Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Grier, Tamara
Grier, Tamara
Status: active
Profile written June 21, 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 began her Georgia Department of Corrections career in 2003 as a correctional officer at Hancock State Prison. Over two decades, she rose through sergeant, lieutenant, and unit manager roles before being appointed Deputy Warden of Security at Washington State Prison on November 16, 2025. According to GPS records, 13 deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure—all at Washington State Prison during her time as deputy warden. No deaths are formally attributed to her earlier postings at Hancock or Johnson State Prison.What happened on their watch
Johnson State Prison (2021–2022) — Correctional Unit Manager
Grier held the unit manager position at Johnson State Prison for two years. GPS records show no deaths directly attributed to her tenure. However, the period coincided with an environment that later prompted a high-profile civil suit. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, incarcerated man David Henegar was beaten, choked, and stomped to death by his cellmate over several hours while his screams and fellow prisoners’ calls for help went unanswered by staff. A lawsuit filed by Henegar’s family alleged that the prison housed him with a mentally ill cellmate who had previously attacked him and failed to act on repeated warnings; Grier was not named as a defendant. The state settled the case for $4 million in April 2026.Hancock State Prison (2023–2025) — Correctional Unit Manager
As unit manager at Hancock, Grier oversaw operations during a period of well-documented security breakdowns. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that by October 2024, the prison had a 73.5% correctional officer vacancy rate—only 49 officers for over 1,100 prisoners. The same outlet covered a gang-related homicide in which Charles “Tristen” McKee was killed by another prisoner with a homemade machete, after staff allegedly ignored his transfer requests. GPS records attribute no deaths to Grier’s Hancock tenure, but the facility’s crisis-level understaffing and gang violence mirrored broader systemic findings: a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described a “culture of indifference” toward violence, sexual assaults, and gang control across Georgia prisons.Washington State Prison (November 2025–present) — Deputy Warden of Security
Grier moved into the deputy warden role at Washington State Prison just two months before one of the deadliest disturbances in recent GDC history. On January 11, 2026, a gang-affiliated riot—as characterized by GDC—left three people dead: Teddy Jackson (27), Ahmod Hatcher (23), and Jimmy Trammell (42), all stabbed. A fourth, Silas Westbrook (42), died of multiple stab wounds on January 17 after transfer to a reentry facility, per GPS and news reports. GPS records classify these as homicides. In total, 13 deaths are attributed to Grier’s watch at Washington: the riot fatalities, two December 2025 deaths with undetermined causes (Taylor Howard, 66; Benjamin Horne, 51), Dajhmere Hall (30) in January 2026 with cause undetermined, three deaths on February 17, 2026 reported by incarcerated sources as two homicides and one suicide—none appeared on GDC’s official mortality list—and four June 2026 deaths: Deshawn Poole (homicide), Isreal Moses Jones (classified as homicide per a confidential source account of a retaliation killing), Courtney Davis (undetermined, pending autopsy), and a previously logged John Doe homicide earlier in February.News investigations, citing the 2024 DOJ probe, tied the violence to broken cell locks, chronic understaffing, and gang dominance. 13WMAZ quoted former prisoners describing overcrowded dorms, no programming, and “little to no supervision.” In May 2026, federal prosecutors indicted Washington inmate Luis Alfonso Ramirez for running a drug trafficking network from the prison using contraband cellphones, as reported by WGXA. Family members alerted GPS to delayed legal mail and a lockdown lasting more than 50 days after the riot.
No lawsuits naming Grier as a defendant appear in GPS records. The deaths remain under investigation by GDC’s Office of Professional Standards.
Sources
- GPS records — facility assignments, date-of-tenure spans, and 13 attributed deaths at Washington State Prison.
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Hancock SP staffing, McKee homicide, Henegar lawsuit and settlement, Washington SP riot, and the 2024 DOJ findings.
- 13WMAZ — former prisoner accounts of Washington SP conditions, riot charges.
- 41NBC — Washington SP disturbance and DOJ report references.
- WGXA — drug trafficking indictment at Washington SP, gang-disturbance coverage.
- 11Alive — GDC statement on gang affiliation of riot participants.
- WFXL — arrests of twelve inmates in connection with the riot.
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation findings, widely referenced in news reports.
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
13 people died at facilities under Grier, Tamara's leadership.
Submit a correction
If you are the named individual or an authorized representative and dispute information on this page, submit details below. Substantiated corrections are applied promptly. Disputes that remain unresolved are flagged on the profile.