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Davis, Heather Alice
Status: active
Profile written September 6, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Heather Alice Davis first appears in GPS personnel records as a behavioral health counselor in 2015, moving through behavioral health counselor supervisor roles through 2021; those postings carry staff-level accountability and no facility name. Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, records place her as Deputy Warden at Valdosta State Prison, with annual Deputy Warden entries through 2025 and a single-day Deputy Warden record dated Nov. 22, 2023.GPS records attribute 58 deaths to Valdosta State Prison during Davis’s Deputy Warden tenure, and the deaths-by-facility table lists all 58 at Valdosta. The records also carry multiple allegations of violence, contraband operations, and extreme understaffing at Valdosta during that period, along with a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report that found Georgia prisons violate the Eighth Amendment.
What happened on their watch
At Valdosta State Prison, where Davis held the Deputy Warden role beginning in 2022, GPS death records list deaths across the tenure. Hakeem Olajuwon Williams, 27, died Feb. 28, 2022; the AJC investigation lists his cause as a stab wound to the chest. GPS records describe a resulting case in which former officer Angela Butler was accused of locking a handcuffed Williams in a cell with an unrestrained, unsearched cellmate. In March 2026, a federal judge sanctioned GDC for destroying video of the stabbing and sanctioned Butler for lying under oath, per the AJC. Dexter Jarrod Burnett, 35, died Sept. 16, 2022 from a stab wound to the torso, according to the AJC.In 2023, Quoesent Bostwick, 34, died by homicide and Lance Montez Lampkin, 41, died from multiple stab wounds, both per the AJC investigation. In 2024, Rufus Shawn Lane, 55, died of ligature strangulation; Ricky Bernard Harris, 39, died of sharp-force trauma to the face and neck; Melvin Lamar Towns, 37, died in a homicide during a disruptive event; and Shane Dillon Griffith, 32, died May 30 of blunt force trauma to the head, torso and extremities. Warrants alleged 11 inmates beat Griffith over hours; all 11 were charged with murder, according to the AJC. Griffith’s family filed a notice of intent to sue the state, alleging staff failed to intervene.
The death records continue into 2025 and 2026 with Davis listed as Deputy Warden. Documented deaths include William Stacey Springer, 36, stabbed in the face and head, with WALB reporting inmates said jailers did not respond for hours; and Je’Vion Benham, 21, found dead Dec. 24 and ruled a homicide by strangulation, with the Lowndes County coroner estimating he lay undiscovered about two days and criticizing the delay, per WTOC and WALB. GPS also records Anthony Vashern Prothro, 34, as a suicide by hanging, later confirmed by a GBI DOFS autopsy. Other listed deaths have unknown or pending causes.
Beyond individual deaths, intel records tie Valdosta to systemic allegations during Davis’s tenure: an AJC investigation alleging 80% of correctional officer positions were vacant; Operation Skyhawk, which led to arrests of seven correctional officers and more than 170 drone drops stopped; a Yahoo report describing an inmate-directed drug trafficking network using contraband phones; and the 2024 DOJ finding of Eighth Amendment violations across Georgia prisons. Warden Ralph Shropshire was fired for misconduct in July 2024, per the AJC.
Litigation
- Daker v. Ward, 7:20-cv-00113 (M.D. Ga.), filed June 11, 2020; terminated Nov. 3, 2021. No settlement amount recorded.
- Leslie v. Ward, 7:20-cv-00079 (M.D. Ga.), filed April 30, 2020; terminated Aug. 24, 2022. No settlement amount recorded.
These entries appear in the lawsuits-as-defendant field while Davis was still in behavioral health counselor roles.
Sources
- GPS personnel, death, and intel records.
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; Operation Skyhawk; Valdosta staffing and misconduct reporting.
- WALB — deaths at Valdosta, family accounts in the Springer and Benham cases.
- WTOC — Lowndes County Coroner Austin Fiveash’s criticism of the Benham discovery delay.
- WRDW — GDC statement on flooded-cell video.
- Yahoo News — Justice Department drug trafficking network tied to Valdosta State Prison.
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on Eighth Amendment violations in Georgia prisons.
- GBI DOFS autopsy record for Anthony Prothro.
- GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report and GDC ORR production for Benham (R030514-072526).
- Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger — Kenneth Greene Jr. $2,000 settlement, 2025.
- CourtListener dockets for Daker v. Ward and Leslie v. Ward.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | 2017-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:20-cv-00113 | GAMD | 2020-06-11 | terminated |
| 7:20-cv-00079 | GAMD | 2020-04-30 | terminated |
| 4:18-cv-00053 | GAND | 2018-03-02 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
58 people died at facilities under Davis, Heather Alice's leadership.
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