White, Jermaine M

Tenure Summary

Jermaine M. White began his Georgia Department of Corrections career as a correctional officer at Wilcox State Prison in 2002, later serving as a lieutenant, probation/parole officer, and deputy warden at Lee State Prison and the Albany Transitional Center. From 2018 through mid‑2023, he held facility‑lead roles — first as superintendent and then warden at Washington State Prison, and then as warden at Telfair State Prison. GPS records attribute 19 deaths to Telfair State Prison during White’s tenure as warden there, spanning March 2020 to December 2022. No deaths are recorded at the other facilities he led. White is also a named defendant in six federal civil‑rights lawsuits, one of which remains pending.

What happened on their watch

Washington State Prison (2018–2019)

White served as Correctional Superintendent in 2018 and Warden 1 in 2019 at Washington State Prison. GPS records show no deaths attributed to the facility during his leadership. The prison later experienced a deadly gang‑affiliated riot in January 2026 — well after White left the warden post — but during his tenure no such fatal incident was recorded.

Telfair State Prison (2020–2023)

White assumed the role of Warden 1 at Telfair State Prison in 2020, was promoted to Warden 3 in 2021, and remained in that position until late June 2023. GPS records document 19 deaths among incarcerated people at the facility during this period. According to the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation, five of those deaths were homicides: Aldrich Cain (26) died of multiple stab wounds on April 23, 2020; Cedric Johnson (35) was strangled on March 14, 2020; Marcus Pearson (28) died of multiple stab wounds on May 29, 2020; Louis Garcia‑Palacio (41) suffered fatal blunt‑impact head injuries on July 28, 2020; Juan Arguello‑Revelles (37) was stabbed on May 7, 2021; and Xavier Warren (32) was stabbed on December 28, 2022. One additional death — that of William Lumpkin (74) on August 17, 2021 — is officially classified as natural causes, but a GPS case‑management report notes that Lumpkin had complained of chest pain and that medical staff refused to evaluate him, an allegation of medical neglect. The thirteen remaining deaths fall under a catch‑all cause category, with no further public detail.

The deaths occurred inside a facility that, according to news reports, was severely understaffed. The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution later reported that by 2026 Telfair had only 32 correctional officers for a facility requiring 153 — a vacancy rate of 79 percent — and described a climate where gang‑run black markets, drug trafficking, and staff corruption were pervasive. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Georgia’s prison system, which concluded after White’s tenure at Telfair, found that officials were “deliberately indifferent” to unchecked violence, extortion, and sexual abuse, and that sophisticated gangs ran prison black markets. While the DOJ findings were published later, the pattern of violence at Telfair during White’s time as warden aligns with the systemic failures the investigation identified.

Litigation

• Head v. White, No. 1:24‑cv‑04480 (N.D. Ga. filed Oct. 3, 2024), pending.
• Powell v. White, No. 3:23‑cv‑00096 (S.D. Ga. filed Dec. 4, 2023), terminated Mar. 28, 2024.
• Riggs v. Stewart, No. 7:23‑cv‑00124 (M.D. Ga. filed Nov. 21, 2023), terminated Dec. 12, 2023 (White named as defendant per court records).
• Jackson v. White, No. 3:22‑cv‑00114 (S.D. Ga. filed Sept. 13, 2022), terminated Apr. 1, 2024.
• Ross v. White, No. 3:22‑cv‑00066 (S.D. Ga. filed June 22, 2022), terminated Oct. 12, 2022.
• Askew v. White, No. 5:20‑cv‑00264 (M.D. Ga. filed July 6, 2020), terminated July 22, 2020.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners’ Speak records — personnel history, facility‑level death attribution, and incident reports, including detail on William Lumpkin’s death allegation.
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (causes of death for homicides at Telfair State Prison).
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — article on Telfair’s 79 percent officer vacancy rate and chronic understaffing.
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 investigation report on violent conditions, gang control, and official indifference in Georgia prisons.
• CourtListener — federal civil dockets for all six lawsuits.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 31, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.