Mahoney, Tamikia Nicole

Tenure Summary

Tamikia Nicole Mahoney's GDC career spans two decades, beginning in 2006 as a Correctional Officer at Wilkes County Prison and moving through counselor and behavioral-health posts — Counselor at Hancock State Prison (2011), Chief Counselor there (2013), and behavioral-health counselor and supervisor roles in 2015–2016 — before entering facility leadership. She was a Correctional Unit Manager at Hancock (2017) and at Augusta Transitional Center (2018), Correctional Assistant Superintendent at Hancock from 2019 through 2024 (with a one-day Augusta TC entry on Nov. 22, 2023), Deputy Warden of Security at Hancock beginning Sept. 1, 2024, and Deputy Warden at Augusta Transitional Center in 2025. Records also carry a one-day Deputy Warden entry at Hancock on Aug. 27, 2026.

Per the compiled records, 28 deaths are attributed to her leadership tenures — 27 at Hancock State Prison and 1 at Augusta Transitional Center. No lawsuit naming Mahoney as a defendant appears in the records reviewed. Three Georgia liability settlements tied to Hancock deaths during her tenure total more than $1.4 million, per the state Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through Open Records.

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — Correctional Assistant Superintendent (2019–2024). The available death records from this period begin March 13, 2020, when Cesar Arnold Pastrana, 33, died of a stab wound to the chest; an incident report listed five other prisoners as involved. Named decedents in the sample include Xaysana Thao (40, Dec. 2020); Rashad Bolton (29, Jan. 4, 2021, puncture wound — a $437,500 state payout followed, and his parents filed suit claiming he was stabbed to death); Dwayne Zackery (22, Feb. 2021, stabbed by his cellmate with a homemade knife, per death data); Michael Anthony Brown (54, June 2021) and Terrill Bernard Howard (51, Oct. 2021).

In 2022–2023 the sample records Charles "Tristen" McKee (24, May 2022, stabbed 13 times; a DOJ investigation found he jumped through stair railings trying to escape gang members who kept stabbing him, and an AJC-reported lawsuit alleges he had been placed in a dorm with gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates and that staff failed to act on his requests to move the day before); Antione Lamar Bush (32); Terry Lee Bishop (49, blunt-force trauma with methamphetamine and cannabinoid toxicity); Zackery Phillip Brown (39); Norman Jackson Samples (59, blunt-force injuries to head and torso); Roland Lamont Phillips (33, 11 puncture wounds, murder warrant served against his cellmate); Francisco Melgar-Saldivar (26, strangulation and blunt force — a claim alleges he was not given appropriate medical care after being attacked); and Timothy Dale Hicks (37).

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security (Sept. 2024– ). Sample deaths include Ralph Thompson (53, Oct. 8, 2024) and Travon Walthour (29, Oct. 13, 2024, with four other prisoners involved per GDC incident data). On Jan. 30, 2025, William Holeman (34) and Prince Porter (38) were found dead in the same dorm roughly 15–20 feet apart amid what the AJC described as gang-related violence; a third prisoner was hospitalized. Later entries name John T. Childree (60), Corey Jose July (33, fatally stabbed in the yard on June 17, 2025 — WGXA reported a Hancock County jury convicted Vershaun Smith of malice murder, citing surveillance footage of the chase and stabbing), Brian Smith (30), Andre Rashad Weems (36), Steven Monroe Wood (54, died after an altercation, Jan. 2026), Jaylin Bell (32, died after an altercation with his roommate, per 41NBC), Jerrod Johnson (27), Jacorey Derrelle Pearson (36, under GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation) and Albert Chapa (57, July 30, 2026).

Contextual reporting tied to this tenure: AJC reported Hancock's officer vacancy rate at 73.5% as of October 2024 — 49 officers for more than 1,100 prisoners — with consultants finding "emergency level" vacancies at 20 of 34 state prisons and broken cell locks; the 2024 DOJ report described violence, sexual assaults and gang-run prisons. GPS case submissions dated to this period allege a 2026 visitation-area stabbing, a gang-related dormitory assault, and a family report of six-plus weeks in solitary without communication access.

Augusta Transitional Center — Unit Manager (2018) and Deputy Warden (2025). One death is attributed to this facility: James Nicolas Waugh, 30, recorded on July 5, 2026, with Mahoney listed in the Deputy Warden role there.

Litigation

• No lawsuit naming Mahoney as a defendant appears in the records reviewed.
• GDC settlement — Rashad Bolton (Hancock, 2021 incident): $437,500 state liability payout, per the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger. Bolton's parents separately sued, claiming he was stabbed to death.
• GDC settlement — Charles McKee (Hancock, 2022 incident): $424,710.20, same source.
• GDC settlement — Geberyesus Yemane Selassie (Hancock, 2019 incident): $600,000.
• Claim against the state alleging Melgar-Saldivar received no appropriate medical care after being attacked, per the AJC.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Hancock homicide and vacancy reporting (Jan. 2025, March 2025, Jan. 2026); Georgia prison-failures investigations
• 41NBC — Jaylin Bell death; Vershaun Smith/Corey July case
• WGXA — Smith malice-murder conviction and sentencing
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 findings on Georgia prison conditions; investigation into McKee's death
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — three settlements
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations into the deaths of Wood, Bell and Pearson
• Georgia Prisoners' Speak case submissions — 2026 allegations of a visitation-area stabbing, a gang-related dorm assault, and a solitary-confinement family report

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.