Gillis, Shawn

Tenure Summary

Shawn Gillis has held the facility-leadership post of Warden at Wheeler Correctional Facility since January 1, 2024, and remains in that role, per GPS personnel records. GPS's death registry attributes 15 deaths to his leadership tenure — all 15 at Wheeler, the only facility where these records show him in a facility-lead role. No lawsuits naming him as a defendant appear in the records.

Of those 15 deaths, three are recorded in the registry as homicides, one as "Other," and 11 as Unknown/Pending — meaning GPS does not yet know the cause. Decedents ranged in age from 23 to 70. Over the same period, intel reports and events logged to his warden role at Wheeler document repeated allegations of contraband cellphone use, drug trafficking directed from inside the facility, and at least two reported stabbing incidents.

What happened on their watch

Wheeler Correctional Facility — Warden, January 1, 2024 to present

The following deaths are recorded in GPS's death registry during Gillis's tenure as warden at Wheeler:

• Jacob V Reyes died July 25, 2026, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 62.
• Damon Luke Crowe died April 26, 2026, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 40.
• Demetrice Labron Joshen died November 21, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 28.
• Dustin James Parham died November 2, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 35.
• Jeffrey Scott Lay died July 25, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Other, age 63.
• Robert Lee Hodges died June 26, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 56.
• Baldemar Jaramillo died June 10, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 31.
• Saquan Dewest Anderson died March 3, 2025, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 23.
• Carlos White died December 24, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 41.
• Russell Anthony Waters died July 29, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 55.
• David R Folmar died July 15, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 70.
• Stoney Joe Allen died June 21, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 61.
• Ronnie Joseph Cranford died June 2, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 34.
• Antonio Perez Johnson died March 30, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 45.
• Tony Lamar Pruitt died January 4, 2024, at Wheeler Correctional Facility; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 60.

Alongside those deaths, intel records tied to Gillis's warden role describe alleged violence and contraband activity at Wheeler. A March 7, 2026 anonymous tip reported a serious violent altercation, possibly a stabbing, with emergency medical transport dispatched to the scene. On April 21, 2026, an incarcerated witness alleged a stabbing in which a person sustained serious injury requiring emergency transport, with unconfirmed reports from medical staff that the victim may have died before transport arrived. A September 26, 2026 allegation states that a family member reported an incarcerated person's death at Wheeler in 2026 and reportedly learned of it from prison-related social media rather than official notice; the same submission relays separate unconfirmed social media reports of a stabbing in which other incarcerated people reportedly prevented the victim from getting medical help.

Reporting in other outlets alleged contraband-phone schemes operating from the facility during his tenure: Wcjb.com reported August 25, 2026 that Patrick Marquelle Turner allegedly posed as a Marion County Sheriff's Office employee using a spoofed caller ID to defraud a resident older than 65, and that he was extradited from the Georgia Department of Corrections to Marion County, Florida, on charges including grand theft, money laundering, defrauding a person older than 65, using a communication device in a felony, and impersonating an officer — a sheriff's investigation alleging eight transactions across multiple accounts totaling $5,600. The Georgia Virtue reported June 25, 2026 that Dequatte Tucker directed a drug trafficking conspiracy from inside Georgia prisons using contraband cellphones; the associated investigation seized 21 firearms and more than $17,000 and led to convictions of 33 additional defendants, with Tucker sentenced to 188 months. Kltv.com reported May 7, 2026 that Marcus Allen Daniels allegedly ran a $13,000 bitcoin scam from prison, impersonating a sheriff's employee; a warrant was issued May 6 with a $1 million bond, and a shakedown at Wheeler on April 14, 2026 recovered a cellphone from his cell. Records also show Jose Calderon sentenced to 262 months on September 5, 2024 for brokering meth distribution from Wheeler.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 15 deaths recorded during Gillis's warden tenure at Wheeler Correctional Facility, 2024–2026
• Wcjb.com — August 25, 2026 report on contraband-phone fraud allegations against an incarcerated person at Wheeler
• The Georgia Virtue — June 25, 2026 report on a drug trafficking conspiracy directed from Georgia prisons
• Kltv.com — May 7, 2026 report on a bitcoin scam allegedly run from Wheeler using an illegal cellphone
• GPS case submissions — March 7, 2026 anonymous tip and April 21, 2026 incarcerated-witness account of stabbings at Wheeler; September 26, 2026 family-report allegation
• GPS intelligence event log — April 14, 2026 shakedown; May 6, 2026 arrest warrant; August 25, 2026 extradition; September 5, 2024 sentencing of Jose Calderon

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.