Adams, Chequita

Tenure Summary

Chequita Adams spent the first several years of her GDC career in administrative and financial roles — Human Resources Tech at Augusta State Medical Prison (2020), HR Tech 2 at Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center (2021), and Financial Operations and Accounting Technician positions at unspecified locations and Baldwin State Prison (2022–2025). On January 16, 2026, she moved into her first leadership-tier role: Deputy Warden of Administration at Hancock State Prison, a facility GPS records show was already in acute crisis before she arrived. GPS records attribute four deaths at Hancock to the period of her tenure there, all classified under cause category 3, between January 25 and April 5, 2026. No lawsuits name Adams as a defendant.

What Happened on Their Watch

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Administration (January 16, 2026–present)

Adams assumed the Deputy Warden of Administration role at Hancock State Prison on January 16, 2026 — days after a mass stabbing incident on January 12 in which, per GPS records, five inmates were stabbed and two were airlifted to hospitals. Within the first eleven weeks of her tenure, four deaths were recorded at the facility. Steven Monroe Wood, 54, was discovered in his cell in need of medical treatment shortly before 11 p.m. on January 25, 2026; per the Union Recorder, he had been severely beaten and was transported by ambulance to Washington County Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Wellstar MCG Health in Augusta, where he died the following day. The GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation, per GPS records. Jaylin Bell, 32, died February 6, 2026, following an altercation with his cellmate; per 41NBC, Bell died after an altercation with his roommate, and a GPS inmate report alleges the incident occurred in the G1 segregation unit. The GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation into Bell's death as well. Jerrod Johnson, 27, was fatally stabbed around 4:45 p.m. on February 18, 2026; GPS records note EMS was called but Johnson died before crews arrived. Jacorey Pearson (year of birth 1989) died April 5, 2026; per GPS records, his cause of death had not been released and his body was sent to the GBI crime lab. The GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation into Pearson's death.

All four deaths carry cause category 3 in GPS records, consistent with violence. The deaths occurred against a documented backdrop of severe institutional dysfunction. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hancock held a correctional officer vacancy rate of approximately 73.5% as of October 2024 — roughly 49 officers for more than 1,100 prisoners. Consultants cited by the AJC found that staffing vacancies at 20 of Georgia's 34 prisons had reached "emergency levels," with broken cell locks allowing prisoners to move freely. A 2024 DOJ report, also cited by the AJC, described stunning violence, rampant sexual assaults, and gang-run conditions in Georgia prisons fueled by a culture of indifference. Separately, the AJC reported that a lawsuit alleges staff failed to act on Charles "Tristen" McKee's repeated requests to be moved the day before he was killed by gang members at Hancock — a case predating Adams's tenure — and that a claim filed against the state alleges Francisco Zaldivar Melgar-Saldivar was not provided appropriate medical care after being attacked at Hancock. A GPS intel report from March 24, 2026 alleges Gangster Disciples inmates attacked Crips inmates while they slept in the H1 dormitory. A GPS intel report from April 19, 2026 alleges a stabbing occurred in the visitation area at Hancock. A family member reported to GPS that an incarcerated relative had been held in solitary for more than six weeks with no communication.

Adams held no leadership role during her earlier postings at Augusta State Medical Prison (2020, HR Tech) or Baldwin State Prison (2023–2025, financial roles), and GPS records do not attribute deaths to her accountability tier during those assignments. Intel reports tied to those facilities — including AJC allegations of guard-facilitated violence at Augusta, officer contraband smuggling at Baldwin, and a federal indictment targeting a gang-run drug enterprise operating from Baldwin — are documented in GPS records but occurred outside any leadership tenure held by Adams.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — reporting on Hancock State Prison vacancy rates, gang-related violence, McKee murder conviction, DOJ findings, systemic understaffing, Baldwin State Prison contraband and gang enterprise cases, Augusta State Medical Prison homicides, and GDC contempt proceedings (Benning v. Oliver)
• Union Recorder — reporting on the death of Steven Monroe Wood at Hancock State Prison (January 25, 2026)
• 41NBC — reporting on the death of Jaylin Bell at Hancock State Prison (February 6, 2026)
• GPS records — deaths of Wood, Bell, Johnson, and Pearson attributed to Adams's Deputy Warden tenure; GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation records; Telegram relay incident reports for Hancock State Prison (January–April 2026); family report of solitary confinement conditions
• U.S. Department of Justice — 2024 report on violence, sexual assault, and gang control in Georgia prisons, as cited by the AJC

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 10, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.