COX, Eric

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Smith State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021)
During Cox’s single year as deputy warden, GPS records document seven inmate deaths at Smith State Prison. All occurred between January and September 2021, and the majority were homicides reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigation into Georgia prison killings. These included the strangulation death of 25‑year‑old Justin Wilkerson, the multiple‑stab‑wound death of 26‑year‑old Hiwatha Abdullah Hakeem (whose family later filed a lawsuit alleging prison officials ignored his attackers’ violent history and delayed medical care), the strangulation of 35‑year‑old Desmond Hill (who, according to the AJC, had told his mother his cellmate threatened to kill him), and the manual strangulation of 45‑year‑old Christopher M. Redwine. The facility, already notorious for extreme understaffing—the AJC reported about two‑thirds of correctional‑officer positions unfilled—was also the backdrop for a sprawling contraband operation led by inmate Nathan Weekes, which would later result in the indictment of the warden on RICO charges. While Cox was deputy warden, the AJC, In These Times, and The Marshall Project all published claims that Smith State Prison was so short‑staffed that guards could not maintain basic safety, contraband cellphones were widely available, and deceased inmates had gone unnoticed for days.

Ware State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022–2024)
At Ware State Prison, Cox served as deputy warden for three full calendar years, a period in which GPS records attribute 43 deaths to the facility. The sample of decedents includes multiple confirmed homicides: in 2022, Vadarian Lavianta Carr (26, stabbed in chest and back) and Kyle Anthony Strother (31, stabbed in chest); in 2023, Thomas Jerome McCoy (38, stabbed in chest) and Alfonso Marquez Moore (30, blunt impact head injuries); in 2024, Samuel Kieth Ellis (31, multiple sharp force injuries), Christopher Michael Taylor (33, stabbed in torso), and Leonardo Lamont Anderson (49, multiple stab wounds). According to AJC reporting, at least ten inmate homicides occurred at Ware between July 2020 and August 2024, several involving multiple inmates in gang‑related attacks. Other intrusions on the record include a large‑scale riot in July 2025, the death of DonTavis Mintz whose body was not discovered for days, and a homicide investigation into Kojack Thomas Jr.’s death. During Cox’s tenure, the AJC obtained internal GDC incident reports that described the facility’s security lapses, and the news organization’s broader investigation found that the department frequently minimized violent incidents and misrepresented conditions to lawmakers and the public.

Litigation

• Scott v. Taylor, No. 3:25‑cv‑00107 (S.D. Ga., filed Nov. 6, 2025) — pending.
• Brown v. Odum, No. 5:25‑cv‑00062 (S.D. Ga., filed June 30, 2025) — pending.
• Jackson v. Odum, No. 5:25‑cv‑00051 (S.D. Ga., filed June 9, 2025) — pending.
• Daker v. Ward, No. 7:20‑cv‑00113 (M.D. Ga., filed June 11, 2020, terminated Nov. 3, 2021) — outcome not publicly available.
• Foster v. United Parcel Service Inc, No. 1:15‑cv‑00681 (N.D. Ga., filed Mar. 6, 2015, terminated June 27, 2018) — does not appear related to GDC employment.
• In Re Wright Medical Technology Inc Conserve Hip Implant Products, No. 1:12‑md‑02329 (N.D. Ga., filed Feb. 27, 2012, terminated June 26, 2018) — does not appear related to GDC employment.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners’ Speak intelligence records — personnel files, death tallies, structured litigant lists.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple homicide reports and systemic investigation pieces covering Smith State Prison (2021–2025) and Ware State Prison (2022–2024), including “Georgia prison homicides: a list of those killed,” “Locked up but not stopped,” and “How’d a gun get inside Ga.’s deadliest prison?”
• The Georgia Virtue — coverage of the Smith State Prison grand jury indictment and civil suit alleging contraband conspiracy.
• In These Times — reporting on 2018 prison strike allegations of cruel and unusual punishment, medical neglect, and staff‑supplied contraband at Georgia prisons, including Smith State Prison.
• The Marshall Project — feature on extreme understaffing at Smith State Prison, noting a single officer monitoring 600 men and a body lying unobserved for five days.
• WTOC — report on the arrest of a former Smith State Prison employee for sexual assault of a corrections employee.
• CourtListener — dockets for Scott v. Taylor, Brown v. Odum, Jackson v. Odum, Daker v. Ward, and two non‑GDC suits.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 7, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.