Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Mims, Charles Michael
Mims, Charles Michael
Status: active
Profile written June 21, 2026
Salary
$92,341
2025 · state payroll
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
Charles Michael Mims began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer in 2007 and rose steadily through the ranks, holding sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and unit manager posts before entering facility leadership. By 2020 he was a deputy warden, and in 2023 he was promoted to warden at Wilcox State Prison; he became warden at Smith State Prison in 2025, a position he still holds. Over that leadership trajectory, GPS records attribute 35 deaths to four facilities where Mims served as either deputy warden or warden: 8 at Valdosta State Prison, 6 at Central State Prison, 18 at Wilcox State Prison, and 3 at Smith State Prison. He has been named as a defendant in several federal civil-rights lawsuits, including a pending case filed in 2025.What happened on their watch
Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden (2020)
During Mims’s year as deputy warden at Valdosta, GPS records show eight deaths at the facility. Three of those were ruled homicides, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigation of Georgia prison homicides: Bobby Lane Carpenter, 31, died of a stab wound to the chest; Orvonta Casmir Tillman, 36, died of multiple sharp-force injuries to the thorax; and Prince Blige, 54, died of a stab wound to the torso. The remaining five deaths are grouped under cause‑category 6 — often indicating natural or undetermined causes — and include Johnny Claude Mitchell, Brandon Omar Weaver, Gary Thomas Keown, Shannon Small, and Michael Lee Vaughn, ranging in age from 31 to 62. No direct allegations against Mims are documented from this period, though later law‑enforcement operations uncovered a long‑running contraband network inside Valdosta, with multiple correctional officers arrested for smuggling drugs and cellphones on behalf of incarcerated people.Central State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021)
As deputy warden at Central State Prison in 2021, Mims oversaw a facility that recorded six deaths, per GPS data. One of those deaths, that of Joshua Carl Lester, 34, was classified as a homicide: the AJC investigation reports a stab wound to the chest. The other five — Michael Allen Stegall, Matthew James Colozzi, Joseph Dewayne Hamby, Demetrius Richardson, and Adam Clint West, all between the ages of 33 and 50 — are marked cause‑category 6. No lawsuits or intel reports link Mims directly to those deaths.Wilcox State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022) and Warden (2023–2024)
Mims began as deputy warden at Wilcox in 2022 and became warden the following year. GPS records attribute 18 deaths to the prison across that three‑year span. In 2022, while serving as deputy warden, the facility saw four deaths, including James Forest Williams, 43, whose death the AJC lists as a homicide caused by blunt and sharp force injuries to the head, torso, and extremities. During his wardenship in 2023, five deaths occurred (all cause‑category 6): Robert Mitchell Woodland (38), Jasper Leggett (37), Kenneth Laron Cotton (45), Brian Michael Niehaus (51), and Richard Amos (77). In 2024, nine more deaths were recorded, including two homicides: Arthur Jerome Williams, 55, killed in an incident involving two incarcerated people, and Mariol Juante Rawls, 41, killed in an attack with nine people involved and a homemade weapon, per the AJC. The remaining 2024 deaths — James Edward Hogan, Rodney Hurley, George Luis Morales, Alexander S. Grimes, Rodney Whatley, Jody Cris Jones, and Kevin Joseph Degraft — are categorized as cause‑6.Smith State Prison — Warden (2025–present)
Mims was appointed warden at Smith State Prison in January 2025. GPS records attribute three deaths to the facility during his tenure. John Jacobs, 77, died in October 2025: the coroner’s record lists cardiorespiratory arrest due to sepsis and multiorgan failure, with the manner ruled natural. In February 2026, Nicholas Shafer, 24, was found dead; a user‑submitted report notes he had been beaten, his hands and feet tied, and an object stuffed in his mouth, and GDC data classifies the death as cause‑category 3 (homicide). Dwayne Eric Albritton, 65, died in March 2026 (cause‑category 6). During Mims’s first year at Smith, a gang‑related altercation on April 1, 2026, left two incarcerated people airlifted to hospitals and triggered a rare system‑wide lockdown of all Georgia Department of Corrections facilities, underscoring the persistent violence inside a prison that the AJC has described as dangerously understaffed.Litigation
- Battle v. Mims, No. 5:23‑cv‑00487 (M.D. Ga. 2023) — filed Dec. 6, 2023; terminated Dec. 8, 2023.
- Taylor v. University Health Services Inc, No. 1:23‑cv‑00047 (S.D. Ga. 2023) — filed Apr. 19, 2023; terminated Dec. 14, 2023.
- Robert M Taylor III v. Piedmont Healthcare Inc, No. 1:24‑cv‑00019 (S.D. Ga. 2024) — filed Feb. 16, 2024; pending.
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25‑cv‑03191 (N.D. Ga. 2025) — filed June 6, 2025; terminated Mar. 30, 2026.
- Collins v. Jones, No. 5:25‑cv‑00451 (M.D. Ga. 2025) — filed Oct. 15, 2025; pending.
- Owners Insurance Company v. Anderson, No. 4:16‑cv‑00368 (M.D. Ga. 2016) — terminated Jan. 17, 2018.
- In Re Wright Medical Technology Inc Conserve Hip Implant Products, No. 1:12‑md‑02329 (N.D. Ga. 2012) — terminated June 26, 2018.
Sources
- GPS records — death counts by facility, cause‑category classifications, and tenure timelines.
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, “Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation” — causes of death for Bobby Lane Carpenter, Orvonta Casmir Tillman, Prince Blige, Joshua Carl Lester, James Forest Williams, Arthur Jerome Williams, and Mariol Juante Rawls.
- CourtListener — dockets for Battle v. Mims, Taylor v. University Health Services, Taylor v. Piedmont Healthcare, Daker v. Oliver, and Collins v. Jones.
- Tattnall County coroner records — death certificate of John Jacobs.
- GPS user report (GPS‑DEATH‑2026‑35BA7) — details on the death of Nicholas Shafer.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Warden | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2025-07-16 → present |
| WARDEN 1 | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| WARDEN 1 | WILCOX STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → 2024-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | WILCOX STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CENTRAL STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | VALDOSTA STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | DODGE STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Sergeant | PULASKI STATE PRISON | 2012-01-01 → 2012-12-31 |
| Cobra Squad | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2011-01-01 → 2011-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | PULASKI STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:25-cv-00451 | GAMD | 2025-10-15 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-03191 | GAND | 2025-06-06 | terminated |
| 1:24-cv-00019 | GASD | 2024-02-16 | pending |
| 5:23-cv-00487 | GAMD | 2023-12-06 | terminated |
| 1:23-cv-00047 | GASD | 2023-04-19 | terminated |
| 4:16-cv-00368 | GAMD | 2016-11-22 | terminated |
| 1:12-md-02329 | GAND | 2012-02-27 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
35 people died at facilities under Mims, Charles Michael's leadership.
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