Showers, Andrea

Tenure Summary

Andrea Showers began her Georgia Department of Corrections career as a correctional officer at Telfair State Prison in 2003. Over nearly two decades she held a series of administrative and behavioral-health roles before moving into facility deputy positions. In 2022 she served as Correctional Assistant Superintendent at the Bleckley Probation Substance Abuse Treatment Center, a role with no attributed deaths. In 2023 Showers transferred to Pulaski State Prison as Correctional Assistant Superintendent, a position that marked the start of a leadership presence at the women’s prison where she remains today as Deputy Warden of Security. GPS records attribute 12 deaths to Pulaski State Prison during Showers’ facility-deputy tenure there — covering the years 2023 through early 2026.

What happened on their watch

Pulaski State Prison (2023–present)
Showers arrived at Pulaski in January 2023 amid an active U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation that had documented constitutional violations at the facility during 2022-2023. Over the next three years, the deaths of a dozen incarcerated women were recorded at the prison while Showers held deputy-level leadership roles, first as Correctional Assistant Superintendent, then as Deputy Warden, and since April 2024 as Deputy Warden of Security.

The fatalities began within weeks of her arrival. On January 24, 2023, Sandra Sipsy, 54, died; her cause of death is listed as unknown or pending. Over the following months three more women died under the same cause-category designation: Pharina Peterson, 75 (May 2023), Cynthia McCain, 65 (September 2023), and Sheila Britton, 60 (September 2023). GPS records, drawing on limited coroner records, have not yet clarified the circumstances for these four deaths.

In 2024 three deaths followed. Ramada Butts, 52, died on April 16; Tracy Graves, 45, on May 16; and Lesley Owens, 49, on July 23. All three are classified with an unknown or pending cause of death. It was also in 2024 that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a prisoner was stabbed at Pulaski and “officers and staff did not notice a problem until someone from outside called to report it,” an allegation that deepened scrutiny of security lapses at the prison. That same year, Deputy Warden Alonzo L. McMillian was arrested and later terminated for alleged sexual contact with a prisoner at Pulaski.

Five deaths occurred in 2025, and this time coroner findings began to emerge. Stephanie Gary, 55, died March 5 from natural causes (cancer), according to the Pulaski County coroner. Esmeralda Carillo Hernandez, 50 (May 22), and Candace Lajon Morgan, 41 (June 11), likewise were ruled natural deaths caused by cancer. The fourth 2025 death — Ronika Lashawn Carswell, 50, on December 12 — was sent to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy, an indication that the coroner suspected a non-natural death. Its cause remains pending.

In March 2026, while Showers still held the deputy warden role, Denecia Nichelle Randall, 28, died at the prison in what GPS records describe as a suicide while she was in lockdown.

Broader facility patterns intersect with Showers’ watch. In July 2023, a disturbance erupted at Pulaski in which eleven incarcerated women used broomsticks, a crowbar, and shanks to destroy property; nine security staff responded, some using chemical spray. GPS intelligence reports from 2025-2026 document allegations of retaliation, intimidation, extended lockdowns, and a non-functional grievance process under a new warden, Wendy Jackson — charges that arose while Showers served as Deputy Warden of Security. The Department of Justice investigation, meanwhile, confirmed systemic failures at the prison spanning the period Showers was in a leadership role.

Litigation

No lawsuits naming Andrea Showers as a defendant are recorded in GPS files.

Sources

• GPS personnel and mortality records — facility-deputy death attributions, position history, and individual decedent data
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reports on inadequate medical care at Pulaski (Fischer, Rocheleau), prisoner stabbing unnoticed by staff, McMillian arrest, and systemic warnings about Georgia prisons
• U.S. Department of Justice — civil rights investigation of Georgia prisons, including findings of constitutional violations at Pulaski State Prison (2022-2023)
• Pulaski County Coroner Fred J. Clark III — handwritten death investigation reports for 2025 fatalities
• Georgia Prisoners’ Speak intelligence files — pattern allegations under Warden Wendy Jackson and facility disturbance report (2023)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 21, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.