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Rogers, Tandra Tiease
Status: active
Profile written August 9, 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
Tandra Tiease Rogers began working for the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a financial operations generalist and later held roles as a purchasing assistant and business support analyst. In January 2023, Rogers became deputy warden at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) in Jackson. Official salary records list her in that role through the end of 2025, and GPS death records attribute fatalities to her watch well into 2026. During her tenure as a facility deputy warden, GPS records attribute 65 deaths at GDCP — a facility that, according to internal analyses, held over 4,500 people in a building designed for 800, operating at 568 percent of its original capacity.What happened on their watch
Rogers’s tenure at GDCP coincided with a cascade of violence, self-harm, and unexplained deaths. Among the 65 attributed fatalities were at least three confirmed homicides catalogued by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carrell D. Johnson, 32, died in June 2023 from “chopping injuries of the head and sharp-force injuries of the torso”; Elmer W. Pless, 65, was strangled in May 2023; and Mark Rutledge, 72, was reportedly beaten on Father’s Day 2026 and later listed on GDC’s June 2026 mortality report, though the agency has not released a cause. GBI medical examiner records obtained by GPS open-records requests confirmed suicides by hanging for Rodriquez Demorris Garrett (2024), Christopher Shawn Burnett (2024), and Timothy Todd Holbrook (2024). A teenage decedent, Christopher Lee, 19, was found dead in a stripped cell in January 2026; a GBI autopsy later ruled his death natural (probable cardiac dysrhythmia) but did not resolve a prisoner report that staff attributed the death to cold and exposure.Parallels of neglect and systemic failure saturated the facility’s operations during Rogers’s time there. Inmate Mark Smith, 53, who had advanced Parkinson’s disease, was denied a medical-unit transfer and was found dead in his cell in June 2025 after hours without security rounds, according to GPS event reports. An anonymous user report alleged that another man, Desmond Layne Hattaway, 27, died by suicide in a mental-health dorm in April 2023 after inadequate monitoring following segregation. Conditions inside GDCP drew repeated scrutiny: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that “almost every part” of the prison had been vandalized, and that newly convicted inmate Shane Tassi was photographed with a homemade shank and contraband cell phone within days of his arrival in 2024. A separate AJC investigation detailed how an officer, Vera Jackson, admitted to accepting thousands of dollars to tip off a death-row prisoner about upcoming shakedowns. GPS research also flagged the April 2024 case of inmate Ronald Allen, who suffered severe frostbite on his hands when he was allegedly ordered to separate frozen beef patties with inadequate protective equipment; a subsequent federal lawsuit claimed the resulting medical neglect led to the amputation of his left hand and permanent damage to his right.
Litigation
- Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections — filed March 5, 2026, in U.S. District Court (venue not specified in GPS records). The lawsuit alleges that GDCP’s medical neglect following a forced-work injury caused the amputation of inmate Ronald Allen’s left hand and permanent right-hand damage.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — investigations including the Georgia Prison Homicides list, reports on contraband and officer corruption, and analyses of severe overcrowding and infrastructure collapse at GDCP.
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences — medical examiner autopsy reports (suicides of Garrett, Burnett, Holbrook; Christopher Lee autopsy) obtained by GPS open-records requests.
- GPS internal death records and anonymous user reports — documenting fatalities, incident allegations, and systemic failure reports at GDCP during Rogers’s tenure.
- GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report — confirmation of Mark Rutledge’s death.
- Federal court docket — Allen v. Georgia Department of Corrections (medical neglect lawsuit).
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → present |
| BUSI SUPPORT ANALYST 1 | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 3 | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GENERALIST 1 | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| PURCHASING ASST 2 | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| FINANCIAL OPS GEN (AL) | 2015-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
65 people died at facilities under Rogers, Tandra Tiease's leadership.
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