Adams, Chequita

Tenure Summary

What Happened on Their Watch

Adams entered the deputy warden role just days after a wave of violence at the prison. On January 12, 2026, five incarcerated men were stabbed in a single incident; two were airlifted to hospitals, per GPS incident logs. The facility was already operating with a severe staffing deficit: an Atlanta Journal‑Constitution investigation reported that, as of October 2024, 73.5 percent of correctional officer positions were vacant, leaving only 49 officers to oversee more than 1,100 prisoners. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation had described a culture of indifference, pervasive violence, sexual assaults, and gang‑run units across the state system, and Hancock was flagged as one of the most understaffed sites.

Adams’s first nine days on the job saw the first of four violent deaths. On January 25, Steven Monroe Wood, 54, was discovered beaten in his cell; he was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to a trauma center, where he died the following day. According to the Union‑Recorder, the assault was physical, and the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation, calling it standard procedure. On February 6, Jaylin Bell, 32, was killed by his cellmate in a unit referred to as “the hole,” according to a Telegram inmate report; a local news outlet, 41NBC, confirmed the altercation. Jerrod Johnson, 27, was fatally stabbed on February 18; the GDC data note states he died before emergency medical crews arrived. Finally, on April 5, Jacorey Pearson died at the prison; no cause was released, but the GDC investigation is ongoing.

All four deaths are recorded under GDC cause category 3 — typically associated with violent incidents. While the GDC routinely describes its Office of Professional Standards reviews as standard, the spate of deaths occurred amid documented system‑wide failures. The AJC noted that Hancock’s vacancy rate made it impossible to maintain basic safety protocols, and broken cell locks allowed incarcerated people to move freely and gang members to intimidate others. Separate lawsuits alleging failures to protect incarcerated people — such as the case of Charles “Tristen” McKee, who was murdered by gang members in a dorm after staff ignored his repeated requests for a transfer, and Francisco Zaldivar Melgar‑Saldivar, who was strangled and for whom a claim alleged inadequate medical care — predate Adams’s tenure but form part of the facility’s recent history of violence and litigation. No litigation directly names Adams.

Sources

• GPS death records and incident logs for Hancock State Prison (2026 deaths of Wood, Bell, Johnson, Pearson)
• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — reporting on Hancock SP officer vacancy rates, gang‑related violence, DOJ findings, and systemic failures (multiple articles, 2024–2026)
• 41NBC — report on Jaylin Bell’s death following an altercation with his roommate, February 2026
• Union‑Recorder — death of Steven Wood from a beating in his cell, January 2026
• 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigation findings on Georgia prison conditions
• Telegram inmate relay reports (Bell incident context)
• GPS intelligence files: Hancock SP staffing data and incident descriptions (January 12, 2026 stabbings)

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.