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Nash, Torika R
Status: active
Profile written June 28, 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 began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2006 as a Behavioral Health Counselor at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. Over the next 18 years, Nash rose through counselor and supervisory roles, primarily in behavioral health, before her appointment as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at the Special Management Unit on October 16, 2024. She continued in that facility as a Deputy Warden through at least 2025. According to GPS records, four deaths were attributed to her leadership tenure at the SMU. No lawsuits name Nash as a defendant.What happened on her watch
Nash arrived at the Special Management Unit — a maximum‑security prison in Jackson, Georgia — just days before the first death on her watch. On October 22, 2024, 40‑year‑old Emilio Christopher Canales died at the facility while Nash held the title of Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment. The following year, three more deaths occurred while she served as Deputy Warden: Lashion Boddie, 30, on September 2, 2025; Michael Ogletree, 33, on October 31, 2025; and Antony Ramon Penick, 32, on May 30, 2026. All four decedents were men whose deaths were recorded under cause category 6 in GPS’s database.Nash’s tenure unfolded amid intense scrutiny of the Special Management Unit. In April 2024, U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell issued a contempt order against the GDC for falsifying documents, backdating prisoner review forms, and otherwise failing to comply with a 2019 settlement agreement meant to improve conditions at the SMU, according to the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution. That same year, according to the AJC, GDC stopped including preliminary causes of death in its monthly mortality reports, making it harder to track homicides. A subsequent U.S. Department of Justice investigation, reported by the AJC in October 2024, described Georgia’s prisons as inhumane, with prisoners being “assaulted, stabbed, raped, and killed” in understaffed facilities; the DOJ found that GDC officials had obstructed federal investigators, restricted access, and hastily repaired buildings before inspections. Within the SMU, AJC reporting documented that staff had falsified records to show that required review hearings were held on time and, in one case, recorded a deceased inmate — Ricardo Daughtry — as attending recreation activities after his death. That death underscored another systemic failure: GDC policy required welfare checks every 30 minutes, yet Daughtry was left unchecked for nearly seven hours before his body was discovered. These patterns persisted during the period Nash held the deputy warden role responsible for care and treatment at the unit.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — reporting on the federal contempt order, DOJ findings, falsified records at the SMU, the Daughtry death, and systemic failures in Georgia’s prison system.
- U.S. District Court records (Middle District of Georgia) — contempt order issued by Judge Marc T. Treadwell against the GDC in April 2024.
- Georgia Prisoners’ Speak intelligence database — personnel records and death attribution for Torika R. Nash.
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 | LASHION BODDIE | 30 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2024-10-22 | EMILIO CHRISTOPHER CANALES | 40 | SPECIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT | Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment |
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