Burks, Letetia Shanta

Tenure Summary

Letetia Shanta Burks served as Deputy Warden at Rutledge State Prison from 2018 through at least 2023, then held a Deputy Warden role at an unspecified facility in 2024, before being appointed Warden 1 at Lee State Prison beginning in 2025. GPS records show eleven deaths attributed to facilities during Burks's leadership-tier tenures: ten at Rutledge State Prison while she served as Deputy Warden, and one at Lee State Prison during her current Warden posting. Two of the Rutledge deaths were classified as homicides and documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia Prison Homicides investigation. No lawsuits naming Burks personally as a defendant appear in GPS records.

What Happened on Their Watch

Rutledge State Prison — Deputy Warden (2018–2023)

GPS records attribute ten deaths to Rutledge State Prison during Burks's tenure as Deputy Warden. Seven of those deaths fall under cause category 6 (cause unspecified in available records): Andrew Phillip Campbell, 28, on April 2, 2020; James Eric Mitchell, 58, on May 4, 2020; Terry Wayne Williams, 61, on June 22, 2020; Richard Hatcher, 66, on July 9, 2020; Harold Edward Brown, 53, on March 5, 2021; Boyzie Barnes, 65, on April 30, 2022; and John Irvin Sr. Tidd, 59, on July 18, 2023. Two deaths were classified as homicides (cause category 3): Curtis Mincey, 74, died July 22, 2021, from blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and extremities, according to the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides investigation; and Daniel Tyler Nichols, 26, died April 23, 2023, from asphyxia due to neck compression, also per the AJC investigation. Regarding Mincey, the AJC reports that his sister filed a lawsuit alleging he suffered from mental illness and did not receive appropriate medical or psychological assistance. A tenth death — Leonard Leroy Dillard, 57, on October 11, 2023 — is also recorded at Rutledge during Burks's documented 2023 posting there.

Beyond the deaths, GPS intel records document additional incidents at Rutledge during this period. In 2021, officer Promise Tucker resigned in lieu of termination after admitting to smuggling tobacco into the facility since becoming a cadet approximately fourteen months earlier, per GPS records. Separately, the AJC reports that Sergeant Erika Shonquandria Hall allegedly admitted to providing prisoners with cellphones, chargers, tobacco, and food in exchange for money on at least six occasions, as part of a broader contraband scheme. A July 7, 2024 incident — after Burks's documented Rutledge posting had ended — saw Leon Venteris Hobson, 58, killed in an inmate-to-inmate assault; a coroner told a television station he was found dead in his cell after a fight with his cellmate, per GPS records.

Lee State Prison — Warden 1 (2025–present)

GPS records attribute one death to Lee State Prison during Burks's tenure as Warden 1: Quinton Pearson, 45, on September 8, 2025. The cause category is listed as 6; no additional notes appear in available records.

Litigation

• Buttrum v. Herring — A federal judge denied a motion to dismiss on March 17, 2026, ruling that Georgia's juvenile lifer parole process may violate the Eighth Amendment; the case is associated with Rutledge State Prison in GPS records. Burks is not named as a defendant in this matter per available records.
• Mincey family lawsuit — Filed on behalf of Curtis Mincey's estate; his sister alleged he suffered from mental illness and did not receive appropriate care at Rutledge State Prison, according to the AJC. Case disposition not available in GPS records.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides investigation (Nichols, Mincey homicide reporting; Mincey family lawsuit allegation)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Operation Skyhawk contraband reporting (Sergeant Hall allegation at Rutledge State Prison)
• GPS records — deaths during tenure, facility assignments, salary data, Tucker resignation event, Hobson death event

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.