Mims, Charles Michael

Tenure Summary

Charles Michael Mims entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2007 as a correctional officer at Pulaski State Prison, and GPS personnel records trace a steady climb: sergeant back at Pulaski (2012), officer and then lieutenant at Telfair State Prison (2015–2016), captain at Dodge State Prison (2017–2018), unit manager at Valdosta State Prison (2019), and deputy warden posts at Valdosta (2020), Central State Prison (2021) and Wilcox State Prison (2022). Records also list a 2011 assignment to the "Cobra Squad" at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. He became Warden at Wilcox in 2023 and, per GPS personnel records, held the Warden role at Smith State Prison from July 16, 2025; a separate WARDEN 1 line at Smith covers Jan. 1–July 15, 2025.

Across his facility-leadership tenures, GPS attributes 46 deaths to facilities he led: 28 at Wilcox State Prison, 8 at Valdosta, 6 at Central, and 4 at Smith. Two federal lawsuits list him as a defendant, both filed in 2025. GPS records contain no news reports naming Mims directly.

What happened on their watch

Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2020 (8 deaths). The decedents GPS names include Prince Blige, 54, who died Feb. 12, 2020 of a stab wound to the torso; Orvonta Tillman, 36, who died June 16, 2020 of multiple sharp-force penetrating injuries to the thorax; and Bobby Carpenter, 31, who died Sept. 9, 2020 of a stab wound to the chest, per death records cited by GPS. Ages at the facility that year ran from 31 to 62.

Central State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2021 (6 deaths). Named decedents include Adam West, 33; Joseph Hamby, 34; Demetrius Richardson, 50; and Joshua Lester, 34, who died July 28, 2021 from a stab wound to the chest. A state liability payout of $3,000 recorded in the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger is tied to Central State Prison and a 2021 incident (Daniel Ford).

Wilcox State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022) and Warden (2023–July 15, 2025): 28 deaths. In 2022, as Deputy Warden, GPS records the Oct. 3 death of James Forest Williams, 43, from blunt and sharp-force injuries. As Warden, records show an inmate died and nine others were injured in a gang-related fight on Sept. 3, 2023 (the deceased identified as Maurice Brown; seven were hospitalized, two airlifted). On Aug. 27, 2024, Mariol Juante Rawls, 41, was killed — incident data cited by GPS shows nine offenders involved and a homemade weapon; the AJC later reported Rawls was stabbed with a 12-inch blade by at least eight validated gang members, with at least eight men charged with murder. Arthur Williams, 55, died July 18, 2024 in a homicide involving two inmates. In early 2025, nine inmates were hospitalized with stab wounds after another gang fight. The AJC reported in January 2025 that officials failed to recognize James Wheeler's mental-health disease despite a self-harm history and placed him in solitary, where he was found hanging. A $13,000 state liability payout is tied to a 2023 Wilcox incident (Barrington Morrison). A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report described Georgia prisons as gang-run and riddled with violence and sexual assault; statewide, GDC investigated 42 deaths as possible homicides in the first six months of 2025.

Smith State Prison — Warden, 2025–present (4 deaths). Named decedents are John Jacobs, 77 (Oct. 2025), Nicholas Shafer, 24 (Feb. 2026), Dwayne Albritton, 65 (Mar. 2026) and Dreeonnie Hart, 25 (May 2026). On April 1, 2026, a gang-related altercation at Smith sent two inmates to hospitals and triggered a system-wide GDC lockdown, per WTOC. Allegations reported during his Smith tenure center on a predecessor, former Warden Brian Adams, and former officer Ireon Moore — including RICO and contraband claims reported by The Georgia Virtue and the AJC; Adams was indicted May 12, 2026 on six felony counts. A Fulton County State Court suit filed July 21, 2025 (Deshonda Hagins v. GDC) concerns the June 2024 kitchen shooting death of Aramark worker Aureon Shavea Grace by inmate Jaydrekus Hart.

Litigation

• Collins v. Jones, No. 5:25-cv-00451, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — filed Oct. 15, 2025; pending. Mims listed as a defendant.
• Daker v. Oliver (Filing Restriction Per 59 Order), No. 1:25-cv-03191, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia — filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026. Mims listed as a defendant.

Sources

• GPS personnel and incident records — positions, death attributions, facility events
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $13,000 Wilcox (2023) and $3,000 Central (2021) payouts
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Wilcox mental-health/solitary death (Jan. 2025); Smith contraband and hiring investigations (Jan. 2026); Smith gun-warning lawsuit coverage (July 2025)
• The Georgia Virtue — Smith State Prison RICO/contraband allegations and Adams indictment (May–June 2026)
• WTOC — April 1, 2026 Smith altercation and system-wide lockdown
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on gang-run Georgia prisons
• Court records via CourtListener — GAMD and GAND dockets

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.