Tillman, Alexander

Tenure Summary

Alexander Tillman's career with the Georgia Department of Corrections runs from behavioral-health and social-services work into facility administration. Records list him as a Behavioral Health Counselor at Emanuel Probation Detention Center in 2005, 2007 and 2011; from 2015 he appears in a series of behavioral-health, employment-services and social-services posts not tied to a named facility, before arriving at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison as a Behavioral Health Counselor 2 in 2021 and a Social Services Program Consultant 3 in 2022. He became a CSM Correctional Unit Manager at that prison in 2023 and was named Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment there effective July 16, 2024, holding the post through August 31, 2025. His status is listed as active.

Fifteen deaths are attributed to his leadership tenures — all fifteen at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, and all carrying the Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment role. He is also named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in August 2025, after his deputy-warden tenure at that prison ended.

What happened on their watch

Emanuel Probation Detention Center, 2005, 2007, 2011 — Behavioral Health Counselor.

Statewide staff posts, 2015–2020 — Behavioral Health Counselor, Employment Services Specialist 3, Social Services Program Consultant 3, and Behavioral Health Counselor 2, in records that name no facility.

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, 2021–2022 — Behavioral Health Counselor 2 (2021) and Social Services Program Consultant 3 (2022).

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison / Special Management Unit, 2023 – July 15, 2024 — CSM Correctional Unit Manager, including a single-day record at the Special Management Unit dated November 22, 2023, and a unit-manager post from January 1 to July 15, 2024 with no facility named. The registry's fifteen attributed deaths carry the later deputy-warden title.

Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment, July 16, 2024 – August 31, 2025 — Fifteen deaths during this tenure, per the registry:

• Rodriquez Demorris Garrett died September 6, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 30.
• Albert Stinson died September 24, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 76.
• Joshua Mark Holliday died October 21, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 43.
• Stephen Allen Hester died November 6, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 41.
• Thomas Jr Williams died November 7, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 62.
• Willie Henry Ponder died November 8, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 47.
• John Irvin Jr Tidd died December 15, 2024, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide, age 36.
• William Rhodes died February 20, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 38.
• Michael Scott West died March 6, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Accident, age 46.
• David Octavious Robbs died April 30, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 37.
• Mark Smith died June 7, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 53.
• Jacob Scott Wilcox died June 28, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 27.
• Woodrow Wilson Hodges died July 14, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 68.
• Daniel Claude Callahan died July 26, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical, age 72.
• Christopher Wayne Crook died August 5, 2025, at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 49.

Six of the fifteen are recorded as Unknown/Pending, four as Natural/Medical, three as Suicide, one as Homicide and one as Accident. Three deaths — Hester, Williams and Ponder — fall on consecutive days, November 6–8, 2024, all with unknown or pending causes. Registry entries on Mark Smith's death describe it as a neglect case involving advanced Parkinson's disease, denied or delayed medical transfer, medication failures and a cell check lapse; those descriptions are allegations carried in the event entries, not established findings.

Also within this tenure: an AJC report dated March 31, 2025 described nearly every part of the prison as vandalized by prisoners amid widespread infrastructure failures, an allegation attributed to consultants hired by the governor. AJC reports dated January 21, 2025 described the assault of Brandon Trace Burrell by another prisoner and the case of Charles Lee Broady Jr., who per the report had requested protection from threatening gang members and was then moved to a location where six gang members attacked him with razor blades. A September 5, 2024 AJC report noted that 35 cellphones had been seized from David "Toro" Zavala at the time of his guilty plea. An incident entry dated April 6, 2025 records a prisoner stabbed fatally in the chest, witnessed by multiple inmates, with a 30-minute delay before an officer responded; a second entry the same date records an inmate killed at Jackson State Prison and a witness coerced to silence.

Deputy Warden, 2025 — a record for calendar year 2025 lists that title without a named facility.

Central State Prison — a record dated August 27, 2026 lists him as Education Program Specialist 3.

Litigation

• Miller v. Holt, No. 5:25-cv-00356 (GAMD), filed August 25, 2025; status pending, no closure date or outcome amount recorded. Tillman is listed as a defendant.

Sources

• GPS death registry — names, dates, facilities, causes and ages for the fifteen deaths above.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — March 31, 2025 report on consultants' findings at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison; January 21, 2025 homicide-list and prison-failure reports (Burrell, Broady); September 5, 2024 report on prisoner-run drug networks (Zavala).
• Court records via CourtListener — Miller v. Holt docket, GAMD.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 18, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.