Tillman, Alexander

Tenure Summary

Alexander Tillman has held multiple roles in the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2005, beginning as a behavioral health counselor at Emanuel Probation Detention Center in 2005, 2007, and 2011. He later moved through behavioral health, employment services, and social services consultant positions, and by 2021 he was working at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) in Jackson. At GDCP, GPS records show Tillman served as Behavioral Health Counselor 2 (2021), Social Services Program Consultant 3 (2022), and CSM Correctional Unit Manager (2023 through July 15, 2024). On July 16, 2024, he became Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment at GDCP, a role the records show through August 31, 2025, with a Deputy Warden title also listed for 2025.

GPS records attribute 15 deaths to GDCP during Tillman’s facility-deputy tenure, all at that single facility. No leadership-tier deaths are attributed to his earlier postings. One federal civil rights lawsuit, Miller v. Holt, filed August 25, 2025, is listed among cases naming Tillman as a defendant; it remains pending.

What happened on their watch

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment / Deputy Warden

GPS records attribute 15 deaths at GDCP during the period Tillman held the deputy warden role, beginning with Rodriquez Demorris Garrett, 30, on September 6, 2024, and ending with Christopher Wayne Crook, 49, on August 5, 2025. The chronologically documented decedents are: Rodriquez Demorris Garrett (30), Albert Stinson (76), Joshua Mark Holliday (43), Stephen Allen Hester (41), Thomas Williams Jr. (62), Willie Henry Ponder (47), John Irvin Tidd Jr. (36), William Rhodes (38), Michael Scott West (46), David Octavious Robbs (37), Mark Smith (53), Jacob Scott Wilcox (27), Woodrow Wilson Hodges (68), Daniel Claude Callahan (72), and Christopher Wayne Crook (49). Ages range from 27 to 76.

GPS records sort these deaths into cause-category codes: six are listed as category 6 (Crook, Robbs, Ponder, Williams, Hester, Stinson), three as category 1 (Callahan, Hodges, Smith), three as category 2 (Tidd, Holliday, Garrett), two as category 3 (Wilcox, Rhodes), and one as category 4 (West).

Several individual records carry additional documentation. A GBI Medical Examiner record obtained by GPS lists Rodriquez Demorris Garrett’s death on September 6, 2024, as suicide by hanging. For Joshua Mark Holliday, 43, a GBI autopsy report produced to GPS certifies the death date as October 21, 2024, with findings of ligature hanging, positive methamphetamine toxicology, and a manner listed as suicide by the medical examiner. The record for William Rhodes, 38, dated February 20, 2025, contains a prisoner-report notation of “Homocide” [sic]; GPS provenance notes describe the spelling as spreadsheet lineage rather than an official GDC determination. GPS intel-event records describe Mark Smith, 53, who died June 7, 2025, in terms of alleged neglect — advanced Parkinson’s disease, medication failures, missed medical transfer requests, and delayed response. Those descriptions are internal event summaries, not official cause findings.

During this same period, GPS records include reports that GDCP held 4,540 incarcerated people at 568% of its original 1968 design capacity of 800, dated January–February 2025. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting cataloged by GPS also alleges serious security and infrastructure failures at GDCP, including a newly convicted inmate photographed with a shank and contraband phone, a corrections officer admitting she sold information to a death row prisoner, and a prisoner nearly killed in a razor-blade attack by gang members after requesting protection. The records do not establish that each of these allegations falls within Tillman’s deputy warden tenure.

Litigation

• Miller v. Holt, No. 5:25-cv-00356, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, filed August 25, 2025, status pending. GPS records list this among lawsuits naming Tillman as a defendant. No disposition or settlement amount is recorded.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — investigations cataloged by GPS concerning GDCP violence, contraband, officer corruption, and infrastructure failures
• GBI Medical Examiner records obtained by GPS open records requests — cause and manner for Garrett and Holliday
• Georgia Department of Corrections official mortality reports — dates and facility listings for GDCP deaths
• CourtListener docket — Miller v. Holt, No. 5:25-cv-00356
• GPS intelligence records — attributed death counts, intel-event descriptions, and facility capacity reports

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.