Dykes, Heather

Tenure Summary

Heather Dykes spent roughly two and a half years in financial operations roles at Dooly State Prison — first as a Financial Ops Generalist 2 (2023) and then as an Accounting Technician 3 (2024 through mid-2025) — before transitioning to a leadership-tier post on August 16, 2025, as Deputy Warden of Administration at McRae Women's Facility. GPS records show one death attributed to a facility during her tenure in a leadership role: Beverly Suzanne Sipple, age 59, who died at McRae Women's Facility on March 16, 2026, while Dykes held the Deputy Warden of Administration position there. No lawsuits name Dykes as a defendant, and no settled judgments appear in GPS records.

What Happened on Their Watch

McRae Women's Facility — Deputy Warden of Administration (August 16, 2025–present)

Dykes assumed the Deputy Warden of Administration role at McRae Women's Facility on August 16, 2025. GPS records attribute one in-custody death to the facility during her tenure: Beverly Suzanne Sipple, 59, died on March 16, 2026. The cause category is recorded in GPS records as category 6; no additional notes or public allegations regarding the circumstances of Sipple's death appear in the structured records. No lawsuits, intel reports, or major incidents at McRae Women's Facility are documented in GPS records for this period.

Contextual note — Dooly State Prison (non-leadership tenure, 2023–mid-2025)

Although Dykes held no accountability-tier leadership role at Dooly State Prison, the facility's documented conditions during her time there as a financial staff member are part of the institutional record. GPS records show Dooly operating at 212% of its original 750-person design capacity — holding 1,593 people — with a statewide correctional officer vacancy rate averaging 50%. Multiple homicides were recorded at the facility during the overlapping period: Dimitri Merci Jackson (January 3, 2023, stab wound to the chest); Chad Taylor Roadifer (October 27, 2023, delayed complications of blunt force head trauma); Brian Lee Wainwright (January 4, 2024); Raquon Ja'Veyonte Tucker, 26 (March 22, 2024, blunt force head trauma); Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta, 38 (June 22, 2024, blunt force trauma — a coroner alleged to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was found); and Zeary Davis, 31 (September 26, 2024, stabbed). Per GPS records, Joshua Parrott died January 9, 2025, initially classified as suicide and later reclassified as homicide by strangulation; Horario Philmore died February 2, 2025, officially ruled a suicide, though GPS records note that inmates reported strangulation; and Darrow Brown was stabbed to death on November 7, 2025. Georgia Public Broadcasting reported an allegation that medical staff put one patient's treatment "on the back burner," contributing to a death from sepsis; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a separate allegation that James Yarbrough died of diabetic ketoacidosis after months of uncontrolled diabetes, in a case alleging medical malpractice. Per WGXA, a corrections officer cadet, Julius Deshawn Williams Jr., pleaded guilty in December 2025 to attempting to smuggle 640 grams of pure methamphetamine into Dooly. Per WALB, inmate Abraham Rivas allegedly operated a phone fraud scheme from inside the facility, with a claim that correctional staff were aware of inmates running such schemes. GPS relay-detected reports document repeated stabbing incidents at Dooly in March and April 2026 — after Dykes had already transferred — including mass stabbings in D building on April 15, multiple stabbings triggering Life Flight transports on April 1–2, and a gang-related altercation on April 3 that sent six inmates to hospitals, three by Life Flight. These conditions and incidents are documented at the facility level; Dykes held no leadership role at Dooly during any of this period.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta death (coroner allegation re: discovery delay); James Yarbrough medical malpractice allegation; Georgia prison homicide list
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — allegation that Dooly medical staff delayed treatment contributing to sepsis death; DOJ deliberate indifference reporting (October 2024)
• WGXA — Julius Deshawn Williams Jr. guilty plea; gang-related fight injuries at Dooly
• 13WMAZ — gang-related fight injuries at Dooly
• WALB — Abraham Rivas phone fraud scheme; allegation that staff were aware of in-prison fraud operations
• GPS records — Dykes position history; Beverly Suzanne Sipple death (March 16, 2026, McRae Women's Facility); Dooly capacity and staffing reports; Dooly death and incident event log; GPS Relay Bot AI-classified incident reports (March–April 2026)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.