Williams, Khalilah J

Tenure Summary

Khalilah J. Williams entered Georgia Department of Corrections records in 2015 as a behavioral health counselor (SP), and in 2016 held the title of Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisor (SP); neither posting carries a facility assignment in the records. Beginning in 2017 she was appointed Deputy Warden at Dodge State Prison, a facility-deputy accountability tier, and annual salary records list her in that role continuously through 2025, with additional dated entries of November 22, 2023, and August 27, 2026.

GPS attributes 16 deaths to her leadership tenure, all 16 at Dodge State Prison. No lawsuit naming Williams as a defendant appears in the records. One state liability settlement tied to Dodge State Prison — $16,000, dated May 26, 2025, and recorded by the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger — falls inside her deputy wardenship, and is listed against the facility, not against her individually.

What happened on their watch

Dodge State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2017 to present (annual records through 2025, plus entries dated 2023-11-22 and 2026-08-27)

All 16 deaths attributed to Williams's tenure occurred while she held the Deputy Warden post at Dodge State Prison. The decedents named in the records span ages 21 to 70 and include: Cantrell Lavar Edge, 41 (August 17, 2020); Caesar Dupree, 64 (September 12, 2020); Tadrick Terrian Osborne, 40 (September 29, 2020); William D. Hughes, 61 (October 8, 2020); Kenneth Lockett, 57 (October 9, 2020); Hoke Smith Tarpley, 57 (August 7, 2021); Stewart Myles Mitchell, 36 (December 7, 2021); Douglas Anthony Forts, 57 (June 2, 2022); Hezekiah Sha'Nard Cuyler, 21 (September 14, 2022); Arnold Merle McDonald, 63 (December 22, 2022); Charles Dennis Casey, 41 (May 6, 2023); John August Comer, 33 (September 9, 2023); Kenneth Brown, 58 (January 31, 2024); Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez, 51 (May 20, 2025); Joseph Chatfield, 62 (June 13, 2025); and Warren Peacock, 70 (April 28, 2026). Five of the 16 deaths fall in a single eight-week window in the fall of 2020 — Edge, Dupree, Osborne, Hughes and Lockett between August 17 and October 9.

Two deaths carry detailed GPS intake descriptions. Hezekiah Sha'Nard Cuyler, 21, died on September 14, 2022 from blunt force trauma to the head, per the event record for his death. Douglas Anthony Forts, 57, died on June 2, 2022 from an acute traumatic amputation of a finger sustained during a fight, per the same source. Both occurred while Williams was Deputy Warden. The remaining death records carry no public narrative beyond demographic and date information.

The only other documented event inside her tenure at Dodge is the settlement: a $16,000 State of Georgia liability payout tied to the prison for a 2025 incident, recorded in the GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger obtained through open records, naming Kimyania Smith. No intel reports at Dodge State Prison are dated within her leadership tenure in this dataset. The records do not identify a warden above her at Dodge during this period, so the death figures are stated here as facility totals occurring under her deputy wardenship, not as findings of fault.

Sources

• Georgia Department of Administrative Services, Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — $16,000 Dodge State Prison settlement, May 26, 2025 (Kimyania Smith)
• GPS death records (GDC-sourced) — 16 deaths at Dodge State Prison during Williams's 2017–present deputy wardenship
• GPS intel events — documented causes for the deaths of Hezekiah Sha'Nard Cuyler (blunt force trauma to the head, September 14, 2022) and Douglas Anthony Forts (traumatic amputation during a fight, June 2, 2022)
• GDC position and salary records — Williams's roles from 2015 (behavioral health counselor), 2016 (counselor supervisor), and Deputy Warden at Dodge State Prison, 2017–2025

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Sep 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.