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Reaves, Jessica
Status: active
Profile written June 7, 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
Jessica Reaves entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a Financial Operations Generalist and advanced through several financial roles until 2022. In January 2023 she was appointed Deputy Warden at Baldwin State Prison, a facility‑level leadership post she held at least through the end of 2025, with GPS records indicating she remained in that position into 2026. According to Georgia Prisoners’ Speak data, 37 deaths occurred at Baldwin State Prison during her tenure as deputy warden. The fatalities include multiple homicides, deaths attributed to medical conditions, and at least one homicide that drew coverage from the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution. During the same period the prison was the subject of allegations of staff‑on‑inmate violence, systemic contraband smuggling, understaffing, and gang‑related killings, and it fell within the scope of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into violence and conditions in Georgia prisons that had been announced in 2021.What happened on their watch
Reaves began as Deputy Warden on January 1, 2023. The first death in the GPS sample from her tenure is that of Samuel Wilmont, 68, on February 7, 2023. Over the following months, Baldwin recorded several more fatalities: Fredrick Louis Spears Jr., 27, died on May 2, 2023 from a stab wound to the torso, a homicide documented by the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution; Johnny Lee Vaughn, 39, died on October 4, 2023 after a fight with multiple inmates, his cause of death a stab wound to the torso, also per the AJC; and multiple deaths attributed to natural causes or chronic illness were logged throughout the year. The AJC reported that in October 2023 advocates protested outside the Governor’s Mansion over violent conditions, understaffing, and medical neglect in the state prison system, and that Correctional Officer Robert Clark was killed by an inmate with a homemade weapon at Baldwin on October 1, 2023.In 2024, the deaths continued, among them Vincent Reshad Dyer, 50, on August 21, whose death was ruled a homicide by sharp‑force chest trauma, with incident reports noting a fight and contraband. Almir Harris, 23, died on December 31, 2024; GPS intel events document that Harris, an autistic prisoner with Type 1 diabetes, died from diabetic ketoacidosis after allegedly being denied essential medical care. A homicide involving multiple puncture wounds took the life of Henry Finley on January 19, 2025. In April 2025 (GPS records list April 5, 2026, with several intel events pointing to a 2026 date), inmate Ricky Mathis, 38, died under circumstances that remain under investigation by the GDC Office of Professional Standards; the prison reported no signs of an altercation, but the investigation was ongoing.
Beyond the death tally, Baldwin State Prison faced serious allegations during Reaves’s watch. In March 2025, inmate Akeim Burgest claimed an officer threw a water bottle at him and later shanked him while a lieutenant stood by, according to 13WMAZ; Burgest filed a lawsuit in February 2026, and a federal judge ordered evidence preserved. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution reported that in 2023 a former lieutenant, Tracey Wise, pleaded guilty to smuggling K‑2‑laced papers for an inmate and that a 12‑count federal indictment in November 2023 charged 23 defendants – including three former correctional officers – with gang‑directed murders, drug trafficking, and contraband smuggling spanning more than a decade. The AJC also documented that at least 360 prison employees had been arrested for contraband offenses since 2018, a pattern that advocates said contributed directly to inmate‑on‑inmate violence. The Department of Justice’s investigation into conditions in Georgia prisons, announced in 2021 and still active, provided an overarching backdrop.
Litigation
- Nautilus Insurance Company v. Headhunters Racetrack LLC – Filed November 11, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia (Docket 5:13‑cv‑00426). Terminated March 31, 2016. This civil insurance dispute predates Reaves’s GDC employment and does not involve corrections matters.
Sources
- Georgia Prisoners’ Speak intelligence database – personnel records, death logs, and facility‑linked intel reports
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution – multiple homicide reports, investigation of contraband smuggling and prison violence, and coverage of the 2021 DOJ investigation
- 13WMAZ – allegation of officer‑on‑inmate shanking at Baldwin State Prison
- CourtListener (courtlistener.com) – docket for Nautilus Insurance Company v. Headhunters Racetrack LLC
- GPS intel events – records of the Burgest lawsuit, federal evidence preservation order, GDC investigations, and the deaths of Almir Harris and others
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | BALDWIN STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → present |
| FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 3 | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 2 | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 1 | 2016-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GEN (AL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:13-cv-00426 | GAMD | 2013-11-11 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
37 people died at facilities under Reaves, Jessica's leadership.
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