Harris, Latasha M

Tenure Summary

Latasha M. Harris entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a corrections officer, moved to correctional lieutenant in 2016–2017, and served as a correctional unit manager from 2018 through 2024. The records do not attach a facility to any of those positions. In 2025 she moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Augusta State Medical Prison, and on July 16, 2026 she became Deputy Warden of Security there, the post she holds as of these records.

GPS's death registry attributes 53 deaths to her leadership tenures, all of them at Augusta State Medical Prison. No lawsuit naming Harris as a defendant appears in the records. During her deputy wardenship, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a series of deaths at the facility — Rodarick Lee Hayes, Thomas Henry Giles, Eddie Gosier and Jimmy Lucero — that are the subject of allegations about how the prison was run; a Department of Justice investigation of Georgia prisons found that Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his death.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Augusta State Medical Prison (2025). Harris held the deputy warden role for calendar year 2025. Deaths recorded at the facility during that posting include: Ronnie Williams died December 31, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical (age 65). Alfonzo Foster died December 30, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (74). Gary Thomas Shaughnessy died December 21, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (71). Eugene Cornelius Edmond died December 1, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (65). Kenneth Craig Mccowan died November 24, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; cause Unknown/Pending (69). Kimmeth Devon Harden died November 20, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (55). Jeffery Jackson died October 29, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (63). Lloyd Lewis died October 19, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (62). Deonta Smith died October 10, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (40). Johnnie Wildermuth died October 9, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (44). Randy Clay died October 1, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (63). Trammell Lyonda Williams died September 28, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (47). Eric Deal died September 14, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (58). Treyvance Elliott Currie died August 31, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (55). Michael Juan Campbell died August 19, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (56). Santos Sotelo died August 9, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical (56). Phillip Megginson died August 6, 2025, at Augusta State Medical Prison; the registry lists the cause as Accident (57).

Allegations tied to this posting, dated January 21, 2025: per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a correctional officer was accused of aiding in the attack that led to the stabbing death of Rodarick Lee Hayes; the AJC also reported that Hayes had been attacked on multiple occasions before his death, a finding it attributes to the DOJ investigation of Georgia prisons. The AJC further reported that Thomas Henry Giles was left for hours in his smoke-filled cell while officers evacuated nearby inmates and died of smoke inhalation, a death the GBI ruled a homicide; that guards moved a prisoner with a violent history of strangulation into Eddie Gosier's cell, leading to Gosier's murder hours later; and that Jimmy Lucero was held in solitary confinement without required medical checks and fell into a catatonic state and starved. An incident entry dated April 6, 2025 and recorded against this facility carries the title "Inmate killed at Jackson State Prison during probation violation sentence."

Deputy Warden of Security, Augusta State Medical Prison (from July 16, 2026). In this security post, deaths recorded at the facility include: Phillip Curtis Walker died July 16, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; cause Unknown/Pending (62). Donald Hugh Young died August 5, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (49). Anretoes Kenwood Wilkins died August 7, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (50). John Henry Tuff died August 8, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (75). Jimmie Lee Dennis died August 17, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (64). Dwight Bernard Freeman died August 28, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Unknown/Pending (69). Demilo Ponchorello Johnson died September 10, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical. Donnie Gene Poland died September 15, 2026, at Augusta State Medical Prison; Natural/Medical.

Two internal reports are dated to this posting. One, submitted October 1, 2026, describes a person who died at the facility in 2026 after reportedly never being moved from the dorm to medical care; the report described the cause as likely natural but unconfirmed. The other, submitted October 16, 2026, describes an incarcerated person assaulting another over stolen property, framed as retaliation. Also dated to this posting are two entries on the facility's Pups in the Pen program, which reported more than 120 dog adoptions over a little more than two years and the rehabilitation and adoption of a dog named Hope.

Sources

• GPS death registry — 53 deaths at Augusta State Medical Prison attributed to Harris's leadership tenures
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — "GA prison homicides: a list of those killed in Georgia's prison system" (Hayes, Giles, Gosier reporting, Jan. 21, 2025)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — "Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions" (Lucero and Giles reporting, Jan. 21, 2025)
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation of Georgia prisons — finding that Rodarick Lee Hayes was attacked multiple times before his death
• GPS case submissions — internal reports from Augusta State Medical Prison dated Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, 2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 18, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.