Nash, Torika R

Tenure Summary

Torika R. Nash spent nearly two decades with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a behavioral health counselor and supervisor — roles classified at the "unknown" accountability tier throughout — before being elevated to a facility-deputy position in October 2024. GPS records show Nash became Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at the Special Management Unit (SMU), Georgia's supermax facility, on October 16, 2024, and subsequently held the title of Deputy Warden there through at least the end of 2025. Three deaths are attributed to the SMU during Nash's deputy-warden tenure: Emilio Christopher Canales, 40, on October 22, 2024; Lashion Boddie, 30, on September 2, 2025; and Michael Ogletree, 33, on October 31, 2025. All three carry cause-category code 6 in GPS records; no further cause detail is recorded. Nash is not named as a defendant in any lawsuit in the structured records.

What happened on their watch

Special Management Unit — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment / Deputy Warden (October 16, 2024 – present)

Nash assumed the Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment role at the SMU six days after being recorded as a Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor through October 15, 2024. Within the first week of that posting, GPS records attribute the death of Emilio Christopher Canales, 40, to the facility on October 22, 2024 (cause-category 6; no further detail noted). Two additional deaths followed in 2025: Lashion Boddie, 30, on September 2, and Michael Ogletree, 33, on October 31 — both also coded cause-category 6 with no supplemental notes. Nash held the deputy-warden role at the time of all three deaths. The SMU carried substantial documented institutional problems predating and overlapping Nash's arrival. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a federal judge issued a contempt order against GDC in April 2024 — months before Nash's promotion — for falsifying and backdating prisoner review forms and failing to comply with a 2019 settlement agreement governing SMU conditions. The AJC further reported that GDC records showed a deceased SMU inmate, Ricardo Daughtry, listed as attending activities after he had already been pronounced dead, and that staff failed to check on Daughtry for nearly seven hours despite a policy requiring checks every 15 to 30 minutes. The AJC also reported that inmate Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., housed at the SMU, was sentenced in January 2024 to 135 months in federal prison after stealing $11 million using contraband cellphones acquired even inside the state's highest-security facility. The DOJ found Georgia's prisons inhumane, per the AJC, with people being assaulted, stabbed, raped, and killed in woefully understaffed facilities — findings that encompassed the SMU. Nash is not named individually in any of these allegations or proceedings.

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — Behavioral Health Counselor / Supervisor (2006; 2017; 2021)

Nash's earlier postings at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) were in counselor and supervisor roles below the facility-deputy accountability threshold; GPS records attribute no deaths to Nash's leadership during those assignments. The facility itself carried documented systemic problems during overlapping periods. Per GPS records, GDCP held approximately 4,540 incarcerated people as of early 2026 — 568% of its original 1968 design capacity of 800 — with medical, kitchen, shower, and counseling infrastructure unchanged since original construction. The AJC reported that almost every part of GDCP had been vandalized by prisoners, with widespread infrastructure failures, and that a newly convicted inmate, Shane Tassi, was photographed with a homemade shank and contraband cellphone within days of arriving at the facility in mid-2024. A federal civil rights lawsuit, Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections, was filed March 5, 2026, alleging that inmate Ronald Allen suffered cold injuries during a forced work assignment with inadequate protective equipment — an incident GPS records place at GDCP around April 2024 — resulting in amputation of his left hand and permanent damage to his right. Nash is not named as a defendant in that suit.

Litigation

• Federal contempt order re: SMU settlement — U.S. District Court, Judge Marc T. Treadwell; issued approximately April 2024; found GDC in contempt for falsifying and backdating records and failing to comply with a 2019 settlement agreement governing Special Management Unit conditions. GDC — not Nash individually — is the named party per GPS records.
• Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections — Federal civil rights lawsuit filed March 5, 2026; alleges medical neglect at GDCP resulting in amputation of Ronald Allen's left hand and permanent damage to his right hand; names GDC Commissioner and eleven other defendants. Nash is not listed as a named defendant per GPS records.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on SMU contempt order, falsified records, Ricardo Daughtry death, Arthur Lee Cofield Jr. sentencing, PREA investigation failures, DOJ findings, GDC transparency practices, Shane Tassi contraband incident, GDCP infrastructure conditions, and Ronald Allen injury
• GPS records — positions table, deaths-during-tenure table, cause-category codes, facility assignments for Nash
• Per court records / GPS intel events — Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections (filed March 5, 2026); contempt order issued by Judge Marc T. Treadwell (approximately April 2024)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.