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Whipple, Tamishia V
Status: active
Profile written July 19, 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
Tamishia V. Whipple began her Georgia Department of Corrections career as a corrections officer in 2015 and rose steadily through the ranks, holding sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and unit manager posts before becoming a deputy warden. In 2024 she was appointed Deputy Warden at Washington State Prison, a medium-security facility in Davisboro. GPS records show that during her leadership tenure in that role—from January 2024 through the most recent documented deaths in June 2026—a total of 27 incarcerated people died at Washington State Prison. The deaths span homicides, suicides, accidents, medical events, and undetermined causes, and include a staff-involved shooting, a riot that killed four men, and multiple deaths for which no official cause has been released by the state.What happened on their watch
Whipple’s tenure as Deputy Warden at Washington State Prison began on January 1, 2024. The first death attributed to the facility under her watch occurred on April 2, 2024, when Jimmy Lee Reed, 66, died of an as‑yet‑undetermined cause. Three weeks later, on April 23, Jacob Cole Henson, 31, was fatally shot. According to his Washington County death certificate, Henson died of multiple gunshot wounds sustained “while fighting with prison guards,” an official record of a staff‑involved homicide examined by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Through the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, GPS records show a persistent drumbeat of in‑custody deaths at the prison: Devonte Tiger Williams (26) died of multiple sharp‑force injuries; Dontavious Carter was killed by a puncture wound to the heart; Michael Lareco Daniel, 44, succumbed to sharp‑force head trauma, with his death certificate confirming an autopsy; and at least six other men died of natural causes, drug intoxication, or unknown factors. During this period, serious systemic issues at the prison drew outside scrutiny. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation found Georgia prison officials “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked violence, drug trafficking, extortion, and sexual abuse. A consultant study commissioned by Governor Brian Kemp in June 2024 cited buildings in disrepair that enabled prisoners to fashion weapons, non‑functional cell‑door locks that allowed inmates to roam freely, and severe understaffing that left officers alone and fearful of enforcing rules (Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, 13WMAZ). Former inmates later told 13WMAZ that Washington State Prison was plagued by gang dominance, daily stabbings, overcrowded dorms, and an absence of educational or vocational programming—conditions that, they said, made a deadly outbreak inevitable.
That outbreak came on January 11, 2026. A gang‑affiliated brawl that began around 1:25 p.m. spilled into a visitation area and killed three men—Ahmod Hatcher (23), Jimmy Trammell (42), and Teddy Jackson (27)—with a fourth, Silas Westbrook (42), dying of knife wounds days later. Twelve inmates were subsequently charged with felony murder, gang participation, and aggravated assault (WGXA, Atlanta Journal‑Constitution). In the months after the riot, Washington State Prison remained on extended lockdown, and GPS records show at least eight more deaths at the facility through mid‑2026, including three unnamed men on February 17 (two reported as possible homicides and one as a suicide), Frank Smith (75) in May, and Deshawn Poole, Isreal Moses Jones, and Courtney Davis in June, whose causes were listed as undetermined or homicide.
No lawsuits naming Whipple as a defendant are documented in GPS records.
Sources
- GPS mortality database — 27 deaths attributed to Washington State Prison during Whipple’s deputy warden tenure (2024‑2026)
- Washington County death certificates (J. Henson, M. Daniel, T. Jackson, S. Westbrook) obtained via coroner records production
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; staff‑involved shooting of J. Henson; January 2026 riot coverage and consultant study
- 13WMAZ — former‑inmate accounts of conditions, gang violence, and root causes of the riot
- WGXA — drug‑trafficking indictment of inmate L. Ramirez; riot aftermath and gang‑affiliation claims
- 41NBC — DOJ investigation findings; riot death tally and GDC press statements
- 11Alive — GDC characterization of gang involvement in the January 2026 disturbance
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on systemic violence and deliberate indifference in Georgia prisons
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| DEPUTY WARDEN | WASHINGTON STATE PRISON | 2024-01-01 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2022-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 2 | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER(WL) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
27 people died at facilities under Whipple, Tamishia V's leadership.
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