Mahoney, Tamikia Nicole

Tenure Summary

Tamikia Nicole Mahoney entered GDC as a correctional officer at Wilkes County Prison in 2006 and built the rest of her career at Hancock State Prison: counselor in 2011, chief counselor in 2013, CSM Correctional Unit Manager in 2017, Correctional Assistant Superintendent from 2019 through August 31, 2024, and Deputy Warden of Security from September 1, 2024. She also held a unit manager post at Augusta Transitional Center in 2018 and a Deputy Warden posting there listed for 2025; a further Hancock Deputy Warden entry carries the single date August 27, 2026. Her status is listed as active.

The records GPS holds attribute 29 deaths to her leadership tenures — 28 at Hancock State Prison and 1 at Augusta Transitional Center. The Hancock deaths are dominated by homicides: stabbings, beatings, and two deaths the registry classes as suicide. No lawsuit naming Mahoney as a defendant appears in the records. The litigation trail instead runs through family claims and state liability payouts tied to Hancock deaths during her tenure, including $437,500 (2021) and $424,710.20 (2022) recorded in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records).

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — CSM Correctional Unit Manager, 2017; Augusta Transitional Center — CSM Correctional Unit Manager, 2018. She held unit manager posts at Hancock in 2017 and at Augusta Transitional Center in 2018.

Hancock State Prison — Correctional Assistant Superintendent, 2019 to August 31, 2024. The deaths recorded at Hancock in this stretch are overwhelmingly killings inside the prison:

• Michael Anthony Brown died June 26, 2021, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 54.
• Terrill Bernard Howard died October 17, 2021, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Other, age 51.
• Charles Tristen Mckee died May 23, 2022, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 24.
• Antione Lamar Bush died June 18, 2022, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 32.
• Terry Lee Bishop died October 18, 2022, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 49.
• Zackery Phillip Brown died December 23, 2022, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 39.
• Norman Jackson Samples died December 27, 2022, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 59.
• Roland Lamont Phillips died June 28, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 33.
• Francisco Melgar-Saldivar died August 12, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 26.
• Timothy Dale Hicks died August 22, 2023, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 37.

McKee's death drew a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, which found he tried to escape gang members beating and stabbing him by jumping through stair railings, and that another prisoner who intervened was seriously wounded. A lawsuit alleged McKee had been placed in a dorm with known gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates, and the AJC reported staff failed to act on his repeated requests to be moved the day before he was killed. A claim filed against the state alleged Melgar-Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked by another prisoner (AJC). Records show a murder warrant was served against Phillips's cellmate, and the AJC reported Cleveland Gary was convicted for killing McKee with a 17-inch homemade machete.

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Security, September 1, 2024 to present.

• Ralph Thompson died October 8, 2024, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 53.
• Travon Montrell Walthour died October 13, 2024, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 29. GDC incident report data show four other prisoners were involved.
• William Holeman died January 30, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Prince Porter died January 30, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• John T Childree died April 9, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 60.
• Corey Jose July died June 17, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 33.
• Brian Smith died July 24, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 30.
• Andre Rashad Weems died September 9, 2025, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 36.
• Steven Monroe Wood died January 25, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 54.
• Jaylin Bell died February 6, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 32.
• Jerrod Johnson died February 18, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 27.
• Jacorey Derrelle Pearson died April 7, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 36.
• Albert Chapa died July 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 57.
• Devin Cole Edwards died October 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.

Per AJC reporting, Holeman and Porter were found dead about 15 to 20 feet apart in the same dorm after gang-related violence, and a third prisoner was hospitalized. Vershaun Smith was convicted of malice murder for July's stabbing, shown on surveillance footage, and sentenced to life without parole, according to the Ocmulgee District Attorney's Office as reported by WGXA and 41NBC. The GBI Crime Laboratory ruled Edwards's death a homicide from blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation after an altercation with his cellmate; the registry still lists the cause as Unknown/Pending. GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened investigations into the deaths of Wood, Bell and Pearson. Incidents recorded while she held the post include five inmates stabbed with shanks and two airlifted on January 12, 2026, a brawl injuring at least two inmates the next night, an annex stabbing with an air ambulance dispatched in May 2026, a gang-related dormitory assault in March 2026, a roughly 100-officer tactical operation targeting multiple housing units and the annex in September 2026, and an October 2026 stabbing of a sleeping prisoner by an incarcerated person with untreated mental illness. The AJC reported 73.5% of correctional officer positions at Hancock were vacant as of October 2024 — 49 officers for over 1,100 prisoners — citing consultants who found vacancies at 20 of 34 prisons at "emergency levels" and broken cell locks, and summarized a 2024 DOJ report describing violence, sexual assaults and gang-run prisons.

Augusta Transitional Center — Deputy Warden, 2025.

• James Nicolas Waugh died July 5, 2026, at Augusta Transitional Center; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 30.

Litigation

No lawsuit naming Mahoney as a defendant appears in the records. Claims and payouts concerning Hancock deaths during her tenure:

• Rashad Bolton — his parents filed a lawsuit claiming he was stabbed to death at Hancock State Prison on January 4, 2021 (AJC); a $437,500 state liability payout tied to Hancock is recorded in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger.
• Charles Tristen McKee — lawsuit alleging he was placed in a dorm with known gang members hostile to LGBTQ inmates; DOJ investigation of the attack; $424,710.20 state liability payout tied to Hancock per the GA DOAS ledger.
• Francisco Zaldivar Melgar-Saldivar — claim against the state alleging he was denied appropriate medical care after being attacked by another prisoner (AJC).
• Amanuel Selassie Geberyesus — the AJC reported officials placed him in a regular cell contrary to a counselor's advice after he expressed suicidal thoughts, and he subsequently hung himself; a $600,000 state liability payout tied to Hancock (2019) is recorded in the GA DOAS ledger.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners' Speak death registry — 29 deaths attributed across Hancock State Prison (28) and Augusta Transitional Center (1)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — gang violence and Hancock homicides, officer vacancy rate (73.5%), consultant findings, DOJ report summary, McKee and Melgar-Saldivar claims
• U.S. Department of Justice — investigation into the death of Charles "Tristen" James McKee; 2024 findings on Georgia prison conditions
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $600,000 (2019), $437,500 (2021), $424,710.20 (2022)
• WGXA and 41NBC — Vershaun Smith conviction and sentencing for the June 2025 killing of Corey July; Jaylin Bell death report
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations into the deaths of Wood, Bell and Pearson

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 8, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.