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Harris, Latasha M
Status: active
Profile written August 9, 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
Latasha M. Harris began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer, progressing through lieutenant and unit manager supervisory posts before becoming Deputy Warden at Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP) in January 2025. GPS records attribute 73 deaths to the facility during her tenure as deputy warden—the entirety of the deaths ascribed to her leadership track. No lawsuits naming her as a defendant appear in the available records. Her appointment placed her at the helm of the state’s medical prison, a site already under federal scrutiny for violence and mismanagement, and during her watch the facility logged a high volume of in-custody deaths alongside a major liability settlement and ongoing litigation over conditions.What happened on their watch
Harris assumed the deputy warden role at Augusta State Medical Prison on January 1, 2025. From that date onward, GPS records count 73 deaths at the facility. The deaths span multiple cause categories, drawn from Richmond County Coroner’s Office summaries, GDC mortality reports, and investigative records. Many were natural: Richmond County Coroner data lists causes such as complications of cancer, cardiopulmonary disease, and end-stage organ failure for decedents including Joe Henry Davis (86, septic shock), Willie James Bush (49, metastatic lung cancer), and Lenward Brown (73, COPD exacerbation). Others were violent: Stephen Prochaska, 70, died by suicide—hanging—on January 21, 2025 (confirmed by a GBI medical examiner’s autopsy). A stabbing homicide occurred on January 20, 2026, when Jerry Merritt, 59, was fatally attacked over a commissary debt, according to a user-submitted report citing the assailant’s own account. On May 22, 2026, Jacobi Chomicki, 23, was killed in a D‑unit homicide; GDC acknowledged the death and the body was sent to the GBI crime lab. Several deaths, including those of Donald Hugh Young (Aug. 5, 2026) and John Doe (July 3, 2026), remain classified as “Unknown” cause.The facility’s broader environment also intersected with Harris’s tenure. On January 21, 2025, the state finalized a $5 million settlement with the family of Thomas Henry Giles, who died in a smoke-filled cell in 2020—a case the GBI medical examiner ruled a homicide. A Department of Justice investigation previously found that Rodarick Lee Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his stabbing death at ASMP in 2024, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported allegations that officers had placed a violent prisoner in Eddie Gosier’s cell, resulting in Gosier’s murder, and that a correctional officer aided in the attack that killed Hayes. During Harris’s watch, GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver was held in contempt by a federal judge for ignoring a court order on inmate email contact restrictions—a proceeding that highlighted the department’s repeated defiance of judicial mandates, including those addressing “deplorable conditions” in high-security units.
Sources
- GPS records (fatality database, facility‑tenure linkage, decedent identifications)
- Richmond County Coroner’s Office summary (ORR conv 1118385a)
- GDC January 2025 mortality report (scanned PDF) and June 2026 monthly mortality report
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy report (ME‑25‑10286)
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution investigations (GDC homicides list, federal court hearing coverage, settlement reporting)
- Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) Risk Management settlement ledger, Open Records
- United States Department of Justice investigation report (2024)
- Federal court proceedings: Benning v. Oliver, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2018-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
73 people died at facilities under Harris, Latasha M's leadership.
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