Whipple, Tamishia V

Tenure Summary

Tamishia V. Whipple has worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections since at least 2015, when GPS records show her as a corrections officer. She moved through sergeant, lieutenant, and captain titles before becoming a CSM Correctional Unit Manager in 2022 and 2023; records also show a single-day CSM Correctional Unit Manager posting at Hancock State Prison on Nov. 22, 2023. Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, she is listed as deputy warden at Washington State Prison, with records covering 2024, 2025, and a 2026 entry.

GPS records attribute 27 deaths to Washington State Prison during Whipple’s deputy warden tenure — the only per-facility death total tied to her leadership postings. No lawsuits naming Whipple as a defendant appear in the structured record.

What happened on their watch

Washington State Prison — Deputy Warden (2024–2026)

The documented death records begin in 2024. Jacob Cole Henson, 31, died April 23, 2024; his Washington County death certificate lists multiple gunshot wounds, manner homicide, and an injury field reading “GUNSHOT WOUNDS WHILE FIGHTING WITH PRISON GUARDS,” according to GPS records. A GDC incident report describes an inmate-to-staff assault, death, and use of a firearm, while an AJC investigation also identified the death as a multiple-gunshot homicide. Other 2024 deaths in GPS records include Jontavis Jermaine Kellom (methamphetamine intoxication, manner accident, per GBI autopsy), Torrey Wayne Forrester (cirrhosis complications from chronic hepatitis C, per GBI), and Devonte Tiger Williams (multiple sharp-force injuries, per the AJC homicide investigation).

In 2025, a GDC-released January 2025 mortality report listed Dontavious Carter’s death as “Homicide due to a Puncture Wound to the Heart,” per GPS records. Michael Lareco Daniel’s Washington County death certificate lists homicide by sharp-force trauma to the head. Other 2025 records include Lamontez Winkfield and William Earl Long, whose GPS entries lack cause-of-death narrative; Wayne Krier, whose GBI file lists natural advanced prostate carcinoma; and Darrin Gresham, who remains unknown/pending after GBI declined an examination, per GPS.

The largest incident in the record is the Jan. 11, 2026 riot. Ahmod Dewayne Hatcher, Jimmy Lee Trammell, and Teddy Dewayne Jackson died the day of the disturbance; Silas Rodrigiouz Westbrook died Jan. 17, 2026, after transfer. Westbrook’s Washington County death certificate lists multiple stab/puncture wounds sustained in the riot and manner homicide, according to GPS records. Afterward, GDC confirmed that 12 inmates were charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, gang participation, and related offenses, per 13WMAZ and WFXL. GDC publicly alleged gang affiliation; 13WMAZ and former inmates alleged understaffing, broken locks, overcrowding, and neglect, according to the news accounts.

Later 2026 deaths include Dajhmere Ladeaveon Hall, whose GBI autopsy lists acute oxycodone toxicity and manner accident; and three Feb. 17, 2026, John Doe records flagged by GPS as investigation-only — two reported as men killed in a fight in “the hole,” one reported as suicide by hanging — none of which appeared on GDC’s official February mortality list, per GPS. Frank Smith and Deshawn Poole are also included in the 2026 records. Courtney Davis and Isreal Moses Jones died in June 2026; GDC publicly said their causes were undetermined with no signs of foul play, while an internal GPS note records a confidential-source account describing Jones’s death as a retaliation killing, with GBI autopsy pending.

Throughout the period, Washington State Prison appears in GPS records as a DOJ-CRIPA named facility. News sources including AJC and 41NBC reported on a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice report describing violence, sexual assaults, gang-run prisons, and deliberate indifference in Georgia lockups. WGXA reported a federal indictment alleging that inmate Luis Alfonso Ramirez directed a drug-trafficking network from Washington State Prison using contraband cellphones. GPS also logged family reports alleging delayed legal mail in spring 2026 and prolonged lockdowns after the January riot.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; Washington State Prison riot, staffing, and DOJ-CRIPA reporting.
• 41NBC — Washington State Prison deaths, disturbance, and DOJ findings.
• WGXA — Luis Alfonso Ramirez contraband-cellphone drug-trafficking indictment; Westbrook death; gang-affiliated characterization.
• 13WMAZ — 12 inmates charged in January 2026 riot; former-inmate accounts of prison conditions.
• 11Alive — GDC allegation that deadly brawl participants were gang-affiliated.
• WFXL — 12 inmates charged in the Washington State Prison disturbance.
• GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy and forensic reports, including open-records productions cited in GPS records.
• Washington County death certificates and coroner records, per GPS.
• GDC incident report 389670 and GDC June 2026 monthly mortality report, per GPS.
• U.S. Department of Justice CRIPA/2024 findings, as cited in GPS records and news reporting.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.