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Ford, Benjamin
On GDC's 2025 payroll
Profile written September 23, 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
Benjamin Ford's GDC career begins in 2014 at Calhoun State Prison, where the positions table lists him as Superintendent / Correction Special Assistant to the Warden, followed by a Correction Administration post at Autry State Prison from June through December 2015 (listed salary $53,427.60). He returned to Calhoun as Warden 1 for 2016 and 2017, then moved to Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDP) as Warden 1 in 2018 and Warden 3 for 2019, 2020 and 2021. From 2022 he held statewide posts: Region Director (2022 through June 2023), Deputy Director of Field Operations from July 2023, Director of Field Operations from July 2024, and Director, with a listed 2025 salary of $139,999.92. The table also carries a single-day "Director" entry dated 2026-08-27 that the records do not explain.
Thirty-five deaths are attributed to Ford's leadership tenures, all 35 of them at GDP. Eight federal lawsuits naming him as a defendant were filed between April 2018 and July 2025; court records show no settlement amount and no plaintiff verdict in any of them.
What happened on their watch
Calhoun State Prison — Superintendent / Correction Special Assistant to the Warden (2014); Autry State Prison — Correction Administration (June–December 2015). Non-leadership periods. Recorded here only as role and dates.
Calhoun State Prison — Warden 1 (2016–2017). No deaths are attributed to this posting in the records.
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — Warden 1 (2018), Warden 3 (2019–2021). All 35 deaths attributed to Ford's tenure occurred at GDP during the years he held the Warden role there. The individual decedents GPS catalogues from his time as Warden 3 are dated January 2020 through October 2021 and range in age from 25 (Krystofer Warrior Classen, September 2020) to 88 (William J Pierce, May 2020). They include Kenneth Lee Jackson (30), Michael William Brooks (28), Tony Wesley Teal (30), Nicholas Walker (34), Brian Richard Hall (39), John Francis Reilly (40) and Michael Joseph LeBlanc (42), alongside older men such as Richard Dale Robinson (77), Alvin Nelson (70) and Columbus Lee Drummond (68). The catalogue records each death as a coded cause category rather than a described incident; the largest share of the named entries fall under one category, with smaller numbers in three others. Five of the catalogued deaths fall in May 2020 alone — Drummond, Quick, Johnson, Pierce and Teal.
One intel event is recorded at GDP on a date when Ford held the Warden 1 title there: on January 1, 2018, officer Vera Jackson admitted she was paid several thousand dollars to give death-row inmate Eric Perkinson information on upcoming shakedowns; she pleaded guilty to violating her oath and received five years' probation, per the event record.
Region Director (2022–June 2023); Deputy Director of Field Operations (from July 2023); Director of Field Operations (from July 2024); Director (2025). Statewide postings with no facility assignment in the records, and therefore no facility-attributed deaths listed. Recorded as role and dates only. The two most recent lawsuits naming him were filed during these postings.
Litigation
- Hamilton v. Beasley, No. 6:25-cv-00057 (S.D. Ga.), filed July 22, 2025 — pending.
- Tucker v. Holt, No. 5:24-cv-00360 (M.D. Ga.), filed October 16, 2024 — terminated June 11, 2025; no outcome amount recorded.
- Anderson v. Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 1:21-cv-02585 (N.D. Ga.), filed June 25, 2021 (while he was Warden 3 at GDP) — terminated March 28, 2025; no outcome amount recorded.
- Diamond v. Ward, No. 5:20-cv-00453 (M.D. Ga.), filed December 1, 2020 (Warden 3, GDP) — terminated January 23, 2023.
- Nance v. Oliver, No. 1:20-cv-00107 (N.D. Ga.), filed January 8, 2020 (Warden 3, GDP) — terminated February 13, 2025.
- Zavala v. Ward, No. 5:19-cv-00383 (M.D. Ga.), filed September 23, 2019 (Warden 3, GDP) — terminated March 2, 2021.
- Dunn v. Ward, No. 1:19-cv-00093 (M.D. Ga.), filed June 3, 2019 (Warden 3, GDP) — terminated September 28, 2022.
- Henry v. Dozier, No. 1:18-cv-00090 (M.D. Ga.), filed April 27, 2018 (Warden 1, GDP) — terminated January 17, 2020.
Sources
- Court records via CourtListener dockets — eight civil cases naming Ford as defendant (2018–2025), listed above.
- GPS mortality catalogue for Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison — 35 deaths attributed to Ford's Warden tenure there, individually named entries dated January 2020–October 2021.
- GDP facility event record — Vera Jackson guilty plea (January 2018).
- GDC positions and salary table for Benjamin Ford (2014–2025).
- No press reports naming Ford directly appear in GPS's news index, and no DOJ findings documents are attached to his record.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Director | 2026-08-27 → present | |
| DIRECTOR | 2024-01-01 → present | |
| Director of Field Operations | 2024-07-01 → present | |
| Deputy Director of Field Operations | 2023-07-01 → present | |
| REGION DIRECTOR | 2022-01-01 → 2023-06-30 | |
| WARDEN 3 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2019-01-01 → 2021-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | GEORGIA DIAGNOSTIC AND CLASSIFICATION STATE PRISON | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 |
| WARDEN 1 | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | AUTRY STATE PRISON | 2015-06-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Superintendent / Correction Special Assistant to the Warden | CALHOUN STATE PRISON | 2014-01-01 → 2014-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:25-cv-00057 | GASD | 2025-07-22 | pending |
| 5:24-cv-00360 | GAMD | 2024-10-16 | terminated |
| 1:21-cv-02585 | GAND | 2021-06-25 | terminated |
| 5:20-cv-00453 | GAMD | 2020-12-01 | terminated |
| 1:20-cv-00107 | GAND | 2020-01-08 | terminated |
| 5:19-cv-00383 | GAMD | 2019-09-23 | terminated |
| 1:19-cv-00093 | GAMD | 2019-06-03 | terminated |
| 1:18-cv-00090 | GAMD | 2018-04-27 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
34 people died at facilities under Ford, Benjamin's leadership.
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