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Gillis, Shawn
Status: active
Profile written June 7, 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 role of Warden at Wheeler Correctional Facility on January 1, 2024, and remains in that facility-leadership post. GPS accountability records attribute 14 deaths to the facility during Gillis’s tenure. No lawsuits name Gillis as a defendant. Internal GPS intelligence reports and user submissions, however, document repeated violence, a homicide allegedly involving excessive force while the man was handcuffed, a prolonged medical-neglect allegation, and a contraband-cellphone drug-trafficking operation that was prosecuted during his watch.What happened on their watch
Wheeler Correctional Facility (Warden, 2024–present) The fourteen deaths attributed to Gillis’s tenure span January 4, 2024, to April 26, 2026. Three are classified by GPS as homicides (cause category 3): Baldemar Jaramillo, 31, whose record note simply states “Homocide”; Saquan DeWes Anderson, 23, stabbed to death on March 3, 2025 — according to reporting by The Advance News and 13WMAZ, five people were later indicted for his murder; and Dustin James Parham, 35, who died on November 2, 2025. A GPS user report for Parham alleges he was handcuffed when officers used excessive force. One death, that of Jeffrey Scott Lay, 63, on July 25, 2025, carries cause category 7 with a detailed witness account submitted to GPS: the witness describes Lay complaining for weeks of intense pain, being given antacids by medical staff and sent back to his dorm, declining until he could barely walk, and ultimately dying after collapsing in the bathroom, with the witness stating he bled internally and lost bowel control in the days before his death. The remaining ten deaths (Antonio Perez Johnson, Ronnie Joseph Cranford, Stoney Joe Allen, David R. Folmar, Russell Anthony Waters, Carlos White, Robert Lee Hodges, Demetrice Labron Joshen, Damon Luke Crowe, and Tony Lamar Pruitt) are listed under GPS cause categories 6 or 6, without detailing cause in the available records.During the same period, facility-level intelligence reports point to wider volatility. A GPS case submission from April 2026 describes an inmate being stabbed in the chest in a dorm at Wheeler, with a life-flight helicopter called to the scene. A March 2026 submission references “blood on blood” violence at the facility. Separately, on September 5, 2024, Jose Calderon — an inmate already serving time for methamphetamine trafficking — was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for using a contraband cellphone from inside Wheeler to broker the distribution of kilogram quantities of meth to drug dealers across the state, an incident that overlaps directly with Gillis’s tenure.
Litigation
No lawsuits are listed against Shawn Gillis in the GPS database.Sources
- GPS intelligence records — deaths during Gillis’s tenure, cause-category classifications, and user-submitted reports (Parham, Lay)
- GPS case-submission log — April 2026 stabbing report, March 2026 violence report
- The Advance News and 13WMAZ — reporting on the homicide, investigation, and indictments in the death of Saquan Anderson
- U.S. Department of Justice (implied via federal sentencing) — prosecution of Jose Calderon for methamphetamine distribution orchestrated from Wheeler Correctional Facility
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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