Adams, Chequita

Tenure Summary

Chequita Adams entered Georgia Department of Corrections employment in a series of administrative and financial roles, not custody leadership: Human Resources Tech at Augusta State Medical Prison (2020), HR Tech 2 at the Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center (2021), Financial Ops Generalist 2 in a non-facility posting (2022), then Financial Ops Generalist 3 and Accounting Technician 3 at Baldwin State Prison across 2023–2025, with brief single-day Baldwin records dated Nov. 22, 2023 and Aug. 27, 2026. On Jan. 16, 2026 she moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden of Administration at Hancock State Prison, the role she held while all of the deaths attributed to her leadership tenures occurred.

Five deaths are attributed to her leadership tenures, all at Hancock State Prison, all recorded with her serving as Deputy Warden of Administration. No lawsuits naming her as a defendant appear in the records. Four of the five deaths are logged under the same cause category (Wood, Bell, Johnson, Pearson), with Chapa's recorded separately.

What happened on their watch

HANCOCK STATE PRISON — Deputy Warden of Administration, from Jan. 16, 2026

Five deaths are attributed to Adams's tenure in this role. The first came nine days after she assumed it: Steven Monroe Wood, 54, died Jan. 25, 2026 following an altercation with another inmate, per GDC records; he was serving life with possibility of parole for a murder conviction out of Cherokee County. His body was turned over to the county coroner for transport to the GBI crime lab, and the GDC Office of Professional Standards opened an investigation into the death, which the department described as standard procedure. One GPS event record describes Wood as "beaten to death by cellmate"; other records state only that his death followed an altercation.

Jaylin Bell, 32, died Feb. 6, 2026 following an altercation with his roommate, according to a 41NBC report logged Feb. 10, 2026; his cause of death was referred to the GBI crime lab, and OPS opened an investigation. Jerrod Johnson, 27, died Feb. 18, 2026; no public narrative is attached to his record. Jacorey Derrelle Pearson, 36, died April 7, 2026; his cause of death was not released, the body went to the county coroner for transport to the GBI crime lab, and OPS confirmed an ongoing investigation on April 8, 2026. Albert Chapa, 57, died July 30, 2026.

Roughly a dozen intelligence items fall inside Adams's Hancock tenure. A source reported a gang-related assault involving multiple incarcerated people in a dormitory on March 21, 2026, and a family or community contact reported an alleged stabbing in the visitation area on March 15, 2026, with multiple parties seeking confirmation. On May 5, 2026, a family member reported that an incarcerated person at the facility was held in solitary confinement for six or more weeks with no communication access. Other events include the June 19, 2026 exoneration and release of Marquez Powell after a Fulton County judge vacated his conviction on a joint motion by the Georgia Innocence Project and the Fulton County District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit, citing newly developed DNA evidence; and the March 31, 2026 transfer of John Morgan Coleman, an 82-year-old lifer, from medium- to close-security custody.

Two convictions tied to Hancock were recorded during her tenure. On Jan. 28, 2026, former officer Jasmine Nicole Hall was convicted for smuggling drugs into the facility, conduct dating to January 2019 — well before Adams arrived. On Sept. 16, 2026, a Hancock County jury convicted Vershaun Smith of malice murder and Judge Alison T. Burleson sentenced him to life without parole for the June 2025 fatal stabbing of fellow inmate Corey July, per the Oculmulgee District Attorney's Office; the underlying killing predates Adams's tenure, and 41NBC and WGXA reported the surveillance footage and stabbing details at trial in August and September 2026.

Sources

• 41NBC — reporting on Jaylin Bell's death at Hancock State Prison (Feb. 2026) and on the Vershaun Smith/Corey July murder
• WGXA — trial coverage of Vershaun Smith's malice murder conviction (Sept. 2026)
• Oculmulgee District Attorney's Office — statement on the Smith conviction, via GPS event records
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations opened into the deaths of Wood (Jan. 2026), Bell (Feb. 2026) and Pearson (Apr. 2026)
• Fulton County court records / Georgia Innocence Project and Fulton County DA Conviction Integrity Unit — joint motion and June 2026 vacatur in Marquez Powell's case
• GPS case submissions (Nos. 97, 150) and family reports — alleged dormitory assault, alleged visitation-area stabbing, and six-week solitary confinement report at Hancock

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.