Foulks, Rodney

Tenure Summary

Rodney Foulks entered the Georgia Department of Corrections as a corrections officer at Valdosta State Prison in 2015, later worked as a sergeant and lieutenant at Georgia State Prison in 2017–2018, and returned to Valdosta as a unit manager from 2019 through 2022. He was a unit manager at Smith State Prison in 2023 before becoming deputy warden there on Nov. 22, 2023, a role he held through 2025. In 2026, GPS records list him as Special Assistant to the Warden at Valdosta State Prison from May 1 and Deputy Warden at Valdosta as of Aug. 27, 2026.

GPS records attribute seven deaths to Foulks’s leadership tenure. The per-facility table assigns all seven to Smith State Prison, where he served as deputy warden. The record also lists two federal civil cases naming him as a defendant.

What happened on their watch

Smith State Prison — Deputy Warden, Nov. 22, 2023 through 2025

GPS records attribute seven deaths to Foulks’s time at Smith State Prison. Six of the decedents were men in their 30s and 40s who died in 2024; the seventh was 77-year-old John Jacobs in 2025.

The deaths listed in the GPS extract are:

• Donquerius Lamonte Mahone, 37, died Feb. 4, 2024. The notes cite an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation listing the cause as homicide.
• Gineli Antoine Gray, 31, died Feb. 9, 2024. GPS records do not provide a cause narrative.
• Jaydrekus Cartez Hart, 34, died June 16, 2024. A separate GPS intelligence event states Hart shot and killed Aramark food service employee Aureon Shavea Grace in the Smith State Prison kitchen in June 2024 and then killed himself.
• Richard Jermine Williams, 43, died Sept. 7, 2024. GBI Medical Examiner records obtained by GPS list the cause as suicide by hanging.
• Orlando Jordan, 36, died Sept. 13, 2024. No cause narrative is provided.
• Calvin Bernard Craft, 34, died Dec. 14, 2024. No cause narrative is provided.
• John Jacobs, 77, died Oct. 25, 2025. A Tattnall County coroner’s record describes natural death from cardiorespiratory arrest, sepsis, and multiorgan failure.

During this same window, intelligence reports collected by GPS describe broader allegations about Smith State Prison. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the facility was severely understaffed and violent, with about two-thirds of correctional officer positions unfilled. Other GPS intelligence records summarize claims that a former Smith State Prison warden, Brian Adams, was indicted on RICO, false-statements, tampering, and oath-of-office charges, and that inmate Nathan Weekes was alleged to have orchestrated murders from inside the prison. Those reports concern facility conditions and other officials; the GPS record does not name Foulks as a participant in those allegations.

Valdosta State Prison — Deputy Warden, as of Aug. 27, 2026

GPS records attribute no deaths to Foulks at Valdosta State Prison in his 2026 leadership post. The facility does appear in separate GPS intelligence reporting from earlier periods, including contraband and drug-trafficking allegations, a viral flooded-cell video dispute, and two June 2026 inmate deaths, but those are not listed in Foulks’s attributed death totals.

Litigation

GPS records list two cases naming Foulks as a defendant:

• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, filed June 6, 2025; terminated March 30, 2026. No outcome amount is recorded.
• Humphrey v. Moody, No. 7:24-cv-00006, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, filed Jan. 22, 2024; pending. No outcome amount is recorded.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners’ Speak structured personnel records, death attribution counts, and intelligence-event database.
• Tattnall County Coroner record for John Jacobs, Case #2025-084.
• GBI Medical Examiner cause production obtained by GPS open-records request.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia prison homicides investigation and Smith State Prison coverage.
• The Georgia Virtue — reporting on the Smith State Prison former warden indictment and related civil suit.
• WRDW — Valdosta State Prison flooded-cell video claims.
• The Marshall Project — Georgia prison staffing shortage reporting.
• CourtListener dockets for Daker v. Oliver and Humphrey v. Moody.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 30, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.