COX, Eric

Tenure Summary

Eric Cox began his GDC career as a correctional officer at Smith State Prison in 2008, rising through lieutenant and captain ranks before becoming a unit manager and then Deputy Warden — first at Smith State Prison (2021), then at Ware State Prison (2022–2024), then at the Special Management Unit (January–July 2025). GPS records show Cox was elevated to Warden at Dodge State Prison in July 2025 and transferred to lead the Special Management Unit as Warden beginning January 2026. Across his facility-deputy and facility-lead postings, GPS records attribute 54 deaths at facilities where Cox held a supervisory role at the time of each incident — 8 at Smith State Prison (2020–2021) and 46 at Ware State Prison (2022–2024). Among those, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation identifies at least 11 as homicides. Three federal civil-rights lawsuits naming Cox as a defendant were filed in 2025 and remain pending.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Smith State Prison — Unit Manager (2020) and Deputy Warden (2021)

GPS records show five deaths at Smith State Prison while Cox held the unit manager role in 2020, including two the AJC identifies as homicides: Taylor Harrison Brooks (age 26, multiple stab wounds, April 10, 2020) and John Brently Reyes (age 24, exsanguination from a stab wound to the neck, April 20, 2020), per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation. Cox was promoted to Deputy Warden in 2021; GPS records show six more deaths at Smith that year, five of them identified by the AJC as homicides — Justin Wilkerson (age 25, asphyxia/neck compression, January 5), Desmond Hill (age 35, strangulation, April 9), Hiwatha Abdullah Hakeem (age 26, multiple stab wounds, April 12), Derrick Dionte Harvey (age 26, stab wound to chest, June 25), Christopher Reynolds (age 38, blunt and sharp force injuries to head and neck, July 1), and Christopher M. Redwine (age 45, manual strangulation, September 27). According to the AJC, a lawsuit alleges that the four prisoners who attacked Hakeem had a history of violence and that prison officials failed to provide timely and adequate medical care after the assault. The AJC separately reported that Desmond Hill allegedly called his mother the day before his death to say his cellmate had threatened to kill him, suggesting officials failed to act on a known threat. Broader context documented by the AJC and The Marshall Project during this period includes allegations that roughly two-thirds of Smith's correctional officer positions were unfilled, that a single officer was sometimes assigned to an area housing 600 men, and that a decomposing body went undiscovered for days — all pointing to chronic understaffing. In early 2023, Smith's then-warden Brian Adams was arrested and fired; per the AJC, he was charged under Georgia's RICO Act, with bribery, making false statements, and violating his oath as a public officer, in connection with a contraband scheme run by inmate Nathan Weekes. Cox held the Deputy Warden role at Smith during the period preceding Adams's arrest.

Ware State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022–2024)

GPS records attribute 46 deaths at Ware State Prison during Cox's three-year tenure as Deputy Warden. The AJC's homicide investigation identifies seven of those as killings: Kyle Anthony Strother (age 31, stab wound to chest, June 5, 2022); Vadarian Lavianta Carr (age 26, stab wounds to chest and back, September 18, 2022); Alfonso Marquez Moore (age 30, blunt impact injuries to head, June 19, 2023); Thomas Jerome McCoy (age 38, stab wound to chest, October 7, 2023); Leonardo Lamont Anderson (age 49, multiple stab wounds, April 20, 2024); Christopher Michael Taylor (age 33, stab wound to torso, May 28, 2024); and Samuel Keith Ellis (age 31, multiple sharp force injuries, August 1, 2024 — GPS records show three inmates were involved). The remaining deaths carry cause category 6 in GPS records, with no notes attached. According to the AJC, GDC incident reports document that ten inmates were killed at Ware between July 2020 and August 2024, with multiple inmates involved in several of the homicides. The AJC also reported that GDC publicly described an August 1, 2020 Ware incident as merely a "disturbance," while internal records describe it as involving hostage-taking, escape attempts, assaults, and use of force — an event that predates Cox's Ware posting but reflects the facility's documented pattern. The ages of the 46 decedents during Cox's Ware tenure ranged from 24 to 79; the homicide victims ranged from 26 to 49.

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Litigation

• Daker v. Ward, No. 7:20-cv-00113 (M.D. Ga.), filed June 11, 2020; terminated November 3, 2021. Per court records.
• Jackson v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00051 (S.D. Ga.), filed June 9, 2025; pending. Per court records.
• Brown v. Odum, No. 5:25-cv-00062 (S.D. Ga.), filed June 30, 2025; pending. Per court records.
• Scott v. Taylor, No. 3:25-cv-00107 (S.D. Ga.), filed November 6, 2025; pending. Per court records.

(Two additional terminated cases — Foster v. United Parcel Service Inc., No. 1:15-cv-00681 (N.D. Ga.), and In Re Wright Medical Technology Inc Conserve Hip Implant Products, No. 1:12-md-02329 (N.D. Ga.) — appear in the defendant record but are unrelated to correctional operations.)

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; reporting on Smith State Prison understaffing, contraband, and the arrest of Warden Brian Adams; reporting on Ware State Prison incident records and GDC transparency failures; reporting on the Special Management Unit contempt order
• The Marshall Project — reporting on GDC understaffing, Smith State Prison conditions, and officer fatigue
• In These Times — reporting on Georgia prison strike allegations including conditions, medical care, and contraband
• GPS records — positions table, deaths-during-tenure table, cause categories
• Court records (CourtListener) — Daker v. Ward (GAMD); Jackson v. Odum, Brown v. Odum, Scott v. Taylor (GASD)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.