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Mahoney, Tamikia Nicole
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 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
Tamikia Nicole Mahoney began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Wilkes County Prison in 2006. She later served as a counselor and chief counselor at Hancock State Prison, then as a unit manager and assistant superintendent before ascending to the facility’s deputy warden of security in September 2024. In 2025, she was assigned as deputy warden at Augusta Transitional Center. GPS records attribute a total of 26 deaths to facilities where Mahoney held leadership-tier roles—all at Hancock State Prison during her tenure as correctional assistant superintendent (2019–2024) and deputy warden of security (2024 onward). No lawsuits name Mahoney as a defendant, but the State of Georgia paid a $424,710 settlement tied to the 2022 homicide of Charles “Tristen” McKee, which occurred during her watch. The U.S. Department of Justice’s 2024 report on Georgia prisons and multiple news investigations document staggering violence, severe understaffing, and a culture of indifference at Hancock—a facility that at one point had a 73.5% correctional officer vacancy rate, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.What happened on their watch
Mahoney’s facility-deputy tenure at Hancock State Prison began in January 2019. During her years as correctional assistant superintendent, at least 20 deaths were recorded at the prison, many the result of interpersonal violence. Among them: Cesar Arnold Pastrana died from a stab wound in March 2020, according to the AJC. Rashad Bolton was fatally stabbed in January 2021, and a lawsuit filed by his parents alleges the state failed to protect him. Dwayne Zackery, 22, died of a stab wound to the chest that February. That May, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that Charles “Tristen” McKee—a 24-year-old who identified as LGBTQ and had begged to be moved from gang‑affiliated housing—was stabbed 13 times in the back and head after gang members pursued him down a stairwell. The state later settled a claim for $424,710. In 2022, Terry Lee Bishop died of blunt force trauma; Norman Jackson Samples, 59, died from blunt force injuries to the head and torso. In 2023, Roland Lamont Phillips was killed by multiple sharp-force injuries, and Francisco Melgar-Saldivar was strangled and beaten; a legal claim alleges he did not receive appropriate medical care after the attack. The AJC also reported that Amanuel Selassie Geberyesus—who expressed suicidal thoughts—was placed in a regular cell contrary to a counselor’s advice and hanged himself in March 2019, the year Mahoney assumed the assistant superintendent role.After Mahoney became deputy warden of security in September 2024, the pace of deadly violence continued. Travon Montrell Walthour, 29, was stabbed to death in October 2024; GPS records note four other prisoners were involved. In late January 2025, prison officials described gang-related violence that left William Holeman and Prince Porter dead in the same dorm; the GDC’s own January 2025 mortality data classified both as homicides. That year, Andre Weems, 36, was fatally stabbed (eight people were charged but a grand jury later no-billed the case, per multiple news outlets), and Corey Jose July, 33, was stabbed to death in the prison yard. High‑profile incidents continued into 2026: Steven Wood, 54, was beaten by his cellmate and died at an Augusta hospital; Jaylin Bell, 32, died after an altercation with his roommate; Jerrod Johnson, 27, was fatally stabbed; and Jacorey Pearson, 36, died under circumstances that remain under investigation by the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards. A mass brawl in January 2026 left five inmates stabbed, two of whom were airlifted to hospitals. Throughout these events, the AJC’s reporting documented systemic failings: more than 70% of officer posts vacant, broken cell locks allowing gang intimidation, and an environment experts labeled “emergency level.”
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple homicide reports, understaffing data, and DOJ investigation coverage at Hancock State Prison
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on violence and conditions in Georgia prisons
- 13WMAZ, Union-Recorder, 41NBC, FOX 5, WGXA — reporting on individual in-custody deaths and assaults
- GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (via open records) — $424,710 settlement in Charles McKee case
- Georgia Prisoners’ Speak records — career history, death counts, and facility-level allegations
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | AUGUSTA TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Security | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2024-09-01 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL ASST. SUPT | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2024-08-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | AUGUSTA TRANSITIONAL CENTER | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Chief Counselor | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2013-01-01 → 2013-12-31 |
| Counselor | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2011-01-01 → 2011-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | WILKES COUNTY PRISON | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
26 people died at facilities under Mahoney, Tamikia Nicole's leadership.
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