Commissioner : Gregory C. Dozier

Director of Public Affairs : Joan Heath

Shawn Wombles recognized

FORSYTH, Ga. - The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) honored Fire Chief and Life Safety Manager Shawn Wombles as the Commissioner’s Award recipient at the 13th Annual GDC Awards ceremony on August 8 at GDC headquarters in Forsyth, Ga.

“GDC is fortunate to have a man of such a high caliber and integrity on our team,” said Commissioner Gregory C. Dozier. “Through his efforts in 2016, he helped lower fire insurance premiums for local communities, increased the number of offenders in the firefighter program and played an integral part in the coordination and execution of teams to assist in clean-up and rescue efforts during Hurricane Mathew and the North Georgia wildfires.”

The inaugural award is presented to an employee who is well-versed in, supports, and promotes Criminal Justice Reform initiatives, works with and maintains on open line of communication with difference departments, units, and divisions to fulfill the department’s mission, is open to working on all levels to reach a goal or complete a project, actively supports the field through initiatives, and exhibits, not only, outstanding effort and motivation toward job duties, but takes an extra step to go above and beyond the call of duty. Finally, the winner must focus on the needs and not the wants of the agency, and understand how to differentiate between the two.

Wombles was appointed as Fire Services Chief and Life Safety Manager in 2014. Since then, he has worked with wardens and offender administration to rebuild Fire Services. He has helped boost the numbers of offenders in the program, as well as help local communities that GDC serves to lower their ISO, which lowers fire insurance premiums and saves hundreds of dollars. He also helped coordinate Fire Services response to many devastating natural disasters that occurred in 2016, including Hurricane Matthew and the North Georgia wildfires, savings thousands of dollars and countless lives.

In 2016, Wombles was asked to serve on the Georgia Forestry Commission Rural Fire Defense Advisory Council and worked with the Georgia Department of Agriculture on their emergency preparedness team to develop a plan to deal with the Pandemic Avian Bird Flu. Wombles also serves as the Wrightsville/Johnson County EMA.

Several key officials were on hand for the ceremony, which was attended by more than 250 guests.  Making the award presentation with Commissioner Greg Dozier were State Senator Tyler Harper, Board of Corrections member Christopher Clark, Chief of Staff Timothy C. Ward, Assistant Commissioners Ricky Myrick, Scott Poitevint, Jay Sanders, Randy Sauls, and Director of Professional Development Terry Edge and Director of Professional Standards Clay Nix.

The GDC has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 52,000 state prisoners. It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 10,500 employees.

For more information on the GDC call 478-992-5248 or visit https://gdc.georgia.gov.