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Epperson, Alicia
Status: active
Profile written May 31, 2026
This profile reflects positional accountability — this individual held the leadership roles shown during the dates shown, during which the listed deaths or lawsuits occurred. Inclusion does not constitute a legal finding of personal culpability for any specific incident.
Tenure Summary
Alicia Epperson began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2007 as a correctional officer at Georgia State Prison, rising through the ranks to lieutenant and unit manager before being promoted to deputy warden in 2021. She has held the deputy warden title at three facilities—Montgomery State Prison (2021), Smith State Prison (2022), and the Women’s Probation Detention Center (2023)—and since mid-2024 has served as superintendent of the Women’s PDC. According to GPS records, five deaths are attributed to her leadership tenure, all occurring during her year as deputy warden at Smith State Prison in 2022. No deaths are recorded during her time in facility-lead roles at other institutions. The deaths at Smith State Prison emerged amid widespread reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and others documenting severe understaffing, contraband trafficking, and corruption at the facility—conditions that were the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that had opened in September 2021. None of the five deaths have resulted in lawsuits naming Epperson as a defendant related to the fatalities; one unrelated lawsuit, Daker v. Oliver, was filed against her in 2025 and terminated in 2026.What happened on their watch
During Epperson’s tenure as deputy warden at Smith State Prison from January through December 2022, GPS records attribute five in-custody deaths to that facility: Michael Lewis Turner (38, May 14), Jerome Tisdol (67, May 28), Manuel Villagomez (24, September 16), Nathan Michael Mahan (37, October 23), and Juan Miguel Orduna (39, October 25). The deaths of Turner, Tisdol, Villagomez, and Orduna are listed with cause‑category 6; the record for Mahan notes that an Atlanta Journal‑Constitution investigation determined his cause of death to be stab wounds.While Epperson was deputy warden, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Smith State Prison was among the most understaffed and violent facilities in the state, with roughly two-thirds of correctional officer positions unfilled—leaving approximately 53 officers for a prison designed to require 160. The Marshall Project contemporaneously described staff so overstretched they failed to notice a dead body for five days, and said officers were “too brutal, too disgusting” to properly care for inmates. Additionally, allegations published by The Georgia Virtue and the AJC assert that during this same period Warden Brian Adams was operating a RICO enterprise involving contraband cell phones, narcotics, and weapons, and that an inmate named Nathan Weekes was orchestrating murders from inside the prison using illegal phones. Though these reports focus on other individuals, they document a facility in which systemic neglect and alleged corruption created an environment where multiple deaths occurred on Epperson’s watch.
Litigation
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order (1:25-cv-03191, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia). Filed June 6, 2025, terminated March 30, 2026. The docket indicates it concerns a filing restriction and does not involve the deaths at Smith State Prison. Epperson is listed as a defendant. No financial outcome is recorded.
Sources
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — prison homicide investigations and reporting on Smith State Prison conditions, understaffing, and the Nathan Mahan stabbing death (2022–2024)
- The Marshall Project — January 2024 report on understaffing in Georgia prisons, citing Smith State Prison specifically
- The Georgia Virtue — coverage of the Tattnall County grand jury indictment of former Warden Brian Adams and related civil lawsuit alleging contraband operations at Smith State Prison (published 2026, referencing conduct during 2022)
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia — case docket for Daker v. Oliver (2025)
- GPS records — personnel history, facility death counts, and death records for the five individuals who died at Smith State Prison during Epperson’s 2022 deputy warden tenure
- CourtListener — URL confirming the Daker v. Oliver filing
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | WOMEN’S PROBATION DETENTION CENTER | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Superintendent | WOMEN’S PROBATION DETENTION CENTER | 2024-06-16 → present |
| CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT | 2024-01-01 → 2024-06-15 | |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | WOMEN’S PROBATION DETENTION CENTER | 2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31 |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | MONTGOMERY STATE PRISON | 2021-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | SMITH STATE PRISON | 2020-01-01 → 2020-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| SECRETARY (AL) | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Secretary | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2012-01-01 → 2012-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer II | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2008-01-01 → 2008-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | GEORGIA STATE PRISON | 2007-01-01 → 2007-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:25-cv-03191 | GAND | 2025-06-06 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
5 people died at facilities under Epperson, Alicia's leadership.
| Date | Decedent | Age | Facility | Role at time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-25 | JUAN MIGUEL ORDUNA | 39 | SMITH STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-10-23 | NATHAN MICHAEL MAHAN | 37 | SMITH STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-09-16 | MANUEL VILLAGOMEZ | 24 | SMITH STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-05-28 | JEROME TISDOL | 67 | SMITH STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
| 2022-05-14 | MICHAEL LEWIS TURNER | 38 | SMITH STATE PRISON | DEPUTY WARDEN |
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