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Grier, Tamara
Status: active
Profile written August 16, 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
Grier’s documented GDC career begins with a correctional officer posting at Hancock State Prison in 2003. She returns to Hancock in 2015, then rises through sergeant (2016–2017) and lieutenant (2018–2020, no facility listed), serves as correctional unit manager at Johnson State Prison (2021–2022) and Hancock State Prison (2023–2024), and is listed as Deputy Warden of Security at Washington State Prison beginning November 16, 2025. GPS records attribute 14 deaths to her Washington State Prison tenure; no other facility posting has attributed deaths. No supplied lawsuit names Grier as a defendant. The Washington State Prison posting overlaps a January 11, 2026 gang-affiliated disturbance with multiple deaths, later GDC Office of Professional Standards investigations, and two GBI autopsy-confirmed drug-toxicity deaths.
What happened on their watch
Hancock State Prison (2003; 2015–2017; 2023–2024)
GPS records attribute no deaths to Grier’s Hancock postings. Intelligence reports nonetheless describe conditions at Hancock during periods close to her service: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a 73.5% correctional-officer vacancy rate as of October 2024, leaving about 49 officers for more than 1,100 prisoners, and described gang-related violence. A 41NBC report describes a June 2025 fatal stabbing of Corey July by Vershaun Smith, which led to Smith’s 2026 malice-murder conviction; that homicide falls outside the years GPS places Grier at Hancock.Johnson State Prison (2021–2022)
GPS records attribute no deaths to Grier’s Johnson State Prison tenure. Separate litigation over the death of David Henegar at Johnson was later settled by the state for $4 million in April 2026, on the eve of a federal trial, with the family alleging staff failed to protect him; the supplied records do not name Grier as a defendant. A Tyler C. Ryals YouTube account describes a spring 2024 Johnson State Prison staffing incident, after Grier’s recorded time there.Washington State Prison (November 16, 2025–present)
Grier became Deputy Warden of Security at Washington State Prison on November 16, 2025. GPS records attribute 14 deaths to this posting.The earliest deaths in the records occurred in December 2025. Benjamin Horne, 51, died December 15; a GBI autopsy found methamphetamine toxicity with manner listed as accident. Taylor Allen Howard, 66, died December 16; a GBI forensic examination report assigned cause as complications of lung cancer, manner natural, but the records note this was a “suggested sign-out” without examination of the body. On January 9, 2026, Dajhmere Ladeavon Hall, 30, died; a GBI autopsy found acute oxycodone toxicity, manner accident, and noted the contraband-opioid death inside the facility.
On January 11, 2026, a disturbance at Washington State Prison killed Teddy Dewayne Jackson, 27; Ahmod Dewayne Hatcher, 23; and Jimmy Lee Trammell, 42. Washington County death certificates list Jackson’s death as homicide by stab wound of the torso; Westbrook, 42, died January 17 from delayed complications of multiple sharp force injuries, with the death certificate listing manner as homicide. Twelve inmates were later charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, gang participation, and unlawful acts of violence, according to 13WMAZ, WFXL, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The records also include three unnamed February 17, 2026 Washington State Prison deaths flagged as investigation-only; notes describe one as “two men apparently killed each other in the hole,” another as “suicide by hanging,” and state they were absent from the official February GDC mortality list. Frank Smith, 75, died May 6 with no cause note in the supplied record. Deshawn Poole, 34, died June 9; a family/witness account alleged the facility responded slowly to wellness-check calls, while the GDC June 2026 mortality report confirmed the death fact without cause. Courtney Davis, 43, died June 13 and Isreal Moses Jones, 68, died June 14, both under Office of Professional Standards investigation. GDC publicly described both causes as undetermined; a confidential-source account classified Jones as a homicide, allegedly a retaliation killing, but the records note GBI autopsy was pending and a date discrepancy on Jones’s death.
Broader coverage during this WSP tenure cited the 2024 U.S. Department of Justice findings that Georgia prisons were marked by violence, sexual assaults, gang control, and a “culture of indifference,” per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 41NBC. WGXA reported that WSP inmate Luis Alfonso Ramirez was indicted for allegedly directing a drug-trafficking network from the prison using contraband cellphones.
Sources
- GPS personnel, death, and intelligence records
- GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report (archived)
- GBI DOFS autopsy and forensic examination reports (Horne, Howard, Hall; ORR R000132-070426, R000131-070426, R007996-060626)
- Washington County death certificates and DeKalb County ME case records (Jackson, Westbrook)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — DOJ findings, Hancock staffing, Washington State Prison disturbance, Henegar settlement
- 41NBC — Washington deaths and classification, DOJ findings, Hancock stabbing coverage
- 13WMAZ — 12 inmates charged, riot coverage, former-inmate accounts
- WGXA — Ramirez drug-trafficking indictment, Westbrook death coverage
- WFXL — 12 inmates charged in gang-affiliated disturbance
- Tyler C. Ryals YouTube channel — Johnson State Prison staffing account
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden of Security | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | 2025-11-16 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2025-01-01 → present | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| CSM Correctional Unit Manager | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | JOHNSON STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2018-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2003-01-01 → 2003-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
14 people died at facilities under Grier, Tamara's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-14 | Isreal Moses Jones | 68 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-06-13 | Courtney Davis | 43 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-06-09 | Deshawn Poole | 34 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-05-06 | FRANK SMITH | 75 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-02-17 | John Doe | — | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-02-17 | John Doe 2 | — | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-02-17 | John Doe 3 | — | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-01-17 | SILAS RODRIGIOEUZ WESTBROOK | 42 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-01-11 | TEDDY DEWAYNE JACKSON | 27 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-01-11 | AHMOD DEWAYNE HATCHER | 23 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-01-11 | JIMMY LEE TRAMMELL | 42 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2026-01-09 | DAJHMERE LADAVEON HALL | 30 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-12-16 | TAYLOR ALLEN HOWARD | 66 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
| 2025-12-15 | BENJAMIN HORNE | 51 | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | Deputy Warden of Security |
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