Adams, Chequita

Tenure Summary

Chequita Adams's documented career with the Georgia Department of Corrections begins in 2020, when she is listed as a Human Resources Tech at Augusta State Medical Prison. She was an HR Tech 2 at Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center in 2021; a Financial Ops Generalist 2 in 2022; a Financial Ops Generalist 3 at Baldwin State Prison in 2023; and an Accounting Technician 3 at Baldwin State Prison in 2024 and 2025. On January 16, 2026, she entered a leadership-tier post: Deputy Warden of Administration at Hancock State Prison, where her status is listed as active. A separate personnel entry carries an Accounting Technician 3 line at Baldwin State Prison dated August 27, 2026.

GPS's registry attributes five deaths to her leadership tenure, all of them at Hancock State Prison — four recorded as homicides and one with a cause still listed as Unknown/Pending. No lawsuits naming her as a defendant appear in the records. Three of the five deaths drew investigations by the GDC's Office of Professional Standards. During the same period, Hancock records in GPS's files include reported stabbings, gang-related assaults, a large tactical operation, and a murder conviction arising from a June 2025 killing inside the facility.

What happened on their watch

Earlier staff postings (2020–2025). Adams held non-leadership roles: Human Resources Tech, Augusta State Medical Prison, 2020; HR Tech 2, Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center, 2021; Financial Ops Generalist 2, 2022; Financial Ops Generalist 3, Baldwin State Prison, 2023; Accounting Technician 3, Baldwin State Prison, 2024–2025. No deaths are attributed to those periods.

Deputy Warden of Administration, Hancock State Prison (January 16, 2026–present). All five deaths attributed to Adams's tenure occurred here, while she held the Deputy Warden of Administration role:

• Steven Monroe Wood died January 25, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 54. Records state he died following an altercation with another inmate, and that his body was turned over to the county coroner and sent to the GBI crime lab; one entry describes him as beaten to death by a cellmate. The GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation, which the department described as standard procedure.
• Jaylin Bell died February 6, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 32. 41NBC reported he died following an altercation with his roommate, and the Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation.
• Jerrod Johnson died February 18, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 27.
• Jacorey Derrelle Pearson died April 7, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide, age 36. The cause was not released, the body was turned over to the county coroner for transport to the GBI crime lab, and the Office of Professional Standards investigation is described as ongoing.
• Albert Chapa died July 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending, age 57.

Reported incidents inside the facility during her tenure include: a gang-related assault involving multiple incarcerated people in a dormitory (March 2026); an alleged stabbing in the visitation area (March 2026); reports of multiple people stabbed in the annex with an air ambulance dispatched, and separately of multiple injuries with a life-flight evacuation during a multi-facility lockdown (May 2026); a person caught accessing the roof on three consecutive nights (June 2026); monitored communications indicating a violent conflict between Muslim incarcerated individuals and a gang (2025 communications, reported July 2026); an IRT use of force against a person suspected of possessing a weapon (August 2026); a tactical team operation involving roughly 100 officers targeting housing units and the annex (September 2026); a stabbing circulating in a Telegram group (September 2026); and an incarcerated person with untreated mental illness stabbing a sleeping person, who was hospitalized and returned to the dorm (October 2026). A family member reported a person held in solitary confinement for six or more weeks without communication access (May 2026).

Also during her tenure: a Hancock County jury convicted Vershaun Smith of malice murder for the June 2025 fatal stabbing of fellow inmate Corey July, shown on surveillance footage and described in 41NBC and WGXA reports, with a sentence of life without parole imposed; Marquez Powell was exonerated and released from Hancock State Prison in June 2026 after a judge vacated his conviction on newly developed DNA evidence; John Morgan Coleman, an 82-year-old lifer, was transferred from medium to close security; and correctional officer Jasmine Nicole Hall was convicted in a drug-smuggling case involving contraband found in water bottles and transactions across eight prisons.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners' Speak death registry and case-submission records — five deaths attributed to the Hancock State Prison tenure, plus inmate, family and third-party reports from 2026
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations into the deaths of Steven Wood, Jaylin Bell and Jacorey Pearson
• 41NBC — report on Jaylin Bell's death following an altercation with his roommate; coverage of the Vershaun Smith conviction
• WGXA — report on the Vershaun Smith / Corey July stabbing shown on surveillance footage
• Court records — Hancock County jury conviction and life-without-parole sentence for Vershaun Smith; Fulton County ruling vacating Marquez Powell's conviction
• GDC personnel records — position history and salary lines, 2020–2026

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.