Dogan, Helen R

Tenure Summary

Helen R. Dogan first appears in GDC personnel records in 2015 in a business-operations staff role with no facility assignment. She moved into facility leadership the following year and spent the rest of the documented period in one posting: Deputy Warden at Washington State Prison in Davisboro. Annual position records list her there every year from 2016 through 2025, with pay rising from $41,432.99 in 2016 to $70,729.44 in 2025. The deaths attributed to her tenure extend past the last position row into 2026, where the role recorded for those dates is still Deputy Warden.

GPS records attribute 42 deaths to her leadership tenure, all of them at Washington State Prison — the only facility in the count. The named decedents in the record span December 2020 to June 2026. No lawsuit in these records names Dogan as a defendant. Her tenure overlaps the January 2026 riot that killed four incarcerated men and injured more than a dozen others, the 2024 U.S. Department of Justice findings on Georgia prisons, and multiple named homicides inside the facility.

What happened on their watch

Washington State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2016 through 2025 (attributed deaths run to June 2026). All 42 deaths attributed to Dogan's tenure occurred here.

The single largest incident was the disturbance of January 11–12, 2026. Per GDC and contemporaneous reporting, a fight began among inmates around 1:25 p.m., spilled into a visitation area, and left three men dead — Jimmy Trammell, 42, pronounced dead at the scene days before his scheduled release; Ahmod Hatcher, 23; and Teddy Jackson, 27, who died hours later at Wellstar MCG. Thirteen other inmates and one correctional officer were injured. Staff regained control around 3 p.m. using nonlethal weapons. GDC described the event as gang-affiliated. Responding to a GPS open records request, GDC disclosed that six officers were on duty at the facility on January 11. A fourth man, Silas Westbrook, 42, injured in the disturbance, died January 17 after a medical emergency upon arrival at Metro Reentry Facility; GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation. In April 2026, GDC announced that 12 inmates had been charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, gang participation, and unlawful acts of violence in a penal institution. Trammell's brother told WGXA the prison was responsible for the death and demanded answers; that is a family allegation, not a finding.

Other deaths in the record are documented individually: Marquis Reshawn Jefferson, 26, died May 2022 of stab wounds, with an incident report listing four other inmates involved; Michael Lee Jackson, 60, died August 2022 of blunt force injuries; Jacob Cole Henson, 31, died April 23, 2024, of gunshot wounds after a fight with a GDC officer who had taken him to a hospital for treatment of a stabbing sustained earlier that day, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Devonte Tiger Williams, 26, died August 2024 of multiple sharp force injuries. Dontavious Carter is listed as dying January 7, 2025; a later event record states that a contraband-phone video documented a murder at the prison and that GDC was accused of downplaying violence there. Jamie Shahan was reported attacked multiple times in early 2025 and placed on life support with severe brain injuries. The two most recent deaths, in June 2026 — Isreal Moses Jones, 68, and Courtney Davis, 43 — were classified by GDC as undetermined cause with no reported altercation or signs of foul play; both bodies were sent to the GBI Crime Lab and are under Office of Professional Standards review.

Conditions allegations filed while Dogan held the Deputy Warden role include a February 2026 family report of roughly 50 days of continuous lockdown after the riots with commissary withheld from the general population, described by the source as collective punishment; a March 2026 family report alleging mold, structural decay, inadequate medical care, denial of outdoor access, and staff allegedly encouraging inmate-on-inmate violence; and a May 2026 family report that legal mail was held about eight working days beyond the maximum permitted under GDC SOP 227.06. Former inmates told 13WMAZ the riot was the predictable result of years of neglect and understaffing — one, identified as Brandon, alleged no staff respond even in life-or-death situations and that he was personally robbed, beaten, and stabbed; another, Earl White, alleged overcrowding, chronic staffing shortages, and loss of education and job programs. Events logged in November 2025 record housing units at Dooly and Washington State Prisons with no officer present for hours or entire shifts. Contraband-phone operations are alleged in two cases: Jeffery White, accused in September 2024 of running a meth network from the prison that distributed more than 200 pounds in Volusia County, Florida, and Luis Alfonso Ramirez, federally indicted in May 2026 after an HSI/GBI investigation that seized 35 kg of methamphetamine, 3.5 kg of fentanyl, and $145,000 in cash.

Broader findings overlapping this tenure: a 2024 DOJ report concluded Georgia prison officials were "deliberately indifferent" to unchecked deadly violence, widespread drug use, extortion, and sexual abuse, with sophisticated gangs running prison black markets; consultants hired by Gov. Brian Kemp in June 2024 found maintenance failures let prisoners fashion weapons, locks did not work, and understaffing left areas unmonitored; and State Rep. Billy Hitchens alleged in January 2026 that the system had made no meaningful progress on cell-door lock jamming.

Litigation

• No lawsuit in these records names Dogan as a defendant.
• Maurice Carter settlement — a $7,000 State of Georgia liability payout tied to Washington State Prison, incident year 2018, settlement dated October 11, 2018, per the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records.
• Buttrum v. Herring — a federal judge denied a motion to dismiss on March 17, 2026, ruling that Georgia's juvenile-lifer parole system may violate the Eighth Amendment. The case is logged at Washington State Prison; Dogan is not named as a party.

Sources

• Georgia Department of Corrections — statements on the January 2026 disturbance, the 12 felony murder charges, the June 2026 deaths, and Office of Professional Standards investigations
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide tracking list (including the Jacob Cole Henson shooting), DOJ report coverage, and January 2026 riot reporting
• 13WMAZ, 11Alive, WGXA, WFXL, 41NBC — riot coverage, GDC gang-affiliation statements, and former-inmate accounts
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 civil rights findings on Georgia prisons
• Gov. Kemp-commissioned consultant study (consultants engaged June 2024)
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — Maurice Carter payout
• GPS case submissions — family reports dated February, March, and May 2026
• GPS open records response — six officers on duty January 11, 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.