Harris, Latasha M

Tenure Summary

Latasha M Harris began her Georgia Department of Corrections career as a corrections officer in 2015, per her state position record, then served as a correctional lieutenant (2016–2017) and a correctional unit manager (2018–2024). In 2025 she was appointed Deputy Warden at Augusta State Medical Prison, a post she holds at an annual salary of $75,470.50. Her position record documents no facility assignment for the officer, lieutenant and unit manager years; for those periods the record shows only the role and dates.

Eighty deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure, all of them at Augusta State Medical Prison, per GPS's facility death records. No lawsuit names Harris as a defendant. The deaths recorded during her tenure span the full age range of a medical prison population — from Kolby Young, 24, and Jacobi Chomicki, 23, to Joe Henry Davis, 86, and Frederick Raskin, 84 — and the records also carry repeated family and witness allegations of violence, medical neglect and gang control at the facility.

What happened on their watch

Correctional officer (2015); correctional lieutenant (2016–2017); correctional unit manager (2018–2024). The position record lists these roles without a facility assignment, and no dates for these years fall inside this dataset's facility-level intel reporting.

Deputy Warden, Augusta State Medical Prison (2025–present). Eighty deaths are attributed to her tenure here, per GPS records — the single largest facility total in this dataset. Named decedents in the record include Jerry Merritt, whose January 2026 death is described in event records as a stabbing over a commissary debt attributed to a Crip gang member; Jacobi Chomicki, 23, who died May 22, 2026 with an undetermined cause, his body transferred to the GBI crime lab via the Richmond County Coroner's Office; and Wanique Marsay Odwin, 44. Death records at the facility during this period also carry GDC Office of Professional Standards investigations opened as standard procedure (June 2026 entries).

Allegations logged to GPS during her tenure include a 2026 altercation during medication distribution in which an incarcerated person allegedly stabbed an officer and the officer then used force; a separate serious stabbing; an incarcerated person with severe facial or head injuries; and an anonymous tip that multiple people arrived from other state facilities with assault injuries. A March 2026 family submission alleges overlapping patterns at the facility — diversion of prescribed pain and psychiatric medication, housing of vulnerable people with others known to have sexual-assault histories, knife and sexual assaults attributed to gang members exercising de facto authority amid understaffing, removal of medically waived lower-bunk accommodations, extended lockdowns, destruction of legal property, a non-functional grievance process, and staff self-censorship attributed to fear of retaliation from facility leadership. A February 2026 submission alleges a staff member verbally abused a person with severe disabilities and refused catheter and feeding assistance. These are allegations from named and anonymous submitters, not adjudicated findings.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's prison-homicide reporting, published while Harris held the deputy warden role, describes deaths at Augusta State Medical Prison: the DOJ investigation found Rodarick Lee Hayes had been attacked multiple times before his death, and a correctional officer is accused of aiding in the attack that led to his stabbing death; Thomas Henry Giles was left for hours in a smoke-filled cell and died of smoke inhalation, ruled a homicide by the GBI; Eddie Gosier was killed hours after guards moved a prisoner with a strangulation history into his cell; and Jimmy Lucero, placed in solitary without required medical checks, fell into a catatonic state and starved, per the AJC. Broader GDC matters documented in February 2026 AJC coverage — a 2024 DOJ report describing gang-run violence and a "culture of indifference," a federal contempt finding against the department, and Benning v. Oliver litigation over email-contact restrictions — concern the department rather than Harris individually; those events are dated to her tenure at the facility. Non-adverse events during the same period include the Pups in the Pen dog-fostering program, which surpassed 120 adoptions, per facility event records.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — prison homicide list and investigations coverage naming Augusta State Medical Prison decedents (Hayes, Giles, Gosier, Lucero), Feb. 2025 and Feb. 2026
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 findings on Georgia prisons, cited in AJC coverage
• Federal court records, Middle District of Georgia — Benning v. Oliver; Judge Self contempt proceedings and Feb. 11, 2026 hearing involving Commissioner Tyrone Oliver
• Georgia Department of Corrections — position and salary records for Latasha M Harris; Office of Professional Standards investigation notices
• Richmond County Coroner's Office / GBI crime lab — transport and cause-undetermined findings in the Chomicki death
• GPS case submissions — family and witness allegations at Augusta State Medical Prison, 2026
• GPS facility death records — 80 deaths attributed to the Augusta State Medical Prison deputy warden tenure

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.