Epperson, Alicia

Tenure Summary

Alicia Epperson began her GDC career as a Correctional Officer at Georgia State Prison in 2007 and rose steadily through the ranks over nearly two decades — serving as a lieutenant, unit manager, deputy warden at three separate facilities, and ultimately Superintendent of the Women's Probation Detention Center, a post she holds as of 2025. GPS records show ten deaths attributed to facilities during Epperson's unit-supervisor or higher tenures: five during her time as a Correctional Unit Manager at Smith State Prison in 2020, and five during her tenure as Deputy Warden there in 2022. Both postings at Smith overlapped with what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented as one of the most violent and dysfunctional periods in that facility's history, including a warden's arrest on corruption charges, a documented contraband crisis, and severe chronic understaffing.

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What Happened on Their Watch

Smith State Prison — Correctional Unit Manager (2020)

Epperson held the unit manager role at Smith State Prison throughout 2020, a year GPS records show five deaths at the facility during her tenure. Taylor Harrison Brooks, 26, died April 10, 2020 from multiple stab wounds, per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation. John Brently Reyes, 24, died April 20, 2020 from exsanguination caused by a stab wound to the neck, according to the AJC (matched under the name "John Bretleir Reyes Cardona"). Roderick A. Golden, 51, died August 17, 2020, and Christopher Darnell Heath, 43, died December 11, 2020; Joseph Franklin Norris, 55, died February 12, 2020 — all three listed under cause category 6 with no additional notes in GPS records. This period coincided with a broader surge in Georgia prison violence: per the AJC, at least 90 people were slain in Georgia prisons between 2020 and the end of 2022, three times the number from the prior three-year period. The Marshall Project reported that Smith State Prison staff were so understaffed that a dead and decomposing body went unnoticed for five days, and that one officer was assigned alone to an area housing 600 men.

Montgomery State Prison — Deputy Warden (2021)

GPS records show no deaths attributed to Epperson's tenure at Montgomery State Prison during 2021.

Smith State Prison — Deputy Warden (2022)

Epperson returned to Smith State Prison as Deputy Warden in 2022, GPS records show, during which five additional deaths occurred at the facility during her tenure. Michael Lewis Turner, 38, died May 14, 2022; Jerome Tisdol, 67, died May 28, 2022; Manuel Villagomez, 24, died September 16, 2022; and Juan Miguel Orduna, 39, died October 25, 2022 — all four listed under cause category 6 with no additional notes in GPS records. Nathan Michael Mahan, 37, died October 23, 2022 from stab wounds, per the AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation. This tenure overlapped with the documented peak of Smith's institutional crisis: according to the AJC, roughly two-thirds of correctional officer positions at Smith were unfilled, leaving only approximately 53 officers at a facility designed for 160. The AJC further reported that a former corrections officer alleged the prison's back gate lacked a metal detector, potentially allowing weapons and contraband to enter undetected. In early 2023 — shortly after Epperson departed for the Women's PDC — Smith's then-warden Brian Adams was arrested and fired; according to the AJC, Adams was charged with violating Georgia's RICO Act, bribery, making false statements, and violating his oath as a public officer in connection with inmate Nathan Weekes' alleged contraband scheme. The AJC also reported allegations that Weekes orchestrated multiple murders from inside the prison using a contraband cell phone, including the mistaken-identity killing of 88-year-old Bobby Kicklighter in 2021. Seven shakedowns at Smith in 2023 yielded 1,509 weapons and 694 cell phones, per GPS records.

Women's Probation Detention Center — Deputy Warden (2023) / Superintendent (2024–present)

GPS records show no deaths attributed to Epperson's tenures at the Women's Probation Detention Center.

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Litigation

• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (N.D. Ga.), filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026. Epperson is listed as a defendant. No settlement amount is recorded in GPS records.

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Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — AJC Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation (deaths of Mahan, Reyes, Brooks); reporting on Smith State Prison understaffing, contraband crisis, warden Brian Adams arrest, Nathan Weekes contraband scheme, Bobby Kicklighter killing, gun smuggling and death of Aureon Grace, DA Barksdale warnings, and systemic GDC corruption
• The Marshall Project — reporting on Georgia prison understaffing, decomposed body discovery, single-officer coverage of 600 inmates at Smith State Prison, overtime spending surge
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — reporting on drone-smuggled firearm at Smith State Prison; Senate committee testimony on contraband and staffing
• In These Times — reporting on Georgia prison strike allegations including cruel punishments, inadequate medical care, and contraband sold by officers
• WTOC — reporting on April 2026 gang-related altercation and system-wide GDC lockdown at Smith State Prison
• The Georgia Virtue — reporting on conditions at Georgia State Prison including solitary confinement allegations and PREA access failures
• GPS records — positions table, deaths-during-tenure table, intel events, cause-category classifications
• CourtListener / PACER — Daker v. Oliver, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (N.D. Ga.)

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.