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Grier, Tamara
Status: active
Profile written July 12, 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
Tamara Grier’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spans more than two decades, beginning as a correctional officer at Hancock State Prison in 2003. She rose through the ranks—sergeant, lieutenant, and unit manager—at Hancock and Johnson State Prison before her promotion to Deputy Warden of Security at Washington State Prison on November 16, 2025. GPS records attribute 14 deaths to Grier’s leadership tenure, all at Washington State Prison during her service as the facility’s top security deputy. That total includes multiple homicides, deaths linked to a catastrophic gang-affiliated riot in January 2026, and a string of in-custody fatalities in the months that followed. No lawsuits name Grier as a defendant, but the fatalities occurred amid a backdrop of systemic allegations: a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found “deliberate indifference” to pervasive violence, chronic understaffing, broken cell locks, and a Georgia prison system that former inmates and watchdog reports describe as dangerously unsupervised.What happened on their watch
Washington State Prison (Deputy Warden of Security, 2025–present)
Grier assumed the security deputy role at Washington State Prison just weeks before the facility became the site of one of the deadliest prison riots in Georgia’s recent history. On January 11, 2026, a gang-affiliated disturbance erupted inside the prison. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, three incarcerated men—Teddy Dewayne Jackson (27), Ahmod Dewayne Hatcher (23), and Jimmy Lee Trammell (42)—were killed in the immediate violence. GPS records confirmed their deaths as homicides, with cause-of-death reports obtained via Washington County coroner records listing stab wounds and sharp-force injuries. A fourth man, Silas Rodrioguez Westbrook (42), sustained multiple stab wounds during the riot and died on January 17 after being transferred to a reentry facility; his death certificate lists the manner as homicide, with delayed complications from the injuries.The riot triggered a wave of additional deaths. In the following months, GPS records show that at least 10 more people died at Washington State Prison under Grier’s security watch. These include:
- Benjamin Horne (51), who died on December 15, 2025, of a cause still listed as pending or undetermined.
- Taylor Allen Howard (66), whose death on December 16, 2025, was classified as natural (complications of lung cancer), according to a GBI forensic examination report.
- Dajhmere Ladaveon Hall (30), whose January 9, 2026, death has a cause listed as undetermined or pending.
- Three John Doe deaths on February 17, 2026, flagged as investigation-only by GPS but recorded as user-reported homicides and a suspected suicide; none appeared on the official GDC mortality list for that month.
- Frank Smith (75), whose May 6, 2026, death carries a pending cause.
- Deshawn Poole, who died June 9, 2026, in what a confidential source characterized as a homicide, with allegations of a slow facility response to emergency calls.
- Isreal Moses Jones, who died June 11, 2026, in a killing described by a GPS-confidential source as a gang retaliation homicide.
- Courtney Davis, who died June 13, 2026; the GDC publicly stated the cause was undetermined with no signs of an altercation, but the body was sent to the GBI for autopsy.
The cascade of fatalities unfolded against a landscape of documented dysfunction. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a 2024 DOJ investigation found Georgia prisons were “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked violence, extortion, and sexual abuse, with gangs operating sophisticated black markets for drugs, weapons, and cellphones. In the same reporting, state Rep. Billy Hitchens alleged that the prison system had not made meaningful progress on preventing inmates from disabling cell-door locks, allowing them to roam freely and commit attacks. A federal indictment unsealed in May 2026 charged an inmate, Luis Alfonso Ramirez, with running a drug-trafficking network from Washington State Prison using contraband cellphones—echoing the DOJ’s findings. Multiple news outlets and family reports cited chronic understaffing, broken locks, and a lack of programming as factors that made the deadly riot, in the words of former inmates, “the predictable outcome of years of neglect.”
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on the January 2026 riot, the DOJ investigation, understaffing, and broken cell locks at Georgia prisons.
- 41NBC — coverage of the Washington State Prison disturbance, inmate identifications, and the DOJ’s “deliberate indifference” finding.
- 13WMAZ — reports from former inmates alleging neglect, understaffing, and gang dominance as precursors to the violence.
- WGXA — details on the gang-affiliated disturbance and the federal indictment of Luis Alfonso Ramirez for drug trafficking.
- Washington County Coroner/Death Certificates — official homicide determinations for Silas Westbrook and Teddy Jackson.
- GBI Forensic Examination Reports — cause and manner for Taylor Allen Howard.
- GPS death records and investigation notes — documentation of all 14 deaths attributed, including user-reported homicides and GDC mortality list discrepancies.
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 | 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.
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