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Foster, Denisha Gauze
Status: active
Profile written August 30, 2026
Salary
$74,173
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
Denisha Gauze Foster is a Georgia Department of Corrections employee whose recorded career begins with a 2007 correctional officer posting at Wilcox State Prison. She later moved to Telfair State Prison as a Unit Manager in 2021, held the CSM Correctional Unit Manager title in 2023 and 2024, and advanced to Deputy Warden on Jan. 1, 2025, then Deputy Warden of Security on Jan. 16, 2025 — a post the records show as current.GPS records attribute 21 deaths to Telfair State Prison during Foster's facility-deputy tenure there. No deaths are attributed to her 2007 Wilcox posting. Two federal suits naming her as a defendant — Thomas v. White and Hall v. Mcfarlane, both in the Southern District of Georgia — were terminated in early 2024 with no recorded payout.
What happened on their watch
Wilcox State Prison — Correctional Officer (2007)
GPS records attribute no deaths to this posting. The Wilcox incidents documented in GPS files — James Wheeler's 2017 hanging, Mariol Rawls's 2024 stabbing, and Dominique Cole's 2025 killing — postdate her 2007 tenure.Telfair State Prison — Unit Manager postings (2021, 2023–2024)
Foster's unit-manager years overlapped a period of documented instability at Telfair. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the facility missing roughly 76–79% of its correctional-officer workforce. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation described Georgia prisons as gang-run and riddled with violence and sexual assault, according to AJC coverage. During this window, Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano died July 20, 2023, after being left in an outdoor cage in extreme heat; 13WMAZ later reported an officer allegedly responded, "if he dies, he dies." The GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger lists a $3,249,872.60 payout tied to a 2023 Telfair incident involving his estate, and 13WMAZ reported a $3.2 million family settlement. A claim filed against the state, per the AJC, alleged De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd was stabbed in April 2023 when no staff were in the dorm. GPS records attribute none of the 21 deaths to this posting.Telfair State Prison — Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security (Jan. 2025–present)
Each of the 21 deaths in the GPS record falls after Jan. 16, 2025, during Foster's Deputy Warden of Security posting. Five are documented as homicide or homicide-pending: Deandre Moody, whose GDC January 2025 mortality entry reads "Homicide due to Strangulation"; Ezra Ford, whose coroner record notes assault/stabbing; Lester Smith and Malindzo Hatcher, both listed with stab wounds and manner homicide; and Preston Phelps, listed as manner homicide with cause pending autopsy. Three deaths were accidental drug intoxications per GBI files: David Campbell (acute methamphetamine intoxication), Robert Messer (acute synthetic-cannabinoid intoxication), and Tony Adame (drug-overdose classification retained by GPS). Robert Baker's death was ruled suicide by hanging by the coroner and GBI; a family account in GPS records states Foster described Baker's death to his mother as involving an "altercation" and called it the facility's only fatality. Eric Haynes died of a myocardial infarction listed as natural. Eleven other deaths — including Kwame McCombs, Antwane Robinson, Francisco Cruz-Castro, Timothy Wilson, and Kenneth Hinton — have no documented cause in the GPS record. During this period, the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened investigations into the Wilson and Phelps deaths.Litigation
- Thomas v. White, No. 3:23-cv-00100, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, filed Dec. 21, 2023; terminated Feb. 23, 2024.
- Hall v. Mcfarlane, No. 3:23-cv-00094, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, filed Nov. 29, 2023; terminated Mar. 4, 2024.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel postings, death attribution, death ledger
- Telfair County Coroner records
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports
- GDC monthly mortality reports and Office of Professional Standards files
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Telfair staffing figures, DOJ findings, Floyd claims
- 13WMAZ — Ramirez Bibiano heat death officer allegation and settlement reporting
- GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger via open records
- CourtListener — Thomas v. White and Hall v. Mcfarlane dockets
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Security | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2025-01-16 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| CSM Correctional Unit Manager | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| Unit Manager | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | WILCOX STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:23-cv-00100 | GASD | 2023-12-21 | terminated |
| 3:23-cv-00094 | GASD | 2023-11-29 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
21 people died at facilities under Foster, Denisha Gauze's leadership.
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