Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Emmons, Shawn F
Emmons, Shawn F
Status: active
Profile written June 14, 2026
Current Position
Assistant Director For The Southwest Region
Salary
$112,500
2025 · state payroll
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
Shawn F. Emmons rose through the Georgia Department of Corrections from a deputy warden of care and treatment in 2013 to warden at three of the state’s most troubled prisons, before being promoted to Assistant Director for the Southwest Region in July 2025. GPS records attribute a total of 72 deaths to the facilities where Emmons held the top leadership role: 12 at Valdosta State Prison (2018–2021), 8 at Hays State Prison (2022), and 52 at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2023–2025). Multiple civil-rights lawsuits naming Emmons as a defendant have been filed in federal court, though none have resulted in a publicly reported payout. His tenures coincide with a period of extreme understaffing, rampant contraband, and dozens of inmate homicides documented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.What happened on their watch
Valdosta State Prison (July 2018 – December 2021, Warden)
Emmons served as Warden 1 and later Warden 3 at Valdosta State Prison. GPS records attribute 12 deaths to the facility during this period. Three were homicides, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation: Bobby Lane Carpenter (31) died of a stab wound to the chest in September 2020; Orvonta Casmir Tillman (36) died of multiple sharp-force penetrating trauma to the thorax in June 2020; and Prince Blige (54) died of a stab wound to the torso in February 2020. Other deaths in the sample included individuals ranging from 29 to 74 years old, most classified as cause category 6 (pending/unclassified). Throughout Emmons’ tenure, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Valdosta was operating with roughly 80 percent of its correctional officer positions vacant. The same news outlet documented a sweeping contraband scheme in which at least six officers allegedly helped inmate Kydetrius Thomas smuggle drug-soaked paper, pills, and tobacco, while officer Lashonda Mannings reportedly had over 400 phone conversations with an inmate and procured pills for him. A separate lawsuit, Battle v. Emmons, was filed in June 2020 while Emmons held the warden position at Valdosta (terminated in 2022).Hays State Prison (2022, Warden)
During his year as Warden 3 at Hays State Prison, GPS records show eight deaths. One was a homicide: Quintez Deshon Smith (25) died of multiple sharp-force injuries in August 2022, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The other deaths in the sample — including Robert Lee Burton (58), Tony Christopher Williams (34), and Scott Conway Pinholster (47) — were classified as cause category 6. While Emmons was warden, a lawsuit, Burns v. Emmons, was filed in April 2022 in the Middle District of Georgia (terminated later that year). According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a former Hays guard was later found to have smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for more than a month, and a lieutenant was convicted for arranging marijuana deliveries for a gang member.Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (January 2023 – June 2025, Warden)
Emmons held the warden post at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison for more than two years. GPS records attribute 52 deaths to the facility during this time — the highest single-facility total in Emmons’s career. The sample of deaths includes several homicides detailed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carrell D. Johnson (32) died in June 2023 from chopping injuries of the head and sharp-force injuries of the torso; Elmer W. Pless (65) was strangled in May 2023; and William Rhodes (38) was recorded as a “homocide” in GPS notes. Another decedent, Brandon Trace Burrell (31), was assaulted while affected by methamphetamine and suffered numerous stab wounds, according to the same outlet. GPS records also list 37-year-old David Octavious Robbs and 46-year-old Michael Scott West among the many other deaths.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that newly convicted inmates could obtain homemade shanks and contraband cell phones within days of arrival, and that a death-row officer admitted to receiving thousands of dollars to leak information about shakedowns. GPS research found the facility held 4,540 people in a structure originally designed for 800 — 568 percent of its design capacity — with no corresponding expansion of the medical clinic, kitchen, or showers. In 2024, a federal civil-rights lawsuit, Harris v. Emmons, was filed against the warden and remains pending. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also cited a U.S. Department of Justice finding that Georgia’s gang-run prisons, including the diagnostic prison, were riddled with violence and sexual assault, a systemic finding that overlapped Emmons’ time atop the facility.
Litigation
- Harris v. Emmons, No. 4:24-cv-00001 (M.D. Ga. filed Jan. 2, 2024) — pending.
- Daker v. Emmons, No. 4:23-cv-00213 (N.D. Ga. filed Sep. 22, 2023) — terminated Feb. 20, 2024.
- Burns v. Emmons, No. 7:22-cv-00036 (M.D. Ga. filed Apr. 8, 2022) — terminated Dec. 5, 2022.
- Battle v. Emmons, No. 7:20-cv-00106 (M.D. Ga. filed June 4, 2020) — terminated Sep. 30, 2022.
- Daker v. Emmons, No. 7:20-cv-00043 (M.D. Ga. filed Mar. 10, 2020) — terminated May 28, 2021.
- Martin v. Emmons, No. 1:18-cv-04617 (N.D. Ga. filed Oct. 3, 2018) — pending.
- Rivera v. Emmons, No. 1:13-cv-00161 (S.D. Ga. filed Sep. 9, 2013) — terminated Sep. 13, 2024.
Sources
- GPS records — death totals (72), facility breakdowns, and personnel tenure data.
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple homicide reports during tenures at Valdosta State Prison, Hays State Prison, and Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; staffing and contraband investigations; DOJ findings on violence and sexual assault.
- Court records — case filings from the Middle, Northern, and Southern Districts of Georgia via CourtListener (lawsuits listed above).
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Director for the Southwest Region | 2025-07-16 → present | |
| WARDEN 3 | 2025-01-01 → present | |
| WARDEN 3 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| Warden | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2023-07-01 → 2025-07-15 |
| WARDEN 3 | HAYS STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| WARDEN 3 | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2018-07-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | WILCOX STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment | 2013-01-01 → 2013-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:25-cv-00356 | GAMD | 2025-08-25 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-03191 | GAND | 2025-06-06 | terminated |
| 1:24-cv-02687 | GAND | 2024-06-20 | pending |
| 1:24-cv-01557 | GAND | 2024-04-12 | terminated |
| 1:24-cv-01079 | GAND | 2024-03-12 | terminated |
| 3:24-cv-00048 | GAND | 2024-03-11 | terminated |
| 4:24-cv-00001 | GAMD | 2024-01-02 | pending |
| 4:23-cv-00213 | GAND | 2023-09-22 | terminated |
| 7:22-cv-00036 | GAMD | 2022-04-08 | terminated |
| 7:20-cv-00106 | GAMD | 2020-06-04 | terminated |
| 7:20-cv-00043 | GAMD | 2020-03-10 | terminated |
| 1:20-cv-00107 | GAND | 2020-01-08 | terminated |
| 1:18-cv-04617 | GAND | 2018-10-03 | pending |
| 2:15-cv-00172 | GAND | 2015-08-17 | terminated |
| 5:15-cv-00041 | GAMD | 2015-02-12 | terminated |
| 1:13-cv-00161 | GASD | 2013-09-09 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
72 people died at facilities under Emmons, Shawn F's leadership.
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