Ford, Benjamin

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Ford was transferred to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in 2018, first as Warden 1, then as Warden 3 from 2019 through 2021. GPS records attribute 35 deaths to GDCP during this four-year period. The sampled death records, drawn from the most recent cases in the database, illustrate the breadth of the toll: for example, David Van Herrington, 54, died in September 2021 after being housed in a general-population cell despite testing positive for COVID-19 at intake; Michael William Ledford, 58, a Death Row inmate, died in September 2021 while handcuffed and leg-ironed to a hospital bed; and Johnny Lindsey Babb, 54, died in July 2021 severely malnourished and weighing approximately 100 pounds, with metastatic colon cancer. Per GPS records, the GBI medical examiner declined to perform autopsies in each of these cases. In the case of Jonathan Lynn Revels, 50, a GBI autopsy did occur and ruled the death a natural cardiac event, with toxicology negative; the coroner’s notes indicate an unwitnessed cell death with a roughly 10-to-15-minute observation gap.

Intelligence reports from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WALB raise allegations of broader dysfunction at GDCP during Ford’s tenure. A federal investigation covering 2018 to 2023 found the prison operating at 568 percent of its original design capacity. The AJC reported that almost every part of the facility had been vandalized, with widespread infrastructure failures, and described an incident in which a newly convicted person allegedly possessed a homemade shank and a contraband cell phone within days of arrival, indicating what the news outlet characterized as serious security failures. In another report, the AJC alleged that despite a prisoner’s request for protection, he was moved to a location where gang members attacked him with razor blades. The same publication reported that a correctional officer admitted to accepting thousands of dollars to provide a Death Row inmate with internal information about upcoming shakedowns.

Ford’s later roles as Region Director and Deputy Director of Field Operations fall outside the scope of facility-leader accountability data in GPS records.

Litigation

• Dunn v. Ward — filed June 3, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia; terminated September 28, 2022.
• Zavala v. Ward — filed September 23, 2019, in the Middle District of Georgia; terminated March 2, 2021.
• Diamond v. Ward — filed December 1, 2020, in the Middle District of Georgia; terminated January 23, 2023.
• Nance v. Oliver — filed January 8, 2020, in the Northern District of Georgia; terminated February 13, 2025.
• Anderson v. Georgia Department of Corrections — filed June 25, 2021, in the Northern District of Georgia; terminated March 28, 2025.
• Tucker v. Holt — filed October 16, 2024, in the Middle District of Georgia; terminated June 11, 2025.
• Hamilton v. Beasley — filed July 22, 2025, in the Southern District of Georgia; pending.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple reports on homicides, contraband, infrastructure failure, and security lapses at Calhoun State Prison and Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison
• WALB — coverage of family allegations, DOJ findings on underreporting of homicides, and medical neglect at GDC facilities
• GPS intelligence records — death records, tenure timelines, and facility-attributed death counts
• U.S. Department of Justice investigation (findings reported by WALB) — systemic deficiencies in GDC prisons during the period overlapping Ford’s warden tenure
• Court records via CourtListener — federal civil rights lawsuits naming Ford as a defendant

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 2, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.