Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Sales, Timothy Deshaun
Sales, Timothy Deshaun
Status: active
Profile written June 21, 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
Timothy Deshaun Sales has held a series of progressively senior roles within the Georgia Department of Corrections, starting as a Sergeant at Dooly State Prison in 2003 and later serving as a Lieutenant at Rutledge State Prison in 2006. His career trajectory led to multiple leadership postings at Macon State Prison, including Chief of Security (2013) and Unit Manager (2016–2017), before he was elevated to Deputy Warden there from 2018 through 2021. Sales transferred to Dooly State Prison as Deputy Warden in 2022 and was promoted to Warden 1 in March 2023.GPS records attribute a total of 33 deaths to facility-leader tenures held by Sales: 20 at Macon State Prison during his years as Deputy Warden and 13 at Dooly State Prison across his service as Deputy Warden and later Warden. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, multiple deaths at these facilities were homicides involving sharp-force injuries, blunt-force trauma, and strangulation. Sales has been named as a defendant in several federal lawsuits, including a civil rights action filed during his Dooly wardenship.
What happened on their watch
Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden (2018–2021): Twenty in-custody deaths were attributed to the facility during Sales’ tenure as Deputy Warden. Among them, GPS records show at least ten deaths classified as homicides by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigation, with causes including multiple sharp-force injuries (Carlos Maurice Fisher, David Travis Dennis, Carrington Jwon Frye), stab wounds to the torso or chest (Raul Villegas, Ryan Weston Darville), blunt and sharp force injuries to the head and neck (Robbie Lee Brower), ligature strangulation (Bobby Edward Lee), and asphyxia (Cody Dustin Silvers). Additional deaths with non-homicide cause categories occurred throughout 2020 and 2021, including inmates Larry Joe Butler, Roy Daniels, Walter Lee Faust, and Melvin Wyatt Jenkins. Intel reports collected by GPS cite allegations of critical understaffing at Macon State Prison, with the AJC reporting that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs were unfilled as of October 2024 and that a coroner described only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. A lawsuit filed by the family of Bobby Edward Lee Jr. alleges he was placed in a cell with a convicted murderer despite pleas for protection and was strangled before officers responded, according to the AJC. Per 13WMAZ, inmates Devito Duran Young and Andreaus Benard Oliver Sr. pleaded guilty to coordinating drug trafficking from inside Macon State Prison. The AJC further reported that the U.S. Department of Justice documented an incident in which four gang members ran past an officer and fatally stabbed a prisoner. A federal lawsuit, Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections, naming Sales as a defendant, was filed in June 2019 during this assignment.Dooly State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022): During Sales’ single year as Deputy Warden at Dooly State Prison, GPS records attribute 13 deaths to the facility, a total that spans both his deputy and subsequent warden postings. In 2022, recorded deaths included Ralph Scott Clemons (December 24), Deroski Harris (May 17), John Murray (April 14), Inocente Taboada (March 29), and Richard Lavon Garland (January 1). All are listed with non-homicide cause categories. Intel reports from GPS document broader facility conditions, including a finding that Dooly operated at 212% of its original design capacity — holding 1,593 incarcerated people in a facility built for 750 — amid a reported 50% statewide correctional officer vacancy rate. The AJC separately published a coroner’s allegation that an inmate at Dooly State Prison may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was discovered.
Dooly State Prison — Warden 1 (March–December 2023): Eight of the 13 total Dooly deaths occurred after Sales assumed the role of Warden in March 2023. GPS records show that Chad Taylor Roadifer died on October 27, 2023, from delayed complications of blunt-force head trauma, a death classified as a homicide by the AJC. The remaining seven deaths during this period — Willie Frank Garrett, Joel Lamar Long, Roy Mason Morris, Willie Delane Snipes, Jared Alexander Hall, James Michael Bailey, and Jeremy John Wells — are recorded without homicide designations. A federal lawsuit, Burke v. Sales, was filed against Sales in November 2023 while he served as Warden at Dooly State Prison. Intel reports also note allegations from a Facebook public comment that the Dooly commissary was severely understocked for approximately three weeks, a situation the poster claimed the warden said he had no prior knowledge of before an emergency resupply. A separate intelligence relay documented a report that a nurse was used as a human shield at the facility.
Litigation
- Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections — Filed June 14, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia; terminated September 30, 2022. Sales was named as a defendant during his tenure as Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison.
- Todd v. Capella Logistics Inc — Filed January 10, 2022, in the Northern District of Georgia; terminated December 30, 2024. Court records name Sales as a defendant.
- Burke v. Sales — Filed November 14, 2023, in the Middle District of Georgia; transferred to the Northern District of Georgia in March 2024 and terminated January 30, 2025. The case was filed while Sales was Warden 1 at Dooly State Prison.
- Burke v. Sales — Filed March 19, 2024, in the Northern District of Georgia; terminated January 30, 2025. This case appears to be the successor docket following the transfer of the earlier Burke action.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (multiple decedents, understaffing reporting, DOJ findings)
- CourtListener — dockets for Bey v. Georgia Department of Corrections, Todd v. Capella Logistics Inc, and Burke v. Sales
- 13WMAZ — reporting on drug trafficking guilty pleas at Macon State Prison
- GPS intelligence records — facility incident reports, inmate allegations, and social-media-sourced claims at Dooly State Prison and Macon State Prison
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 3 | 2024-01-01 → present | |
| WARDEN 1 | DOOLY STATE PRISON | 2023-03-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | DOOLY STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | MACON STATE PRISON | 2018-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | AUTRY STATE PRISON | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | MACON STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | MACON STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Chief of Security | MACON STATE PRISON | 2013-01-01 → 2013-12-31 |
| Lieutenant | RUTLEDGE STATE PRISON | 2006-01-01 → 2006-12-31 |
| Sergeant | DOOLY STATE PRISON | 2003-01-01 → 2003-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:24-cv-01202 | GAND | 2024-03-19 | terminated |
| 5:23-cv-00458 | GAMD | 2023-11-14 | terminated |
| 1:22-cv-00108 | GAND | 2022-01-10 | terminated |
| 5:19-cv-00236 | GAMD | 2019-06-14 | terminated |
| 1:17-cv-01104 | GAND | 2017-03-27 | terminated |
| 1:16-cv-01778 | GAND | 2016-06-01 | terminated |
| 1:15-cv-03904 | GAND | 2015-11-10 | pending |
Deaths attributed during tenure
33 people died at facilities under Sales, Timothy Deshaun's leadership.
Submit a correction
If you are the named individual or an authorized representative and dispute information on this page, submit details below. Substantiated corrections are applied promptly. Disputes that remain unresolved are flagged on the profile.