Jackson, Tarra L Tomlin

Tenure Summary

Tarra L Tomlin Jackson began their career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a behavioral health counselor, rising through unit-manager roles before being appointed Deputy Warden at Washington State Prison in 2021. Jackson held that leadership post through at least 2025. GPS records attribute a total of 41 deaths to Washington State Prison during Jackson’s tenure as deputy warden. Those fatalities include multiple homicides, a staff-involved shooting, fatal drug overdoses, and a mass-casualty gang-related disturbance in January 2026 that killed four people. A federal civil-rights lawsuit naming Jackson as a defendant was filed while they were in the deputy warden role.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Washington State Prison (2021–2025)
Over Jackson’s leadership tenure, GPS records document 41 deaths at the facility. Homicides accounted for a significant share: in January 2025 alone, Dontavious Carter died from a puncture wound to the heart and the prison’s official mortality report for that month lists his death as homicide, according to GPS records. Other homicides during Jackson’s watch included Devonte Tiger Williams (multiple sharp force injuries, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s prison deaths investigation), Marquis Reshawn Jefferson (stab wounds, same AJC investigation), Michael Lee Jackson (blunt force injuries, AJC), and Jacob Cole Henson. The death certificate for Henson, obtained by GPS from the Washington County coroner, records the manner as homicide and states the cause as multiple gunshot wounds; the certificate notes the wounds occurred “while fighting with prison guards.” A GBI autopsy later revealed Henson was shot five times—including a fatal downward wound to the shoulder—inside a hospital while shackled and pepper-sprayed, according to GBI records reviewed by GPS.

A major incident unfolded on January 11, 2026, when a gang-affiliated disturbance, described by GDC as a fight among several inmates, killed Ahmod Dewayne Hatcher, Jimmy Lee Trammell, and Teddy Dewayne Jackson on the day of the riot, and injured more than a dozen others. Silas Rodrigoiuez Westbrook died of stab wounds six days later after being transferred to a reentry facility; his Washington County death certificate confirms the death was a homicide resulting from complications of sharp force injuries sustained in the riot. Three additional deaths in June 2026—Deshawn Poole, Isreal Moses Jones, and Courtney Davis—are recorded as homicides or undetermined, respectively; the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened investigations.

Fatal drug overdoses were also prevalent. GBI autopsy records obtained via open records requests show that Benjamin Horne (December 2025), Dajhmere LaDaveon Hall (January 2026), and John Travis Jermaine Kellom (May 2024) all died from acute methamphetamine toxicity, while Garrett Lee Bailey and Jimmy Lee Rucker were similarly ruled accidental methamphetamine intoxications. Several deaths remain officially undetermined because the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences declined to perform an autopsy, leaving a gap between the coroner and state examiner—a pattern documented by GPS across multiple Washington State Prison cases.

Systemic deficiencies were a recurring theme in public allegations tied to the facility. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found Georgia prison officials “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked violence, drug use, and sexual abuse; the facility is a named site in a related DOJ Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act request. News outlet 13WMAZ interviewed former prisoners who described chronic understaffing, broken cell locks that inmates could jam, widespread weapon availability, and gangs running everyday life. A federal indictment unsealed in 2026 charged inmate Luis Alfonso Ramirez with directing a drug-trafficking network from inside Washington State Prison using contraband cellphones, per WGXA. Family reports collected by GPS alleged prolonged lockdowns after the riot, withheld legal mail, and poor living conditions.

Litigation

• Ridley v. Jackson, Case No. 5:22-cv-00229, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Filed on June 24, 2022, and terminated on October 13, 2022. No settlement amount is recorded in GPS’s database.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple homicide reports, Jacob Henson shooting account, DOJ deliberate indifference investigation, and January 2026 riot coverage
• WGXA — reporting on Ramirez drug-trafficking indictment and family allegations after riot
• 13WMAZ — former-inmate accounts of understaffing, broken locks, gang control, and riot aftermath
• 41NBC — DOJ findings, riot casualties, and GDC press statements
• WFXL — reporting on charges against twelve inmates for the riot
• GDC official January 2025 mortality report (obtained by GPS) — cause-of-death entries for Carter and Washington
• Washington County Coroner death certificates (obtained by GPS) — confirmed homicides for Henson, Westbrook, Daniel, and natural-cause rulings
• GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy and consultation records (obtained via open records by GPS) — methamphetamine toxicity, suicide, undetermined causes, and declination pattern
• U.S. Department of Justice CRIPA investigation and records request — cited in news reports and GPS case documents
• Middle District of Georgia court records — Ridley v. Jackson docket

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 2, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.