Smith, Tarmarshe A

Tenure Summary

Tarmarshe A. Smith entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Georgia State Prison in 2002, moved into correction administration by 2015, and then climbed the custody ladder: deputy warden at Smith State Prison across 2016–2017, deputy warden at Calhoun State Prison in 2018, and promotion to warden at Calhoun that same fall. He held Calhoun's warden seat through 2019, then took the warden's post at Macon State Prison in 2020 — WARDEN 1 in 2020, WARDEN 3 from 2021 until June 30, 2023. From July 2023 he moved up to Assistant Regional Director for the Southeast, was Assistant Region Director in 2024 and through September 2025, became Southeast Regional Director on October 1, 2025, and is listed as Region Director in 2026. State salary records track the rise from $57,273.84 in 2015 to $122,718.46 in 2024.

Thirty-six deaths are attributed to his leadership tenure, all of them at Macon State Prison, where he held the warden role when each occurred. No deaths are attributed to his warden tenure at Calhoun State Prison.

What happened on their watch

Smith State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2016–2017. No deaths are attributed to this posting. An event record for Smith State Prison lists the 2017 murders of two correctional officers on a prison transport bus; Ricky Dubose was prosecuted and received a death sentence. Smith's recorded role at that facility on that date is Deputy Warden.

Calhoun State Prison — Deputy Warden (2018), Warden 1 (2019). No deaths are attributed to either posting. The state's liability ledger records a $10,000 payout tied to Calhoun for an incident involving Asmar Rasheed, dated April 12, 2018, when Smith's role is listed as Deputy Warden, and a $998,715.12 payout tied to Calhoun for an incident involving Angel M. Ortiz, dated June 6, 2019, during his warden tenure. In 2019, Calhoun officer Temperess Johnson was caught attempting to smuggle eight cellphones and 2.6 pounds of methamphetamine in a GDC van; she was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Macon State Prison — Warden 1 (2020), Warden 3 (2021 – June 30, 2023). All 36 attributed deaths fall here, under Smith as warden. The registry's most recent lines record the following deaths, with the causes listed there:

• Henry Lee Mcbride died April 27, 2023, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 62.
• Carlos Sabino Ramos died March 22, 2023, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 34.
• Willie Welch died March 13, 2023, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 51.
• Anthony Gary Andrews died January 15, 2023, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 58.
• James Cornelius Mcleroy died December 19, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 26.
• Victor Louis Britt died December 18, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 64.
• Lee E Johnson died December 7, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 75.
• Clinton Vondell Jackson died October 19, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Suicide, age 31.
• Kendrick Milike Brown died October 16, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 25.
• Herbert Cornell Stephens died October 7, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 53.
• Dan Brooks died August 21, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 50.
• Antonio Sentelle Lee died August 13, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 42.
• Joseph Walter Brown died July 26, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 36.
• Larry Groeber died June 12, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 70.
• Antwain Lacraig Miller died June 12, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 49.
• Paul Dewayne Warren died April 8, 2022, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Suicide, age 51.
• Ryan Weston Darville died December 29, 2021, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 37.
• Larry Joe Butler died October 22, 2021, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 62.
• Roy Daniels died August 12, 2021, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 57.
• Carlos Maurice Fisher died May 10, 2021, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 30.
• Walter Lee Faust died December 15, 2020, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Unknown/Pending, age 70.
• Raul Villegas died December 13, 2020, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 37.
• Melvin Wyatt Jenkins died November 29, 2020, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Natural/Medical, age 66.
• Robbie Lee Brower died October 4, 2020, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Homicide, age 58.
• Jeffrey Allen Ferguson died July 18, 2020, at Macon State Prison; cause listed as Suicide, age 42.

The pattern across these deaths during his Macon warden tenure is heavily weighted toward homicide — stabbings, sharp-force injuries and blunt-force head trauma — alongside natural/medical deaths, suicides, and several causes still recorded as Unknown/Pending.

A DOJ report describes one of the homicides: four gang members ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed — an event matching the March 22, 2023 death of Carlos Sabino Ramos. Incident records on other Macon deaths note gang members among those involved and multiple prisoners injured in single episodes. Family accounts recorded in the same documents include Kendrick Milike Brown's mother saying he was due for release in a month but was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous, and Carrington Juwon Frye's mother telling Georgia lawmakers he bled for more than half an hour before help arrived. A federal lawsuit alleges Bobby Edward Lee Jr. was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer.

State liability payouts tied to Macon were signed during this tenure: $1,375,000 linked to the July 13, 2020 death of Bobby Edward Lee, $750,000 linked to the May 2020 death of Coty Silvers, $98,000 for Javante Harris-Evans (2021), $450 for Frank Gillis (2021), $32,500 for Robin Kimbrel (2022), and $6,250 for Bavarious Nelson (2022), per the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger.

Litigation

• Mckenzie v. Oliver, 4:26-cv-00108, GAND, filed April 28, 2026 — pending.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, 1:25-cv-03191, GAND, filed June 6, 2025 — terminated March 30, 2026.
• Tucker v. Holt, 5:24-cv-00360, GAMD, filed October 16, 2024 — terminated June 11, 2025.
• Tucker v. Wellpath Llc, 5:24-cv-00215, GAMD, filed July 3, 2024 — pending.
• Clark v. Troutman, 5:22-cv-00253, GAMD, filed July 12, 2022 — terminated September 5, 2023.
• Gillis v. Saldana, 5:22-cv-00177, GAMD, filed May 9, 2022 — terminated December 26, 2024.
• Cox v. Ward, 5:22-cv-00008, GAMD, filed January 5, 2022 — terminated August 10, 2023.
• Whiting v. Tarmarshe Smith, 1:21-cv-00973, GAND, filed March 8, 2021 — terminated September 2, 2021.
• Clayton v. Ward, 1:21-cv-00025, GAMD, filed January 29, 2021 — terminated February 11, 2022.
• Gilmore v. Georgia Department of Corrections, 6:18-cv-00115, GASD, filed November 20, 2018 — terminated January 20, 2023.

Sources

• CourtListener dockets — ten federal cases listing Smith as a defendant, 2018–2026.
• Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — liability payouts tied to Macon State Prison and Calhoun State Prison.
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation report — description of the March 22, 2023 Macon State Prison stabbing.
• GDC incident reports — circumstances recorded for deaths at Macon State Prison.
• Federal lawsuit filings — allegations in the death of Bobby Edward Lee Jr.
• Family statements recorded in GDC documents and testimony to Georgia lawmakers — Kendrick Milike Brown; Carrington Juwon Frye.
• GPS death registry — date, facility and cause lines for the deaths attributed to Smith's tenure.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.