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Mahoney, Tamikia Nicole
Status: active
Profile written May 31, 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’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spans nearly two decades, beginning as a Correctional Officer at Wilkes County Prison in 2006 and progressing through counseling and supervisory roles. After stints as a Counselor and Chief Counselor at Hancock State Prison, Mahoney returned to Hancock as a Correctional Unit Manager in 2017, served briefly at Augusta Transitional Center in 2018, and then held the facility-deputy role of Correctional Assistant Superintendent at Hancock continuously from 2019 through mid-2024. In September 2024, Mahoney became Deputy Warden of Security at the same prison, a post held through at least 2025.
GPS records attribute 26 deaths to Mahoney’s leadership tenures, all at Hancock State Prison. During Mahoney’s years as a facility deputy there, the prison also drew national scrutiny: a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described systemic violence, sexual assaults, and gang dominance across Georgia’s prisons, while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented that Hancock’s correctional officer vacancy rate reached 73.5 percent in late 2024, leaving roughly 49 officers to oversee more than 1,100 incarcerated people.
What happened on their watch
At Hancock State Prison, where Mahoney served as Correctional Assistant Superintendent from 2019 through August 2024 and then as Deputy Warden of Security from September 2024 onward, GPS records show 26 people died during those facility-deputy tenures. The deaths span from March 2020 into 2026 and include a high concentration of homicides. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, at least seven of the deaths were homicides with documented causes: Cesar Arnold Pastrana (stab wound to chest, 3/13/2020), Rashad Bolton (puncture wound to chest with sharp object, 1/4/2021), Dwayne Zackery (stab wound to chest with homemade knife, 2/12/2021), Charles Tristen McKee (stabbed 13 times in the back and head, 5/23/2022), Terry Lee Bishop (blunt force trauma, 10/18/2022), Norman Jackson Samples (blunt force injuries of head and torso, 12/27/2022), Roland Lamont Phillips (multiple sharp-force injuries, 6/28/2023), and Francisco Melgar-Saldivar (strangulation and blunt force injuries, 8/12/2023). In 2024, Travon Montrell Walthour, 29, was stabbed to death, and three additional homicides followed in 2025, including Andre Rashad Weems, 36; Corey Jose July, 33; and the gang-related deaths of William Holeman and Prince Porter on the same day. Four more deaths occurred in early 2026: Steven Monroe Wood, 54, beaten in his cell; Jaylin Bell, 32, killed by his cellmate; Jerrod Johnson, 27, fatally stabbed; and Jacorey Pearson, whose cause of death had not been publicly released.
The deaths occurred against a backdrop of well-documented systemic failures at Hancock. The AJC reported that the prison had one of the GDC’s highest officer-vacancy rates, and consultants found that staffing shortages at many Georgia prisons had reached “emergency levels,” rendering basic protocols impossible. The same reporting described broken cell locks that allowed incarcerated people to roam and gang members to intimidate others. A lawsuit filed by the family of Charles Tristen McKee alleges that staff ignored his repeated requests to be moved the day before he was murdered by gang members, and a DOJ investigation detailed how McKee jumped through stair railings trying to escape his attackers, only to be stabbed on the floor below. A separate claim against the state, reported by the AJC, alleges that Francisco Melgar-Saldivar was denied appropriate medical care after being attacked. The AJC further documented a conviction in McKee’s case and a murder warrant served against the cellmate of Roland Lamont Phillips.
Beyond the homicides, several deaths during Mahoney’s leadership were categorized by GPS records under other causes. A family report relayed to GPS stated that an incarcerated person at Hancock had been held in solitary confinement for over six weeks without communication.
Litigation
No lawsuits naming Mahoney as a defendant were found in the records provided.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (causes of death, staffing data, litigation allegations)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on DOJ investigation of Charles Tristen McKee’s death and other Hancock homicides
- 41NBC — reporting on Jaylin Bell’s death
- 13WMAZ — reporting on Andre Weems, Corey Jose July, and Travon Walthour homicides
- Union-Recorder — reporting on Steven Wood’s death and other Hancock incidents
- FOX 5 and WGXA — coverage of Hancock homicides
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on violence and sexual assaults in Georgia prisons
- GPS death records and intelligence files — incident dates, death-cause categories, and 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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