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Gillis, Shawn
Status: active
Profile written May 31, 2026
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 Gillis assumed the warden’s post at Wheeler Correctional Facility on January 1, 2024, and remains in that facility-lead role, according to Georgia Prisoners’ Speak (GPS) records. During his tenure to date, GPS has documented 14 deaths inside the facility — including at least three homicides — alongside allegations of excessive force by officers, medical neglect, and persistent contraband-driven violence. No lawsuits naming Gillis as a defendant have been identified in GPS’s litigation database.What happened on their watch
Gillis has served a single leadership posting: Warden at Wheeler Correctional Facility, beginning January 2024. GPS attributes 14 deaths to this tenure, spanning from Tony Pruitt (January 4, 2024) through Damon Crowe (April 26, 2026). Among them, three deaths are classified as homicides in GPS records. Dustin Parham, 35, died on November 2, 2025; a user-submitted report notes he was handcuffed when officers used excessive force. Baldemar Jaramillo, 31, died on June 10, 2025, with the cause listed as “Homocide.” Saquan Anderson, 23, was stabbed to death on March 3, 2025; per The Advance News and 13WMAZ, five people were indicted for murder. Another death, that of Jeffrey Lay, 63, on July 25, 2025, is documented with a detailed firsthand account from a fellow prisoner alleging that Lay complained of intense pain for weeks, received only antacids from medical staff, and collapsed from internal bleeding; that claim is attributed to a GPS user-submitted report.The remaining ten deaths (Pruitt, Ronnie Cranford, Antonio Johnson, Stoney Allen, David Folmar, Russell Waters, Carlos White, Robert Hodges, Demetrice Joshen, and Damon Crowe) are categorized in GPS records under cause-code 6, which the data does not define; no further specifics are provided. Two intel reports from GPS’s case submissions in 2026 point to ongoing violence: an April 21 tip describing an inmate stabbed in the chest in dorm 8M4, and a March 7 AI-detected Telegram relay noting “blood on blood” indicating serious violence. A separate event — Jose Calderon’s September 2024 sentencing to 262 months for brokering meth distribution from inside Wheeler using a contraband cellphone — illustrates contraband networks operating during Gillis’s watch.
Sources
- GPS records — personnel profile, death records, and facility-tenure data for Shawn Gillis
- The Advance News and 13WMAZ — coverage of Saquan Anderson homicide and indictments (2025)
- GPS case submissions — user-submitted incident reports (stabbing allegation, Telegram relay of violence)
- GPS intelligence events — Jose Calderon meth distribution sentencing (2024)
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | 2024-01-01 → present |
Deaths attributed during tenure
14 people died at facilities under Gillis, Shawn's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-26 | DAMON LUKE CROWE | 40 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-11-21 | DEMETRICE LABRON JOSHEN | 28 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-11-02 | DUSTIN JAMES PARHAM | 35 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-07-25 | JEFFREY SCOTT LAY | 63 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-06-26 | ROBERT LEE HODGES | 56 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-06-10 | BALDEMAR JARAMILLO | 31 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2025-03-03 | SAQUAN DEWEST ANDERSON | 23 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-12-24 | CARLOS WHITE | 41 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-07-29 | RUSSELL ANTHONY WATERS | 55 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-07-15 | DAVID R FOLMAR | 70 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-06-21 | STONEY JOE ALLEN | 61 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-06-02 | RONNIE JOSEPH CRANFORD | 34 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-03-30 | ANTONIO PEREZ JOHNSON | 45 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
| 2024-01-04 | TONY LAMAR PRUITT | 60 | WHEELER CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Warden (Wheeler Correctional Facility) |
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