr. scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson was carried out on May 17, 2017, at 1:17 a.m. in accordance with state law. Ledford did not accept a final prayer and did not record a final statement. Ledford was sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder of Dr. Harry Buchanan Johnston, Jr.

There have been 69 men and one woman executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Ledford was the 47th inmate put to death by lethal injection. There are presently 56 men under death sentence in Georgia. 

The GDC has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 52,000 state prisoners.  It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 10,500 employees.