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Smith, Tarmarshe A
Status: active
Profile written July 12, 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
Tarmarshe A. Smith entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a correctional officer at Georgia State Prison in 2002 and, after a gap in the official record, moved into a series of leadership posts. Smith served as deputy warden at Smith State Prison (2016‑2017) and Calhoun State Prison (2018), then as warden at Calhoun (2019) before transferring to Macon State Prison, where Smith was the facility lead from January 2020 through June 2023 as Warden 1 and later Warden 3. GPS records attribute a total of 36 deaths to Smith’s leadership tenure, all of them occurring at Macon State Prison. No deaths are attributed to the periods Smith spent at Georgia State Prison, Smith State Prison, or Calhoun State Prison. Smith subsequently became Assistant Regional Director for the Southeast in July 2023 and, in October 2025, Southeast Regional Director.What happened on their watch
Georgia State Prison (2002) – Correctional Officer
Smith’s earliest GDC role produced no documented facility-leader deaths or direct allegations tied to this brief tenure.
Smith State Prison (2016‑2017) – Deputy Warden
GPS records do not attribute any deaths to Smith’s deputy warden years at Smith State Prison. The facility later became the focus of extensive media reporting and criminal indictments against a subsequent warden, Brian Adams, for allegedly participating in a racketeering‑driven contraband scheme. Those events unfolded years after Smith’s tenure.
Calhoun State Prison (2018‑2019) – Deputy Warden, then Warden
No deaths are attributed to the periods when Smith held the deputy warden (2018) and warden (2019) posts at Calhoun State Prison. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation covering 2018‑2023 documented a pattern of violence and severe understaffing across Georgia prisons, including Calhoun, but the specific deaths that later occurred at the facility—such as the stabbing death of DaQuavious C. Lackey or the inmate found dehydrated in restrictive housing—happened after Smith had left the warden role.
Macon State Prison (January 2020 – June 2023) – Warden
Smith’s tenure as warden at Macon State Prison accounts for all 36 deaths attributed to the subject’s leadership, per GPS records. The sampled deaths include a striking concentration of homicides: among them, Carlos Sabino Ramos (multiple stab wounds, March 2023), James Cornelius McLeroy (stab wounds to torso, December 2022), Kendrick Milike Brown (blunt force head injury, October 2022), Dan Brooks (stab wound of the neck, August 2022), Joseph Walter Brown (multiple stab wounds, July 2022), Ryan Weston Darville (stab wounds to chest, December 2021), Carlos Maurice Fisher (multiple sharp force injuries, May 2021), Raul Villegas (stab wound to torso, December 2020), Robbie Lee Brower (blunt and sharp force injuries to head and neck, October 2020), Bobby Edward Lee (ligature strangulation, July 2020), Cody Dustin Silvers (asphyxia, May 2020), David Travis Dennis (multiple sharp force injuries, May 2020), Carrington Jwon Frye (stab wounds to neck and chest, March 2020), Rafael Becerra Blass (stab wounds to upper torso, March 2020), and Johnny Young (sharp force injury to mouth/tongue, January 2020). The remaining deaths carry cause‑category codes consistent with natural causes or circumstances not detailed in the sample.
Reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the DOJ investigation highlighted systemic security failures during this period. The AJC noted a federal finding that four gang members “ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner,” and family members alleged delayed medical responses: Carrington Frye’s mother said her son bled for more than half an hour before help arrived, and a lawsuit claimed Bobby Edward Lee Jr. was strangled by a cellmate because of understaffing and indifference. Kendrick Malik Brown’s mother alleged her son was placed with a dangerous prisoner shortly before his scheduled release. Multiple lawsuits were filed during Smith’s Macon tenure, including Whiting v. Tarmarshe Smith (2021), Clayton v. Ward (2021), and Cox v. Ward (2022), among others.
Litigation
- Gilmore v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 6:18‑cv‑00115 (S.D. Ga., filed Nov. 20, 2018) – terminated Jan. 20, 2023, no recorded monetary outcome.
- Clayton v. Ward, No. 1:21‑cv‑00025 (M.D. Ga., filed Jan. 29, 2021) – terminated Feb. 11, 2022.
- Whiting v. Tarmarshe Smith, No. 1:21‑cv‑00973 (N.D. Ga., filed Mar. 8, 2021) – terminated Sept. 2, 2021.
- Cox v. Ward, No. 5:22‑cv‑00008 (M.D. Ga., filed Jan. 5, 2022) – terminated Aug. 10, 2023.
- Gillis v. Saldana, No. 5:22‑cv‑00177 (M.D. Ga., filed May 9, 2022) – terminated Dec. 26, 2024.
- Clark v. Troutman, No. 5:22‑cv‑00253 (M.D. Ga., filed July 12, 2022) – terminated Sept. 5, 2023.
- Tucker v. Wellpath Llc, No. 5:24‑cv‑00215 (M.D. Ga., filed July 3, 2024) – pending.
- Tucker v. Holt, No. 5:24‑cv‑00360 (M.D. Ga., filed Oct. 16, 2024) – terminated June 11, 2025.
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25‑cv‑03191 (N.D. Ga., filed June 6, 2025) – terminated Mar. 30, 2026.
- Mckenzie v. Oliver, No. 4:26‑cv‑00108 (N.D. Ga., filed Apr. 28, 2026) – pending.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (multiple decedents and DOJ findings at Macon State Prison)
- U.S. Department of Justice — investigation into Georgia Department of Corrections (covering 2018‑2023, referencing violence and understaffing)
- Court records — dockets for Whiting v. Tarmarshe Smith, Clayton v. Ward, Cox v. Ward, and related filings (N.D. Ga., M.D. Ga., S.D. Ga.)
- 13WMAZ — reporting on drug trafficking operations originating from Macon State Prison
- Solitary Watch — allegations of harsh conditions at Macon State Prison during a prisoner strike
- The Marshall Project — reporting on severe understaffing and its consequences in Georgia prisons
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Southeast Regional Director | 2025-10-01 → present | |
| ASSISTANT REGION DIRECTOR | 2024-01-01 → present | |
| Assistant Regional Director for the Southeast | 2023-07-01 → present | |
| WARDEN 3 | MACON STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2023-06-30 |
| WARDEN 1 | MACON STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 | |
| Correctional Officer | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2002-01-01 → 2002-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4:26-cv-00108 | GAND | 2026-04-28 | pending |
| 1:25-cv-03191 | GAND | 2025-06-06 | terminated |
| 5:24-cv-00360 | GAMD | 2024-10-16 | terminated |
| 5:24-cv-00215 | GAMD | 2024-07-03 | pending |
| 5:22-cv-00253 | GAMD | 2022-07-12 | terminated |
| 5:22-cv-00177 | GAMD | 2022-05-09 | terminated |
| 5:22-cv-00008 | GAMD | 2022-01-05 | terminated |
| 1:21-cv-00973 | GAND | 2021-03-08 | terminated |
| 1:21-cv-00025 | GAMD | 2021-01-29 | terminated |
| 6:18-cv-00115 | GASD | 2018-11-20 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
36 people died at facilities under Smith, Tarmarshe A's leadership.
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