Foster, Denisha Gauze

Tenure Summary

Denisha Gauze Foster began at the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Wilcox State Prison in 2007. By 2021 she was a unit manager at Telfair State Prison, and every later position in her record is at that facility: CSM Correctional Unit Manager through 2023 and 2024, Deputy Warden from January 1 to January 15, 2025, and Deputy Warden of Security from January 16, 2025.

GPS's death registry attributes 21 deaths to Foster's leadership tenures — all of them at Telfair State Prison, and all falling within her tenure as Deputy Warden of Security. Five are recorded as homicides, three as overdoses, one as a suicide and one as natural/medical; eleven are listed as unknown/pending. Court records also list her as a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed in late 2023 and terminated in early 2024, with no outcome amount recorded.

What happened on their watch

Correctional Officer, Wilcox State Prison — 2007. Staff-tier post; no leadership-tenure deaths are attributed to it.

Unit Manager, Telfair State Prison — 2021; CSM Correctional Unit Manager, 2023–2024. Unit-supervisor posts, including a 2023 salary of $63,272.22 and a 2024 salary of $66,310.60.

Deputy Warden, Telfair State Prison — January 1 to January 15, 2025. A fifteen-day facility-deputy posting; the earliest death in the registry attributed to her leadership falls twelve days after she moved into the security deputy role.

Deputy Warden of Security, Telfair State Prison — January 16, 2025 to present. GPS's registry attributes 21 deaths at Telfair to this tenure, from Deandre Moody on January 28, 2025 to Kwame Conte Mccombs on July 25, 2026. The dead ranged in age from 21 to 63. Recorded causes: five homicides, three overdoses, one suicide, one natural/medical, eleven unknown/pending.

• 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.

GDC statements reported in the press confirm some of these as altercations: the department said an inmate was killed in a fight at Telfair on July 21, 2025, and that 28-year-old Preston Cato Phelps was killed December 13, 2025 after an altercation with multiple inmates, with the GDC Office of Professional Standards investigating as a homicide and the body sent to the GBI Crime Lab. OPS also investigated the incident that led to Timothy Wilson's death, whose body was sent to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy.

Violence reports inside her security tenure are frequent. A September 16, 2026 Telegram-sourced account described a large dorm fight between rival groups, chemical agents deployed, an incarcerated person overcome by the agent while his cell door was open, and door-to-door injury checks; a companion report said at least three were injured, at least one person died, and multiple facilities locked down. On September 18, 2026, GDC confirmed a gang-related fight contained to one dorm that injured three inmates treated at local hospitals, and placed all facilities under lockdown, with Telfair, Calhoun and dorms at Hancock and Wilcox still locked down that afternoon. A July 1, 2026 submission described the warden halting chow and leaving, an Incident Response Team arriving over an hour later to a housing area where blood was reported, and inmates later seen in medical with stab wounds, with no lockdown ordered. Reports from June 2026 described a death in restrictive housing and unexplained visitation cancellation; an October 10, 2026 submission described a group stabbing and a deputy warden reviewing video.

Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (May 12, 2025), Telfair had 79% of correctional officer positions unfilled as of March, leaving 32 officers for a facility requiring at least 153. The AJC also reported a claim filed against the state alleging De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd was stabbed by several prisoners when no staff were present in the dorm, and that his renounced gang affiliation had made him a target; and that Sergeant Desiree Briley was accused of helping prisoner James Dylon NeSmith smuggle meth into Telfair for at least two years, alongside the federal Operation Ghost Busted prosecution. 13WMAZ reported an allegation that an officer responded "if he dies, he dies" as an inmate pleaded for help in extreme heat. GBI traced an August 2025 school bomb threat to Telfair inmate Kendall Alfonzo Stevens.

Litigation

• Thomas v. White, No. 3:23-cv-00100 (GASD), filed December 21, 2023, closed February 23, 2024 — terminated; no outcome amount recorded. Court records list Foster as a defendant; filed while she was CSM Correctional Unit Manager at Telfair.
• Hall v. Mcfarlane, No. 3:23-cv-00094 (GASD), filed November 29, 2023, closed March 4, 2024 — terminated; no outcome amount recorded. Court records list Foster as a defendant; filed while she was CSM Correctional Unit Manager at Telfair.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 21 deaths at Telfair State Prison attributed to Foster's leadership tenure
• CourtListener dockets — Thomas v. White (3:23-cv-00100); Hall v. Mcfarlane (3:23-cv-00094)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Telfair homicide list and claim regarding De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd; staffing investigation (May 12, 2025); "Prisons' Inside Job" reporting on Sgt. Desiree Briley (January 28, 2026)
• 13WMAZ — report of alleged "if he dies, he dies" response; GBI tracing of bomb threat to Telfair inmate
• Yahoo News — bomb-threat allegation against Kendall Alfonzo Stevens
• GDC statements and GDC Office of Professional Standards — confirmed altercation deaths and investigations
• GBI Crime Lab — autopsies in the Phelps and Wilson deaths
• GPS intel submissions — Telegram group reports, family report, and anonymous tips dated within the Deputy Warden of Security tenure

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 25, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.