Burks, Letetia Shanta

Tenure Summary

Letetia Shanta Burks served as Deputy Warden at Rutledge State Prison from 2018 through 2023, according to state salary records that show her pay rising from $55,023.84 in 2018 to $64,338.25 in 2023. She held a Deputy Warden post in 2024 in a record that does not name a facility, and from 2025 she has held the Warden 1 position at Lee State Prison, listed at a 2025 salary of $81,131.75. Her employment status is active.

Twelve deaths are attributed to facilities during her leadership tenures — 10 at Rutledge State Prison and 2 at Lee State Prison. Of those, GPS's registry records two homicides, two suicides, four natural/medical deaths, and four deaths whose cause is listed as Unknown/Pending. No lawsuit in the records names Burks as a defendant. A Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through Open Records, records a $395,000 state liability payout tied to Rutledge State Prison and linked to a documented death record — the 2020 death of Andrew Campbell.

What happened on their watch

Rutledge State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2018–2023

Ten deaths at Rutledge are attributed to her tenure as Deputy Warden:

• Andrew Phillip Campbell died April 2, 2020, at Rutledge State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 28.
• James Eric Mitchell died May 4, 2020, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 58.
• Terry Wayne Williams died June 22, 2020, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 61.
• Richard Hatcher died July 9, 2020, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 66.
• Harold Edward Brown died March 5, 2021, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 53.
• Curtis Mincey died July 22, 2021, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 74.
• Boyzie Barnes died April 30, 2022, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 65.
• Daniel Tyler Nichols died April 23, 2023, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 26.
• John Irvin Sr Tidd died July 18, 2023, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 59.
• Leonard Leroy Dillard died October 11, 2023, at Rutledge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 57.

Deaths cluster in 2020 (four) and 2023 (three). GPS intel event records add detail: Nichols, 26, died April 23, 2023, from asphyxia due to neck compression; Mincey, 74, died July 22, 2021, from blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso and extremities, and his sister filed a lawsuit alleging he suffered from mental illness and did not receive appropriate medical or psychological assistance — an allegation, not an adjudicated finding. A separate intel event records that officer Promise Tucker resigned in lieu of termination in 2021 after a cellphone seized from an inmate showed payments to her; she admitted to smuggling tobacco since becoming a cadet 14 months earlier. The $395,000 Risk Management settlement tied to Rutledge and to Campbell's 2020 death occurred during this posting.

Lee State Prison — Warden 1, 2025–present

Two deaths at Lee are attributed to her tenure as Warden 1, both with causes GPS lists as Unknown/Pending:

• Quinton Pearson died September 8, 2025, at Lee State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 45.
• Yancey Sullivan died July 10, 2026, at Lee State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 56.

Position records also show a Warden 1 entry at Lee State Prison dated August 27, 2026. For the 2024 Deputy Warden year, which carries no facility name, the records show only the title and dates.

Litigation

• No lawsuit in these records names Burks as a defendant.
• The intel record for Curtis Mincey states that his sister filed a lawsuit alleging he suffered from mental illness and did not receive appropriate medical or psychological assistance; the event record gives no case name, filing date, court or disposition.
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records): a $395,000 state liability payout tied to Rutledge State Prison for a 2020 incident, linked to the documented death of Andrew Phillip Campbell.

Sources

• Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $395,000 Rutledge State Prison payout, 2020 incident
• GPS death registry — cause and date records for the twelve decedents named above
• GPS intel event records — Nichols and Mincey death circumstances; Promise Tucker contraband resignation; Mincey family lawsuit allegation
• Georgia state salary and position records — Burks's Deputy Warden and Warden 1 titles, facilities, dates and salaries

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.