Mims, Charles Michael

Tenure Summary

Charles Michael Mims's GDC career began as a Correctional Officer at Pulaski State Prison in 2007, moving through the Cobra Squad at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (2011), Sergeant at Pulaski (2012), Correctional Officer and then Lieutenant at Telfair State Prison (2015–2016), Captain at Dodge State Prison (2017–2018) and Correctional Unit Manager at Valdosta State Prison (2019). He then held Deputy Warden posts at Valdosta (2020), Central State Prison (2021) and Wilcox State Prison (2022), before facility-lead positions: WARDEN 1 at Wilcox (2023, 2024), Warden at Wilcox, and Warden at Smith State Prison. Records list his status as active.

Across those leadership tenures, 46 deaths are attributed to Mims's watch, by facility: Wilcox State Prison, 28; Valdosta State Prison, 8; Central State Prison, 6; Smith State Prison, 4. Two lawsuits in which he is listed as a defendant appear in court records. Georgia Department of Corrections records place several of the deaths at Wilcox and Smith inside gang-related incidents and system-wide lockdowns, and a former Smith State Prison warden — Brian Adams, not Mims — was indicted by a Tattnall County grand jury on six felony counts in May 2026, according to The Georgia Virtue and court records.

What happened on their watch

Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden (2020): 8 deaths attributed. Registry and incident records describe several stabbings: Bobby Carpenter died Sept. 9, 2020, from a stab wound to the chest; Orvonta Tillman died June 16, 2020, of multiple sharp-force penetrating trauma to the thorax; Prince Leonard Blige died Feb. 12, 2020, from a stab wound to the torso. The year's other decedents listed are Johnny Claude Mitchell (Dec. 5), Brandon Omar Weaver (Dec. 3), Gary Thomas Keown (Nov. 14), Shannon Small (Sept. 1) and Michael Lee Vaughn (Jan. 11).

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021): 6 deaths attributed. Joshua Carl-Haynes Lester died July 28, 2021, from a stab wound to the chest. Also listed that year: Michael Allen Stegall (Dec. 6), Matthew James Colozzi (Aug. 1), Joseph Dewayne Hamby (June 19), Demetrius Richardson (Apr. 24) and Adam Clint West (Apr. 6). The GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) records a $3,000 state liability payout tied to Central State Prison (incident 2021).

Wilcox State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022): four of the 28 Wilcox deaths fall in this posting — Kemarrio Laquan Clark (Dec. 28, 2022), James Forest Williams (Oct. 3, 2022, from blunt and sharp force injuries to head, torso and extremities), Clayton Wesley Carleton (Aug. 10) and Kelvin Lowe (May 27).

Wilcox State Prison — WARDEN 1 (2023–2024). During this posting, a Sept. 3, 2023 gang-related fight killed inmate Maurice Brown and injured nine others, two of them airlifted, per GDC accounts in the records. The GA DOAS settlement ledger records a $13,000 state liability payout tied to Wilcox (incident 2023). The U.S. Department of Justice issued a report in 2024 on GDC's gang-run prisons, citing regular violence and sexual assault. The following died at Wilcox State Prison during this tenure:

• Brian Michael Niehaus died August 23, 2023, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Richard Amos died December 17, 2023, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Kevin Joseph Degraft died February 12, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Overdose.
• Arthur Jerome Williams died July 19, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Jody Cris Jones died August 21, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Mariol Juante Rawls died August 27, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. Incident records describe at least eight men charged with murder in the stabbing, described as validated gang members.
• Rodney Whatley died October 5, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Alexander S Grimes died October 9, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Overdose.
• George Luis Morales died October 28, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Rodney Hurley died November 9, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• James Edward Hogan died December 10, 2024, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Overdose.

