Foster, Denisha Gauze

Tenure Summary

Denisha Gauze Foster's GDC career documented here begins in 2007 as a correctional officer at Wilcox State Prison and resumes in 2021 with a correctional unit manager posting at Telfair State Prison, where she appears in the records for 2021 and again, as CSM Correctional Unit Manager, for 2023 and 2024 (salary recorded at $63,272.22 and $66,310.60). On January 1, 2025 she is listed as deputy warden at Telfair, and from January 16, 2025 as deputy warden of security — the post she holds in the most recent records, which also carry single-day entries dated November 22, 2023 and August 27, 2026. Her status is listed as active.

The headline accountability figure: 21 deaths are attributed to her leadership tenures, all of them at Telfair State Prison. GPS's death registry assigns each of those deaths to her role as deputy warden of security. Two federal lawsuits naming her as a defendant were filed in late 2023 and both terminated in early 2024, with no outcome amounts recorded.

What happened on their watch

Wilcox State Prison — Correctional Officer (2007). Records list her in this staff-tier role at Wilcox State Prison for calendar year 2007.

Telfair State Prison — CSM Correctional Unit Manager (2021, 2023, 2024). Two lawsuits naming Foster as a defendant were filed while she held this unit-manager post at Telfair: Hall v. McFarlane, filed November 29, 2023, and Thomas v. White, filed December 21, 2023; both were terminated in early 2024, per court records. A January 21, 2025 AJC report of a claim filed against the state alleged that De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd was stabbed by several prisoners at a time when no staff were present in the dorm, and that he had renounced his gang affiliation and was therefore a target of earlier attacks.

Telfair State Prison — Deputy Warden (January 1–15, 2025), then Deputy Warden of Security (from January 16, 2025). This is the tenure carrying all 21 attributed deaths and nearly all of the intelligence activity. The named dead, per GPS's death registry:

• Deandre Moody died January 28, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Ezra Dangelo Ford died March 25, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 21.
• William Clinton Worley died April 12, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 49.
• Lester James Smith died June 2, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 45.
• Tony Morales Adame died June 26, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 32.
• Thaddeus Jovell Perry died July 17, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 50.
• Malindzo Eddy Hatcher died July 21, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 42.
• David Lane Campbell died July 22, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 44.
• Henry L Gadson died September 10, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 60.
• Robert Wayne Messer died September 11, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose, age 63.
• Gary Chad Thomason died September 14, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 53.
• Robert Baker died October 12, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 45.
• Preston C Phelps died December 13, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 28.
• Elvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco died December 29, 2025, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 38.
• Kenneth George Hinton died January 2, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 41.
• Eric Bernard Haynes died January 21, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 51.
• Tavares Zavoyd Atwell died March 10, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 41.
• Timothy Wilson died June 7, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 48.
• Franciso Samuel Cruz-Castro died June 12, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 56.
• Antwane Shanfiel Robinson died July 13, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 46.
• Kwame Conte Mccombs died July 25, 2026, at Telfair State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 37.

Among the events tied to this role: GDC's Office of Professional Standards investigated the death of Preston Cato Phelps as a homicide, with the body sent to the GBI Crime Lab (December 2025), and investigated the incident that led to Timothy Wilson's death, reported June 11, 2026. On September 18, 2026, a gang-related fight in a single dorm at Telfair injured three incarcerated people, all treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries; GDC placed all facilities under lockdown, with Telfair, Calhoun and dorms at Hancock and Wilcox remaining locked down, per the event records.

Intelligence reports logged against this tenure include AJC reporting that, as of March 2025, 79% of correctional officer positions at Telfair were unfilled — 32 officers for a facility requiring at least 153 — and AJC reporting of allegations that Sergeant Desiree Briley helped prisoner James Dylon NeSmith smuggle methamphetamine into the facility and distribute it for at least two years, within a federal prosecution ("Operation Ghost Busted") of the Ghost Face Gangsters network spanning at least 10 South Georgia counties. A 13WMAZ report of a $32 million settlement described an officer allegedly responding "if he dies, he dies" when an inmate pleaded for help while suffering in extreme heat. Yahoo News reported that inmate Kendall Alfonzo Stevens is accused of making a bomb threat against an Atkinson County school, with GBI investigating. GPS case submissions and Telegram group reports from 2025–2026 describe stabbings, a large dorm fight with chemical agents deployed, deaths reported in restrictive housing, visitation cancellations, and lockdowns; one 2026 report alleges multiple people were killed at Telfair in 2025 during a conflict between the Bloods and Muslims that triggered a statewide lockdown.

Litigation

• Hall v. McFarlane, No. 3:23-cv-00094 (docket listed as GASD), filed November 29, 2023; terminated March 4, 2024; no outcome amount recorded. Foster is listed as a defendant.
• Thomas v. White, No. 3:23-cv-00100 (docket listed as GASD), filed December 21, 2023; terminated February 23, 2024; no outcome amount recorded. Foster is listed as a defendant.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Telfair officer-vacancy reporting (2025), Briley/NeSmith smuggling allegations and Operation Ghost Busted (2026), Floyd claim (2025)
• 13WMAZ — heat-exposure allegation and $32 million settlement coverage (2026)
• Yahoo News — bomb-threat allegation against Kendall Alfonzo Stevens (2026)
• CourtListener dockets — Hall v. McFarlane; Thomas v. White
• Georgia Department of Corrections statements — Telfair deaths and Office of Professional Standards investigations, September 2026 lockdown
• GPS death registry and case-submission reports, including Telegram group reports and a family report from Telfair

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.