Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Foster, Denisha Gauze

Foster, Denisha Gauze

Status: active

Profile written July 19, 2026

Current Position Deputy Warden Of Security Telfair State Prison
Salary $74,173 2025 · state payroll
Deaths Under Their Watch 18 during their tenure

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’s corrections career began as a Correctional Officer at Wilcox State Prison in 2007. She later rose to unit‑supervisor roles at Telfair State Prison, serving as a Unit Manager in 2021 and from 2023 through 2024. In January 2025, Foster was elevated to the facility‑deputy tier, first as Deputy Warden and, from mid‑January onward, as Deputy Warden of Security—the position she holds today. GPS records attribute 18 in‑custody deaths to her leadership tenure, all of them at Telfair State Prison and all occurring after she assumed the Deputy Warden of Security role. While Foster has not been the top warden, the 18 deaths documented on her watch span homicides, a suicide, a fatal drug overdose, a natural death, and several cases that remain pending final determination.

What happened on their watch

Telfair State Prison – Unit Manager (2021, 2023‑2024) Foster’s first stint as a Unit Manager coincided with a year in which Telfair recorded a stabbing death (Juan Carlos Arguelles‑Reveles, May 2021) and two small state‑liability settlements were paid for incidents at the prison. Although no deaths are directly tied to Foster’s unit‑management period, her time in that role overlapped with a heavily publicized fatality and settlement: in July 2023, while she was still a Unit Manager, inmate Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano died after being left in an unshaded outdoor cage for roughly five hours with a heat index of about 105°F; the State of Georgia later paid his family $3.2 million, and a news report quoted an officer allegedly responding to Bibiano’s pleas with “if he dies, he dies.” During this same unit‑manager window, Foster was named as a defendant in two federal lawsuits—Thomas v. White and Hall v. Mcfarlane—both filed in late 2023 in the Southern District of Georgia and terminated without a disclosed payout by early 2024.

Telfair State Prison – Deputy Warden / Deputy Warden of Security (2025–present)
After Foster transitioned to the deputy‑warden tier, a cascade of deaths hit Telfair. GPS records attribute 18 fatalities to her leadership tenure from late January 2025 through mid‑2026, with Foster holding the Deputy Warden of Security role in every case. The deaths include multiple homicides: Deandre Moody, allegedly assaulted in a shower in January 2025; Ezra Dangelo Ford, found unresponsive on a dorm mattress after an apparent stabbing in March; Lester James Smith, stabbed in a common area in June; Malindzo Eddy Hatcher, stabbed in a common area in July; Preston C. Phelps, stabbed during a gang fight between Muslims and Bloods in December; and Timothy Wilson, killed in an altercation in June 2026. A suicide by hanging (Robert Baker, October 2025), a suspected drug overdose (Tony Morales Adame, June 2025), a natural heart attack (Eric Bernard Haynes, January 2026), and several cases pending toxicology or autopsy round out the count. Telfair County coroner records and GDC incident reports document these events; the GDC Office of Professional Standards has opened homicide investigations into at least four of the deaths, including those of Phelps, Hatcher, and Wilson. The cascade unfolded against a backdrop of severe staffing gaps: an Atlanta Journal‑Constitution analysis noted that by early 2025 Telfair was missing 79% of its authorized correctional‑officer positions—leaving as few as 32 officers for a prison housing roughly 1,400 men—and the U.S. Department of Justice had already issued a report describing Georgia prisons as gang‑run environments plagued by violence and sexual assault. The Ramirez Bibiano settlement, finalized at $3.2 million in 2026 despite the death occurring earlier, underscored the facility’s recent legacy of lethal conditions during the same period.

Litigation

  • Thomas v. White, No. 3:23‑cv‑00100 (S.D. Ga., filed Dec. 21, 2023; terminated Feb. 23, 2024). Foster was a defendant; the case closed without a recorded monetary outcome.
  • Hall v. Mcfarlane, No. 3:23‑cv‑00094 (S.D. Ga., filed Nov. 29, 2023; terminated Mar. 4, 2024). Foster was a defendant; the case closed without a recorded monetary outcome.

Sources

  • GPS records — position history, death counts, and lawsuit docketing for Denisha Gauze Foster.
  • Telfair County Coroner death certificates and pronouncement records (2025–2026), obtained via open‑records production — causes and manners of death for Moody, Ford, Smith, Hatcher, Phelps, Baker, Wilson, Haynes, Adame, Campbell, Perry, Thomason, Messer, Gadson, Garcia‑Nelasco, Worley, and Hinton.
  • 13WMAZ — reporting on the Bibiano heat death and the “if he dies, he dies” allegation.
  • Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — reporting on Telfair’s 79% officer vacancy rate, the DOJ gang‑violence report, and the Floyd stabbing claim alleging no staff were present in the dorm.
  • U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on gang‑run conditions and sexual violence in Georgia prisons.
  • Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger — state liability payouts linked to Telfair State Prison, including the $3.2 million Ramirez Bibiano settlement.
  • CourtListener — dockets for Thomas v. White and Hall v. Mcfarlane.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jul 19, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.

Positions Held

TitleFacilityTenure
Deputy Warden of SecurityTELFAIR STATE PRISON2025-01-16 → present
DEPUTY WARDENTELFAIR STATE PRISON2025-01-01 → present
CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGERTELFAIR STATE PRISON2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31
Unit ManagerTELFAIR STATE PRISON2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31
Correctional OfficerWILCOX STATE PRISON2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31

Lawsuits as defendant

Case #CourtFiledStatus
3:23-cv-00100GASD2023-12-21terminated
3:23-cv-00094GASD2023-11-29terminated

Deaths attributed during tenure

18 people died at facilities under Foster, Denisha Gauze's leadership.

DateDecedentAgeFacilityRole at time
2026-06-06Timothy Wilson—TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2026-03-10TAVARES ZAVOYD ATWELL41TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2026-01-21ERIC BERNARD HAYNES51TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2026-01-02KENNETH GEORGE HINTON41TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-12-29ELVIS NOE GARCIA-NELASCO38TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-12-13PRESTON C PHELPS28TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-10-12ROBERT BAKER45TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-09-14GARY CHAD THOMASON53TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-09-11ROBERT WAYNE MESSER63TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-09-10HENRY L GADSON60TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-07-22DAVID LANE CAMPBELL44TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-07-21MALINDZO EDDY HATCHER42TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-07-17THADDEUS JOVELL PERRY50TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-06-26TONY MORALES ADAME32TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-06-02LESTER JAMES SMITH45TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-04-12WILLIAM CLINTON WORLEY49TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-03-25EZRA DANGELO FORD21TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security
2025-01-28Deandre Moody—TELFAIR STATE PRISONDeputy Warden of Security

Submit a correction

If you are the named individual or an authorized representative and dispute information on this page, submit details below. Substantiated corrections are applied promptly. Disputes that remain unresolved are flagged on the profile.