Mitchell, Rashedah Fayola

Tenure Summary

Rashedah Fayola Mitchell's documented career with the Georgia Department of Corrections runs from 2006 to the present. GPS records list her as a Correctional Officer at Baldwin State Prison in 2006, then in behavioral-health roles from 2011 onward — Behavioral Health Counselor, Behavioral Health Counselor 3, and Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor (2019–2025, with salary records running through 2025). On February 1, 2026, she entered facility leadership as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at Hancock State Prison, a role GPS records show her holding with no listed end date.

Four deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure, all at Hancock State Prison, per the deaths recorded in GPS's registry. No lawsuit naming Mitchell as a defendant appears in these records. Her personnel status is listed as active.

What happened on their watch

Baldwin State Prison (2006) — Correctional Officer. GPS records show Mitchell held a Correctional Officer post at Baldwin State Prison during 2006.

Behavioral-health counseling roles (2011–2025). Records list her as a Behavioral Health Counselor (2011), BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) (2015), Behavioral Health Counselor 3 (2016–2018), and Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor (2019–2025). Most of these entries carry no facility; two single-date entries place her as Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor at Hancock State Prison, on November 22, 2023, and August 27, 2026.

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (from February 1, 2026). All four deaths attributed to her leadership tenure occurred here, per GPS's registry:

• Jaylin Bell died February 6, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 32. A 41NBC report dated February 10, 2026 states Bell died following an altercation with his roommate. A GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation into his death was opened, and per GPS records it is ongoing.
• Jerrod Johnson died February 18, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 27.
• Jacorey Derrelle Pearson died April 7, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide. He was 36. GPS records state his death is under investigation by the GDC's Office of Professional Standards, and that the body was turned over to the county coroner for transport to the GBI crime lab.
• Albert Chapa died July 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison. He was 57. GPS's registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending; the cause is not yet known in GPS's records.

Other items recorded at Hancock during her deputy-warden tenure include a March 15, 2026 allegation — relayed by a family or community contact — of a stabbing in the visitation area; a March 21, 2026 source report of a gang-related assault involving multiple incarcerated people in a dormitory; and a May 5, 2026 family report that an incarcerated person was held in solitary confinement for six or more weeks with no communication access. GPS records also note a March 31, 2026 transfer of John Morgan Coleman, age 82 and serving a life sentence, from medium- to close-security at Hancock. A June 19, 2026 record shows Marquez Powell's conviction vacated on a joint motion by the Georgia Innocence Project and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit citing new DNA evidence; prosecutors dismissed all charges and he was released from Hancock. Two records document the conviction of Vershaun Smith for malice murder in the June 2025 fatal stabbing of fellow Hancock inmate Corey July — a Hancock County jury convicted him after being shown surveillance footage, and Judge Alison T. Burleson sentenced him to life without parole. The June 2025 stabbing predates Mitchell's deputy-warden tenure; the conviction and sentencing fall inside it.

Sources

• GPS death registry — four deaths attributed to the Hancock State Prison leadership tenure of the Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment, February–July 2026
• 41NBC — report on Jaylin Bell's death following an altercation with his roommate (February 2026); report on the stabbing of Corey July
• WGXA — trial coverage of Vershaun Smith's malice murder conviction
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations into the deaths of Jaylin Bell and Jacorey Pearson, listed as ongoing
• Oculmulgee District Attorney's Office — cited in GPS records for the Smith conviction
• GPS case submissions — family report of prolonged solitary confinement; source report of a dormitory assault; community report of a visitation-area stabbing
• Georgia Innocence Project and Fulton County District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit — cited in the Marquez Powell exoneration record

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 25, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.