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Epperson, Alicia
Status: active
Profile written July 12, 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 spent nearly two decades inside the Georgia Department of Corrections, moving from a correctional officer at Georgia State Prison in 2007 through secretarial and supervisory ranks before reaching the facility-leadership tier as a deputy warden and later superintendent. GPS records attribute a total of five in‑custody deaths to her leadership tenures, every one of them at Smith State Prison during her 2022 service as deputy warden. That period placed her as the second‑ranking administrator at a facility wracked by extreme understaffing, federal scrutiny, and a corruption scandal that would later see her direct superior, Warden Brian Adams, indicted on multiple felonies for allegedly running an inmate‑led contraband and murder‑for‑hire ring from behind the walls.What happened on their watch
Early career and supervisory roles (2007–2019)
Epperson began at Georgia State Prison as a correctional officer in 2007 and later cycled through roles as secretary, lieutenant, and unit manager at the same historic facility. No deaths are attributed to any of these postings. Her first assignment at Smith State Prison came in 2020 as a unit manager, a year when the prison was already described by the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution as one of the most violent and dangerously understaffed in the state, with roughly two‑thirds of correctional‑officer positions unfilled.Deputy warden, Montgomery State Prison (2021)
Epperson served a year as deputy warden at Montgomery. GPS records show no in‑custody deaths at that facility during her tenure.Deputy warden, Smith State Prison (2022)
Five deaths were recorded at Smith in 2022 while Epperson held the deputy warden post — matching the total count of deaths ever attributed to her leadership positions. The five men who died, and what is known of their cases:- Michael Lewis Turner, 38, died May 14; cause category unknown.
- Jerome Tisdol, 67, died May 28. According to a GBI Medical Examiner’s Office record obtained by GPS, the coroner requested an autopsy but the GBI declined, leaving the cause permanently unresolved — a stark instance of the “no‑examination” mechanism that has obscured deaths in Georgia prisons.
- Manuel Villagomez, 24, died September 16; cause category unknown.
- Juan Miguel Orduna, 39, and Nathan Michael Mahan, 37, both died on October 23. Per the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution, Mahan’s death certificate listed stab wounds, signaling a homicide inside the prison.
These deaths occurred inside an administration that was later described in court records and news investigations as a criminal enterprise. The Marshall Project documented that staff shortages were so acute at Smith that a deceased inmate’s body went undiscovered for five days. The prison was under a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that began in September 2021, and contemporaneous reporting by the AJC and The Georgia Virtue detailed allegations that contraband cell phones, drugs, and weapons moved freely, with some officers complicit. Epperson’s direct superior, Warden Brian Adams, was indicted in 2026 on six felony counts including RICO violations for allegedly accepting cash bribes and participating in a conspiracy that orchestrated multiple murders — a scheme prosecutors say operated while Epperson was his deputy.
Deputy warden, Women’s Probation Detention Center (2023)
No deaths are attributed to Epperson’s year as deputy warden at the Women’s PDC.Superintendent, Women’s Probation Detention Center (2024–present)
Epperson was promoted to superintendent of the Women’s PDC in mid‑2024. GPS records list no in‑custody fatalities at the facility through the current data.Litigation
- Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, 1:25‑cv‑03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025, terminated March 30, 2026. Epperson is named as a defendant. The case, which concerns a filing‑restriction order in a broader prisoner lawsuit, was closed without a recorded monetary outcome.
Sources
- GPS personnel records and death‑attribution data
- Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Medical Examiner’s Office — report documenting declined autopsy for Jerome Tisdol (DOFS 2022‑6003057)
- Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — homicide report on Nathan Michael Mahan; investigations into understaffing, contraband, and corruption at Smith State Prison
- The Marshall Project — reporting on severe understaffing and delayed discovery of deceased inmates in Georgia prisons
- The Georgia Virtue — coverage of the indictment of Brian Adams and alleged criminal enterprise at Smith State Prison
- WTOC — allegations of sexual assault and gang‑related incidents at Smith State Prison
- In These Times — allegations of unsafe conditions and contraband in Georgia facilities
- CourtListener — docket for Daker v. Oliver
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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