Wilcox State Prison — Warden (Jan. 1 – July 15, 2025). Records show a gang fight at Wilcox in early 2025 sent nine inmates to the hospital with stab wounds, and that GDC was investigating 42 deaths as possible homicides in the first six months of 2025. The AJC reported Jan. 21, 2025 that officials failed to recognize James Wheeler's mental health disease despite a history of self-harm and placed him in solitary confinement, where he was found hanging. The Georgia Legislature approved $434 million in new GDC funding for the fiscal year. The following died at Wilcox State Prison during this tenure:

• Keith Wingo died January 16, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Raymond Trey Moody died March 11, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Daylyne Collins died April 20, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Darrius Jerrod Zanders died May 5, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Thomas Leonardo Schwartz died May 14, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Roy Lee Gates died May 16, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Terry Alan Roper died June 6, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Dominique Cornelius Cole died June 8, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Ian Rashod Henry died June 22, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Harold Stanley Hester died July 10, 2025, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.

Smith State Prison — WARDEN 1 (Jan. 1 – July 15, 2025) and Warden (from July 16, 2025): 4 deaths attributed. Records list him at Smith as WARDEN 1 from Jan. 1 to July 15, 2025 while also listed as Warden at Wilcox over that period, then as Warden at Smith from July 16, 2025. The following died at Smith State Prison during this tenure:

• John Jacobs died October 25, 2025, at Smith State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.
• Nicholas Shafer died February 8, 2026, at Smith State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Dwayne Eric Albritton died March 12, 2026, at Smith State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Medical Neglect.
• Dreeonnie Lee Hart died May 14, 2026, at Smith State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.

Reports dated within this tenure include a gang-related altercation on April 1, 2026 that sent two inmates to hospitals and triggered a system-wide GDC lockdown (WTOC and a separate source); a June 29, 2026 report that a CERT team member was beaten and stabbed by multiple incarcerated people; a June 30, 2026 report of monitored group communications in which gangs at Smith discussed coordinated retaliation against staff and threatened a major uprising; a September 16, 2026 report of lockdowns or emergency counts at Smith and other facilities; and a Sept. 11, 2026 event listing inmate Kelvin Rogers sentenced to 96 months and a $500 fine. The AJC's Jan. 28, 2026 investigation describes more than 425 GDC employee contraband arrests since 2018 and reports the agency does not research credit or financial histories of applicants. Also during this tenure: the June 2024 kitchen shooting of Aramark worker Aureon Shavea Grace by inmate Jaydrekus Hart, who then killed himself — the shooting predates Mims's Smith tenure — and Deshonda Hagins's July 21, 2025 lawsuit in Fulton County State Court against GDC alleging staff were repeatedly warned of a gun on the premises but failed to act. Separate records concern former Smith warden Brian Adams: a Tattnall County grand jury True Bill on May 12, 2026 (six felony counts), a Tattnall County State Court civil suit against Adams and former officer Ireon Moore, and a June 22, 2026 Georgia Court of Appeals decision declining their appeal.

Litigation

• Collins v. Jones, No. 5:25-cv-00451, filed Oct. 15, 2025 (court code GAMD); status pending; no outcome amount recorded. Mims is listed among the defendants per court records.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191, filed June 6, 2025 (court code GAND); terminated March 30, 2026; no outcome amount recorded.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — contraband/employee arrest investigation (Jan. 28, 2026); Smith State Prison gun-warning lawsuit coverage (July 21, 2025); Wilcox coverage of James Wheeler's death (Jan. 21, 2025)
• WTOC — April 1, 2026 Smith State Prison altercation and system-wide lockdown
• The Georgia Virtue — Tattnall County grand jury indictment of a former Smith State Prison warden; Court of Appeals decision
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — liability payouts tied to Central State Prison (2021) and Wilcox State Prison (2023)
• GPS intelligence case submissions — reports of lockdowns, gang retaliation communications and staff assaults at Smith State Prison
• Court records (CourtListener dockets) — Collins v. Jones; Daker v. Oliver
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on GDC's gang-run prisons

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.