Mitchell, Rashedah Fayola

Tenure Summary

Rashedah Fayola Mitchell's Georgia Department of Corrections record begins in 2006, when she served as a Correctional Officer at Baldwin State Prison, and then moves almost entirely through behavioral health: a Behavioral Health Counselor posting in 2011, a counselor role in 2015, Behavioral Health Counselor 3 from 2016 through 2018, and Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor from 2019 through 2025. A single-date record places her as Behavioral Hlth Counselor Spv at Hancock State Prison on Nov. 22, 2023. On Feb. 1, 2026, she took the Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment post at Hancock State Prison — a facility-deputy leadership tier — and her status is listed as active.

Four deaths are attributed to facility-leader tenures held by Mitchell, all of them at Hancock State Prison. Three of the four are listed in GPS's death registry as homicides. No lawsuit naming her as a defendant appears in the records provided.

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment (Feb. 1, 2026 – present)

Four deaths occurred during Mitchell's tenure in this role, per the GPS death registry, all at Hancock State Prison:

• 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.

For Bell, 41NBC reported that he died following an altercation with his roommate; a GDC death record states his body was turned over to the county coroner for transport to the GBI crime lab, and the GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation into his death, dated February 6, 2026, is described as ongoing. Pearson's death record states the cause had not been released and the body was likewise turned over for transport to the GBI crime lab; the Office of Professional Standards investigation dated April 8, 2026, is also described as ongoing. No cause documentation appears for Johnson or Chapa beyond the registry entries above.

Records logged against Hancock during this tenure describe a violent period at the facility. Among them: an allegation of a gang-related assault involving multiple incarcerated people in a dormitory (March 21, 2026); a reported stabbing in the visitation area (March 15, 2026); a family report that a person was held in solitary confinement for six or more weeks with no communication access (May 5, 2026); a third-party report of multiple stabbings in the annex with an air ambulance dispatched (May 21, 2026); a report of multiple injuries with one person requiring life-flight evacuation during a multi-facility lockdown (May 22, 2026); a report of a person caught accessing the roof on three consecutive nights, prompting a tactical squad presence (June 9, 2026); an allegation that monitored 2025 communications indicated a violent conflict between Muslim incarcerated individuals and a gang, with staff working to contain it (reported July 17, 2026); a report of the IRT using force against a person suspected of possessing a weapon, including striking the person against tables and doors (August 4, 2026); a Telegram-sourced stabbing report characterized in the message as hearsay (September 10, 2026); a report of a tactical team operation involving roughly 100 officers targeting multiple housing units and the annex (September 15, 2026); an anonymous tip that the facility was off lockdown with semi-normal movement (September 18, 2026); and a report that an incarcerated person with untreated mental illness stabbed another while the victim slept, with the victim hospitalized (October 9, 2026).

Other events dated inside the tenure: a Hancock County jury convicted Vershaun Smith of malice murder for the June 2025 fatal stabbing of fellow inmate Corey July, per the Oculmulgee District Attorney's Office, and Judge Alison T. Burleson sentenced Smith to life without parole (event entries dated August 13 and September 16, 2026); and Marquez Powell was released from Hancock on June 19, 2026, after a Fulton County judge vacated his conviction on a joint motion by the Georgia Innocence Project and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit citing newly developed DNA evidence. A John Morgan Coleman, age 82, a lifer, was transferred from medium-security to close-security at Hancock on March 31, 2026.

Sources

• GPS death registry — four deaths attributed to Mitchell's Hancock State Prison leadership tenure (Bell, Johnson, Pearson, Chapa)
• 41NBC — report on Jaylin Bell's death following an altercation with his roommate; report on the Vershaun Smith/Corey July stabbing
• WGXA — trial coverage of the Vershaun Smith malice murder conviction
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — ongoing investigations into the deaths of Jaylin Bell and Jacorey Pearson
• GPS case-submission and monitored-communication records — facility reports and allegations at Hancock State Prison dated within the tenure
• Court records — Hancock County jury verdict and sentencing of Vershaun Smith; Fulton County vacatur and release of Marquez Powell

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.