Adams, Chequita

Tenure Summary

Chequita Adams's GDC record is almost entirely administrative. She worked as a Human Resources Tech at Augusta State Medical Prison in 2020, an HR Tech 2 at Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center in 2021, a Financial Ops Generalist 2 in 2022 with no facility listed, a Financial Ops Generalist 3 at Baldwin State Prison in 2023, and an Accounting Technician 3 at Baldwin State Prison in 2024, with a 2025 Accounting Technician 3 year carrying no facility. On January 16, 2026, she moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden of Administration at Hancock State Prison, a facility-deputy tier post she still holds per records. Records also carry a single-day Accounting Technician 3 entry at Baldwin State Prison dated August 27, 2026.

All six deaths attributed to her leadership tenure occurred at Hancock State Prison. GPS's death registry classifies four of the six as homicide and two as unknown/pending. No lawsuits naming Adams as a defendant appear in the records, and no news coverage in the records names her directly.

What happened on their watch

Hancock State Prison — Deputy Warden of Administration, from January 16, 2026

Six deaths are attributed to Adams's tenure in this role. Per the GPS death registry:

• 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 sent to the GBI crime lab for cause of death; one event entry describes him as beaten to death by a cellmate.
• Jaylin Bell died February 6, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as homicide, age 32. 41NBC reported Bell died following an altercation with his roommate.
• 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. Records state the cause had not been released and the body went to the GBI crime lab.
• Albert Chapa died July 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as unknown/pending, age 57.
• Devin Cole Edwards died October 30, 2026, at Hancock State Prison; the registry lists the cause as unknown/pending. An event entry states Edwards, 36, was found in his cell with signs of a recent fight and pronounced dead at a hospital.

The GDC's Office of Professional Standards opened investigations into the deaths of Wood, Bell and Pearson, which the GDC described as standard procedure.

Reports logged at the facility during her tenure describe continued violence and tension: a September 10, 2026 stabbing report circulating in a Telegram group; a May 21, 2026 third-party report of multiple people stabbed in the annex with an air ambulance dispatched; a May 22, 2026 report of multiple injuries with one person life-flighted during a multi-facility lockdown; an October 9, 2026 inmate report of an incarcerated person with untreated mental illness stabbing a sleeping person; allegations of a gang-related dormitory assault (March 21, 2026) and a visitation-area stabbing (March 15, 2026); a report of an IRT use of force against a person suspected of possessing a weapon (August 4, 2026); a tactical operation involving roughly 100 officers targeting multiple housing units and the annex (September 15, 2026); and a family report of six-plus weeks in solitary without communication access (May 5, 2026).

Other events dated to her tenure include the release of Marquez Powell from Hancock on June 19, 2026, after a Fulton County judge vacated his conviction on newly developed DNA evidence; the August–September 2026 conviction and life-without-parole sentence of Vershaun Smith for the June 2025 fatal stabbing of fellow inmate Corey July, reported by WGXA and 41NBC; the January 28, 2026 conviction of former Hancock officer Jasmine Nicole Hall for smuggling drugs; and the March 31, 2026 transfer of John Morgan Coleman, an 82-year-old lifer, from medium to close security at Hancock.

Sources

• GPS death registry — cause and age classification for the six Hancock State Prison deaths during Adams's tenure
• 41NBC — reporting on Jaylin Bell's death and on the Vershaun Smith / Corey July case
• WGXA — trial coverage of the Vershaun Smith malice murder conviction
• GDC Office of Professional Standards — investigations opened into the deaths of Wood, Bell and Pearson
• GPS case submissions and monitored-communications records — inmate, family and third-party reports from Hancock State Prison dated within Adams's tenure

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Nov 1, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.