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Williams, JOE
Status: active
Profile written August 2, 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
Joe Williams began his career with the Georgia Department of Corrections as a Corrections Officer at Hancock State Prison in 2015, later rising through the ranks to Sergeant and holding several supervisory units, while also appearing in food-service roles. By 2021 he had advanced to Deputy Warden; his posting records do not assign a specific facility for those years, though he is known to have held Warden‑level roles from 2023 onward. In 2025 Williams returned to Hancock State Prison as Warden 2, giving him the top facility-lead accountability at a close‑security prison that was already under intense scrutiny. GPS records show that 10 deaths were attributed to his leadership tenure at Hancock State Prison between January 2025 and April 2026. Most were homicides. During that same period, two lawsuits naming him as a defendant were already winding through federal court, and the facility would become the focus of multiple news reports on dangerous understaffing and gang violence.What happened on their watch
Warden 2, Hancock State Prison (January 2025–present)
Ten incarcerated people died at Hancock while Williams served as Warden 2. The first two deaths were recorded on the same day: Prince Porter and William Holeman were found dead inside a dorm on January 30, 2025, about 15 feet apart after what the coroner described as gang‑related violence. According to the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, Porter had a single puncture wound to his upper back; Holeman had no visible marks but the GDC‑released mortality data listed both causes as “Homocide” (a transcription artifact). Later that year, Corey Jose July (age 33) was stabbed to death in the prison yard on June 17, and Andre Rashad Weems (36) was fatally stabbed on September 9; eight people were charged in Weems’s death but a grand jury no‑billed. Two deaths with cause category 6 (which GPS associates with natural or undetermined causes) also occurred in 2025: John T. Childree (60) on April 9 and Brian Smith (30) on July 24. In January 2026, a wave of violence erupted: on the 12th, five prisoners were stabbed with shanks and two were airlifted to hospitals. Steven Monroe Wood (54) was beaten to death by his cellmate on January 25, sparking the standard GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation. Within two weeks, on February 6, Jaylin Bell (32) died after an altercation with his roommate in the segregation unit. Jerrod Johnson (27) was fatally stabbed on February 18, and Jacorey Derrelle Pearson (36) died on April 7; both cases were also being investigated by the Office of Professional Standards at the time of reporting.The homicides unfolded against a backdrop of systemic breakdown documented by the AJC: by October 2024, Hancock had a 73.5% correctional‑officer vacancy rate, leaving just 49 officers for over 1,100 prisoners. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation had already described Georgia prisons as beset by “stunning violence,” rampant sexual assaults, and gang‑run facilities, fueled by a “culture of indifference.” At Hancock, news reports cited gang‑related attacks, including a September 2024 assault in which seven prisoners were disciplined. While those incidents predate Williams’s explicit warden tenure, they overlap the period when he held warden ranks elsewhere in the state and shaped the conditions he inherited. Previously filed lawsuits alleged that prison staff ignored repeated safety requests from Charles “Tristen” McKee before he was murdered by gang members in 2022, and that Francisco Melgar‑Saldivar was denied proper medical care after a 2023 attack. The state paid a $424,710 settlement in the McKee case. During Williams’s own watch, a family report noted an incarcerated person held in solitary for over six weeks with no communication, and a Telegram relay described a stabbing in the visitation area in April 2026.
Litigation
- Gumm v. Jacobs (5:15‑cv‑00041, M.D. Ga.): Filed February 12, 2015, terminated May 7, 2019. Williams was named as a defendant in this civil rights suit.
- Hall v. Shepard (5:23‑cv‑00205, M.D. Ga.): Filed June 8, 2023, terminated June 11, 2024. Williams was a named defendant.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — reporting on homicides, staffing vacancies, DOJ findings, and systemic failures in Georgia prisons, including Hancock State Prison (multiple articles, 2024‑2026)
- U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report describing violence, gang control, and sexual assaults in Georgia prisons
- 41NBC — report on the altercation‑related death of Jaylin Bell at Hancock SP
- 13WMAZ, FOX 5, WGXA, Union‑Recorder — coverage of the stabbing deaths of Corey July and Andre Weems
- Georgia Department of Corrections — January 2025 mortality PDF (official cause‑of‑death data)
- GPS records — death counts, incident logs, Telegram‑relayed prisoner reports, and litigation tracking
- CourtListener — docket entries for Gumm v. Jacobs and Hall v. Shepard
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 2 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| WARDEN 2 | 2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31 | |
| WARDEN 1 | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | 2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| FOOD SVC SPV | 2017-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:23-cv-00205 | GAMD | 2023-06-08 | terminated |
| 5:15-cv-00041 | GAMD | 2015-02-12 | terminated |
| 1:11-cv-00512 | GAND | 2011-02-22 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
10 people died at facilities under Williams, JOE's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-07 | JACOREY DERRELLE PEARSON | 36 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2026-02-18 | JERROD JOHNSON | 27 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2026-02-06 | JAYLIN BELL | 32 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2026-01-25 | STEVEN MONROE WOOD | 54 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-09-09 | ANDRE RASHAD WEEMS | 36 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-07-24 | BRIAN SMITH | 30 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-06-17 | COREY JOSE JULY | 33 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-04-09 | JOHN T CHILDREE | 60 | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-01-30 | William Holeman | — | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
| 2025-01-30 | Prince Porter | — | HANCOCK STATE PRISON | WARDEN 2 |
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