Gillis, Shawn

Tenure Summary

Shawn Gillis has served as Warden of Wheeler Correctional Facility since January 1, 2024, and remains in that role as of the time of this writing. GPS records attribute 14 deaths at Wheeler during his tenure, spanning January 2024 through April 2026. The deaths include multiple homicides, at least one allegation of excessive force by staff, and a pattern of cause-category 6 deaths — the largest single grouping. No lawsuits naming Gillis as a defendant appear in GPS records, and no settlements are on file.

What Happened on Their Watch

Wheeler Correctional Facility — Warden (January 1, 2024–present)

GPS records attribute 14 deaths at Wheeler during Gillis's tenure. Ten of those deaths fall under cause-category 6. Three deaths are categorized as homicides (cause-category 3), and one is categorized as cause-category 7. The homicide deaths include Saquan Dewest Anderson, 23, stabbed to death on March 3, 2025; according to The Advance News and 13WMAZ, five individuals were subsequently indicted for murder in connection with Anderson's death. Baldemar Jaramillo, 31, died June 10, 2025; GPS records note the cause as homicide. Regarding Dustin James Parham, 35, who died November 2, 2025, a GPS user report alleges he was handcuffed when officers used excessive force — GPS records carry this as an allegation, not a confirmed finding. Jeffrey Scott Lay, 63, died July 25, 2025, under cause-category 7; a GPS witness account alleges Lay complained for weeks of intense pain, that medical staff repeatedly gave him antacids and returned him to the dorm, and that he died after a series of falls — GPS records attribute this account to a firsthand witness report submitted through GPS case management. The remaining ten deaths — Tony Lamar Pruitt (60), Antonio Perez Johnson (45), Ronnie Joseph Cranford (34), Stoney Joe Allen (61), David R. Folmar (70), Russell Anthony Waters (55), Carlos White (41), Robert Lee Hodges (56), Demetrice Labron Joshen (28), and Damon Crowe (age not recorded) — are listed under cause-category 6; no additional notes appear in GPS records for those individuals. GPS intel reports also document two separate allegations of serious violence at Wheeler during Gillis's tenure: a tip received March 7, 2026, relayed via Telegram, alleging a serious violent incident at the facility, and a report dated April 21, 2026, alleging an inmate was stabbed in the chest in dorm 8M4 and that a life-flight helicopter responded. Both are classified as allegations in GPS records. For context, GPS intelligence records also document the homicide of LaParrish Dawayne London, 30, at Wheeler on March 21, 2023 — prior to Gillis's tenure — from a stab wound to the chest, indicating a pre-existing pattern of lethal violence at the facility.

Sources

• GPS records (deaths-during-tenure data, cause-category classifications, GPS-DEATH-2026-8AF28, GPS-DEATH-2026-AFE96)
• GPS user/witness reports (Parham excessive-force allegation; Lay medical-neglect witness account)
• GPS intel reports (GPS case submissions #84, #159 — Wheeler violence allegations, March and April 2026)
• The Advance News — Anderson homicide and indictment reporting, March 2025
• 13WMAZ — Anderson homicide and indictment reporting, March 2025
• GPS intelligence event record — London homicide at Wheeler, March 21, 2023

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.