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Nash, Torika R
Status: active
Profile written July 19, 2026
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
Torika R. Nash’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections began in 2006 as a Behavioral Health Counselor II at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. Over nearly two decades, Nash advanced through increasingly senior behavioral-health roles before being appointed Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at the Special Management Unit on October 16, 2024, and continuing as Deputy Warden in 2025. According to GPS records, four deaths are attributed to Nash’s facility-leadership tenure — all at the Special Management Unit. No lawsuits name Nash as a defendant.What happened on their watch
Special Management Unit (October 16, 2024 – present)
Nash assumed the role of Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at the Special Management Unit — Georgia’s maximum‑security prison — on October 16, 2024. The very next day, 40‑year‑old Emilio Christopher Canales died at the facility, followed by three more deaths: Lashon Boddie (30) on September 2, 2025; Michael Ogletree (33) on October 31, 2025; and Antony Ramon Penick (32) on May 30, 2026. GPS records classify all four deaths under cause category 6.Nash’s tenure at the Special Management Unit overlapped with intense external scrutiny. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a report in October 2024 calling conditions in Georgia’s prisons “inhumane,” noting that people were “assaulted, stabbed, raped, and killed” inside understaffed facilities. According to the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, the DOJ found that GDC obstructed investigators by restricting access and hastily repairing buildings before visits. In April 2024 — several months before Nash’s arrival — a federal judge held the GDC in contempt for violating a 2019 settlement meant to reform the Special Management Unit, finding that officials had falsified and backdated prisoner review forms and stalled compliance for years. The AJC also reported that prison records showed deceased inmate Ricardo Daughtry attending activities after he had already been pronounced dead, and that GDC failed to check on him for nearly seven hours despite a policy requiring checks every 30 minutes. While those specific events predate Nash’s leadership role, the systemic failures — falsified records, missed welfare checks, and understaffing — were ongoing features of the institution during the period when the four deaths occurred on Nash’s watch.
Related intel reports also document a contraband‑cellphone‑fueled $11 million theft orchestrated from the Special Management Unit by inmate Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., as well as sworn testimony from a GDC official that inmates were receiving required out‑of‑cell time and programming, which the AJC notes was contradicted by evidence.
Sources
- GPS personnel and mortality records — total deaths attributed and individual decedent details for Canales, Boddie, Ogletree, and Penick.
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple reports on DOJ findings, GDC contempt order, falsified documents, missed inmate checks, Cofield theft, and official misrepresentations regarding the Special Management Unit.
- U.S. Department of Justice — October 2024 investigative report on Georgia prison conditions.
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia — contempt order (April 2024) in the Special Management Unit settlement case.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | 2024-10-16 → present |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | 2022-01-01 → 2024-10-15 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR SPV | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | 2018-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 3 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| BEHAVIORAL HLTH COUNSELOR 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| BEH HEALTH/COUNSELOR (WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Behavioral Health Counselor II | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
4 people died at facilities under Nash, Torika R's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-30 | ANTONY RAMON PENICK | 32 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-10-31 | MICHAEL OGLETREE | 33 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2025-09-02 | LASHON BODDIE | 30 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-10-17 | EMILIO CHRISTOPHER CANALES | 40 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment |
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