Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Polite, Joseph L
Polite, Joseph L
Not on GDC's 2025 payroll (last listed 2024)
Profile written September 23, 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
Georgia Prisoners' Speak records show no deaths attributed to facility-leader tenures held by Joseph L. Polite. His career history is documented in the Positions table below.
Polite's position records trace a steady GDC progression: correction operations staff in 2015 ($46,211.28), correctional captain in 2016, correctional unit manager across 2017–2018, and then deputy warden continuously from 2019 through 2024. The only facility explicitly attached to any of those postings in the records is Phillips State Prison, where a single deputy warden entry is dated November 22, 2023. No intel reports, intel events, or news mentions naming Polite appear in the records for any facility during his leadership tenure, and no deaths are attributed to that tenure.
Litigation
Polite appears as a defendant in five federal cases, all filed in Georgia district courts and all now terminated. The available dockets do not specify the underlying claims or subject matter, and no monetary outcome is recorded for any of them.
- Pace v. Polite, No. 1:15-cv-02345 (N.D. Ga.), filed June 30, 2015; terminated June 8, 2016.
- Milo v. Polite, No. 1:14-cv-02802 (N.D. Ga.), filed August 29, 2014; terminated June 8, 2016.
- Gumm v. Jacobs, No. 5:15-cv-00041 (M.D. Ga.), filed February 12, 2015; terminated May 7, 2019.
- Zavala v. Ward, No. 5:19-cv-00383 (M.D. Ga.), filed September 23, 2019; terminated March 2, 2021 — filed during his deputy warden tenure.
- Hall v. Shepard, No. 5:23-cv-00205 (M.D. Ga.), filed June 8, 2023; terminated June 11, 2024 — filed during his deputy warden tenure.
Sources
- CourtListener dockets — Pace v. Polite (1:15-cv-02345); Milo v. Polite (1:14-cv-02802); Gumm v. Jacobs (5:15-cv-00041); Zavala v. Ward (5:19-cv-00383); Hall v. Shepard (5:23-cv-00205).
- Georgia Department of Corrections position and salary records compiled by Georgia Prisoners' Speak (gps.press) — deputy warden entries, 2019–2024, including the November 22, 2023 Phillips State Prison record.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2019-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| Deputy Warden | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2017-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 | |
| CORRECTION OPERATIONS | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:23-cv-00205 | GAMD | 2023-06-08 | terminated |
| 5:19-cv-00383 | GAMD | 2019-09-23 | terminated |
| 1:15-cv-02345 | GAND | 2015-06-30 | terminated |
| 5:15-cv-00041 | GAMD | 2015-02-12 | terminated |
| 1:14-cv-02802 | GAND | 2014-08-29 | terminated |
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