Foulks, Rodney

Tenure Summary

Rodney Foulks entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a corrections officer at Valdosta State Prison in 2015, became a CSM correctional sergeant at Georgia State Prison in 2017 and a lieutenant there in 2018, then returned to Valdosta as a correctional unit manager from 2019 through 2022. In 2023 he moved to Smith State Prison as a unit manager, and on Nov. 22, 2023, was appointed Deputy Warden there — a post he held through 2025, per the positions records. From May 1, 2026, he is listed as Special Assistant to the Warden at Valdosta State Prison, with a separate Deputy Warden entry at Valdosta dated Aug. 27, 2026. His status is active.

During his leadership tenures, 7 deaths are attributed to him, all of them at Smith State Prison. He is named as a defendant in two federal cases, one terminated and one pending. The same period produced a gun-smuggling killing inside the prison kitchen, a statewide lockdown, a governor-ordered assessment of the corrections system, and repeated news allegations of severe understaffing, contraband trafficking, and a former warden accused of racketeering.

What happened on their watch

Georgia State Prison — sergeant (2017), lieutenant (2018); Valdosta State Prison — unit manager (2019–2022). No deaths are attributed to those tenures in the records; the 7 deaths attributed to Foulks's leadership tenure are all recorded at Smith State Prison.

Smith State Prison — unit manager (2023) and Deputy Warden (Nov. 22, 2023, through 2025). GPS's death registry lists seven deaths at Smith State Prison within this leadership tenure:

• Donquerius Lamonte Mahone died Feb. 4, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Homicide.
• Gineli Antoine Gray died Feb. 9, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Jaydrekus Cartez Hart died June 16, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Suicide.
• Richard Jermine Williams died Sept. 7, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose.
• Orlando Jordan died Sept. 13, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• Calvin Bernard Craft died Dec. 14, 2024, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending.
• John Jacobs died Oct. 25, 2025, at Smith State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical.

Allegations reported at the facility while Foulks was Deputy Warden include, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that two-thirds of correctional officer positions were unfilled — 53 officers at a facility designed for 160 — and that the prison was among the state's most understaffed and violent (Jan. 24, 2025). An AJC report on the June 16, 2024 killing of Aramark food service worker Aureon Shavea Grace in the prison kitchen by inmate Jaydrekus Hart, who then killed himself, described a loaded gun inside the prison that GDC had not explained; investigators alleged, per Georgia Public Broadcasting (Aug. 30, 2024), that the firearm was drone-smuggled. AJC reporting on a lawsuit by Deshonda Hagins, filed July 21, 2025 in Fulton County State Court against GDC, alleges staff were warned of a gun on the premises but failed to lock down or search, that no guards were in the area, and that GDC later accused Grace of helping smuggle the gun — a claim her mother denies. The Marshall Project (Jan. 10, 2024) reported one officer assigned alone to an area holding 600 men with no working fire extinguishers, and that staff failed to notice a decomposing body for five days. Other AJC accounts alleged inmate Nathan Weekes ordered murders, including the mistaken-identity killing of 88-year-old Bobby Kicklighter, via contraband cell phone; that gang member Ricardo Silva ran a meth operation from segregation and Chad Ashley Allen trafficked with the Ghostface Gangsters; that former warden Brian Adams took cash in a contraband scheme; and that a prisoner was tied up, beaten, waterboarded and sexually assaulted by his cellmate. WTOC reported (May 1, 2025) a former Smith employee charged with sexual assault. A correctional officer, Robert Clark, was killed by a prisoner with a homemade weapon (June 21, 2024). The GDC locked down all state prisons after the June 2024 shooting; Gov. Brian Kemp announced a system-wide assessment by Guidehouse Inc.; and the system has been under U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny since September 2021, per AJC reporting.

Litigation

• Daker v. Oliver, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND), filed June 6, 2025; Foulks is listed as a defendant; terminated March 30, 2026.
• Humphrey v. Moody, No. 7:24-cv-00006 (GAMD), filed Jan. 22, 2024; Foulks is listed as a defendant; pending.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — 2024–2025 reporting on the Smith State Prison kitchen shooting, gun and contraband smuggling, understaffing, homicide registry, DA warnings, RICO allegations against former warden Brian Adams, and the Hagins lawsuit
• Georgia Public Broadcasting — Aug. 30, 2024 Senate study committee coverage of drones, contraband and staffing
• The Marshall Project — Jan. 10, 2024 reporting on officer shortage and conditions at Smith State Prison
• WTOC — May 1, 2025 report on a former Smith State Prison employee charged with sexual assault
• GPS death registry — seven deaths at Smith State Prison during Foulks's leadership tenure
• Court records — Daker v. Oliver (1:25-cv-03191, GAND); Humphrey v. Moody (7:24-cv-00006, GAMD)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 4, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.