White, Jermaine M

Tenure Summary

Jermaine M. White's GDC career runs from 2002, when he appears in state payroll records as a correctional officer at Wilcox State Prison, through a 2009 lieutenant posting, a 2015 probation/parole officer assignment at Lee State Prison, and deputy-warden roles at Lee (2016) and the Albany Transitional Center (2017). He entered facility leadership in 2018 as Correctional Superintendent at Washington State Prison, became a Warden 1 there in 2019, then moved to Telfair State Prison as Warden 1 in 2020, Warden 3 in 2021 and 2022, and Warden through June 30, 2023. Since July 2023 he has held non-facility regional posts — Southwest Regional Director, then Region Director in 2024 ($124,955.66) and 2025 ($130,071.05). GPS lists his status as active; the record shows no facility assignment for the regional roles.

GPS records attribute 23 deaths to White's leadership tenures, and `deaths_by_facility` places all 23 at Telfair State Prison. No deaths are attributed to his Washington State Prison years or to his deputy-warden postings. Five federal lawsuits list White as a defendant; all five are recorded as terminated with no settlement amount in the record.

What happened on their watch

Washington State Prison — Superintendent (2018), Warden 1 (2019). GPS records attribute no deaths to this tenure. The Washington State Prison material in GPS's intel file — the January 2026 gang-affiliated disturbance that killed four inmates and injured more than a dozen, the 2026 legal-mail and lockdown complaints, the Ramirez drug-trafficking indictment — postdates White's time there, which ended in 2019.

Telfair State Prison — Warden 1 (2020). The most recent-sample deaths recorded under this role include six men GDC itself coded "Natural" in the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project mortality dataset (GDC coding obtained by open records request): Jerry Bolton, 69; Willie Ralph Wyatt, 49; Wright Greyhound Phoenix, 58; Wade Smith Jr., 41; Robert William Myers, 39; and John Anthony Pratt, 59. GPS notes this is the Department's own classification, not an autopsy finding. Four deaths in the sample were recorded as homicides: Louis Garcia-Palacio, 41 (blunt impact injuries to head, per the AJC investigation); Marcus Derrelle Pearson, 28 (multiple stab wounds, per the AJC); Aldrich Norval Cain, 26 (multiple stab wounds, per a Telfair County Coroner certificate and the AJC); and Cedric Latroy Johnson, 35 (strangulation, per the coroner certificate and the AJC). William Locust, 32, was found dead in his cell with cause pending toxicology per the coroner certificate, later coded "Undetermined" by GDC. Askew v. White was filed in July 2020 while White held a Telfair leadership role.

Telfair State Prison — Warden 3 (2021–2022). Sample deaths for this period include Jeremy Williams, 29 (methamphetamine toxicity, accident); Juan Carlos Arguello-Revelles, 37 (stabbing, per the AJC); Montrell James Clayton, 25; William Hiram Lumpkin, 74, whose coroner certificate lists sepsis and acute pancreatitis as natural but whose GPS record carries a medical-neglect notation — the source account says he complained of chest pain before death and that medical staff refused to evaluate him; Dustin Bowling, 32, and Rafael Foragi DaSilva, 36, both certified by GBI DOFS autopsies as hanging, manner suicide (DOFS 2022-6007416 and 2022-6006942); William Allen Slaton, 40 (methamphetamine toxicity, accident); and Xavier Lamar Warren, 32, recorded as a homicide — stab wound and blunt trauma per the coroner certificate, stab wound to the torso per the AJC. GPS flags identity or date discrepancies on several coroner certifications (Warren, Adams, DaSilva) that remain unverified. Ross v. White (filed June 2022) and Jackson v. White (filed September 2022) were both filed while White held this role.

Telfair State Prison — Warden (January 1–June 30, 2023). Renel Janvier Whitfield, 31, died of anoxic brain injury after a seizure-related fall from bed, manner natural. Larry Adams, 53, died of blunt-force injuries to the head, neck and torso from a fall from height, manner accident. De'ahmoz Oshmic Floyd, 29, died of exsanguination from a stab wound to the side of the neck (AJC); AJC-reported claims filed against the state allege Floyd was stabbed by several prisoners when no staff were present in the dorm, and that he had renounced a gang affiliation, making him a target of earlier attacks. Clifford Lawrence Bagley, 31, died of an overdose, manner accident. Powell v. White (December 2023) and Riggs v. Stewart (November 2023) were filed after this tenure ended, naming White as a defendant.

Regional Director (July 2023–present). GPS attributes no deaths to these roles; they are not facility-lead tiers. Later Telfair and Washington State Prison events in the intel file — including the 2026 $3.2 million settlement in the Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano heat death, and the January 2026 Washington disturbance — fall outside White's Telfair tenure. An AJC report in GPS's intel records states that as of March, Telfair had 79% of correctional officer positions unfilled, with 32 officers for a facility requiring at least 153; the report was published after White's tenure.

Litigation

• Askew v. White, No. 5:20-cv-00264 (M.D. Ga.), filed 2020-07-06, terminated 2020-07-22 — no outcome amount recorded.
• Ross v. White, No. 3:22-cv-00066 (S.D. Ga.), filed 2022-06-22, terminated 2022-10-12 — no outcome amount recorded.
• Jackson v. White, No. 3:22-cv-00114 (S.D. Ga.), filed 2022-09-13, terminated 2024-04-01 — no outcome amount recorded.
• Riggs v. Stewart, No. 7:23-cv-00124 (M.D. Ga.), filed 2023-11-21, terminated 2023-12-12 — listed in GPS records among suits naming White as a defendant; no outcome amount recorded.
• Powell v. White, No. 3:23-cv-00096 (S.D. Ga.), filed 2023-12-04, terminated 2024-03-28 — no outcome amount recorded.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides investigation (deaths of Floyd, Warren, Arguello-Revelles, Garcia-Palacio, Pearson, Cain, Johnson); prison-staffing and contraband reporting; DOJ findings coverage.
• Telfair County Coroner death certificates (public records, as reflected in GPS records) — causes and manners for Bagley, Adams, Whitfield, Warren, Slaton, Bowling, DaSilva, Williams, Lumpkin, Locust, Cain, Johnson.
• GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy certifications — DOFS 2022-6007416 (Bowling), DOFS 2022-6006942 (DaSilva).
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset (GDC's own coding, 2015–2021, obtained by open records request) — Bolton, Wyatt, Phoenix, Smith, Myers, Pratt, Locust.
• Court records via CourtListener — the five dockets listed above.
• GPS case file GPS-DEATH-2025-72217 and GPS published account dated 2021-09-13 (Lumpkin medical-neglect allegation).
• 13WMAZ, WGXA, 41NBC, WFXL, 11Alive, Solitary Watch — facility incident and DOJ-findings reporting captured in GPS intel records.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 13, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.