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Fulbright, Joshua Craig
Status: active
Profile written September 6, 2026
Salary
$74,844
2025 · state payroll
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
Joshua Craig Fulbright’s GPS personnel record shows a long arc through Arrendale State Prison, beginning as a correctional officer in 2011 and again in 2015, then sergeant in 2016, lieutenant in 2017, captain in 2022–2023, and unit manager in 2023–2024. On October 1, 2024, he moved to Phillips State Prison as Deputy Warden of Security; later records list him as deputy warden there into 2025 and 2026. GPS attributes 27 deaths to Fulbright’s Phillips State Prison leadership tenure, and all 27 are listed at Phillips in `deaths_by_facility`. No lawsuits naming him as a defendant appear in the structured record.What happened on their watch
Arrendale State Prison (2011–2017, 2022–2024)
Fulbright held staff and unit-supervisor posts at Arrendale, but GPS records show no deaths attributed to his Arrendale tenures. GPS’s facility-level intelligence separately documents Arrendale incidents — including the 2024 strangulation deaths of Sherry Elaine Joyce and Hallie Marie Reed and the 2025 death of Sheqweetta Vaughan — but those are not part of the 27 deaths attributed to Fulbright, and the structured record does not tie them to his postings.Phillips State Prison (Deputy Warden of Security / Deputy Warden, Oct. 2024 onward)
The deaths attributed to Fulbright at Phillips begin in the provided sample with Nile Baptiste Young, 33, whose Oct. 7, 2024 death is listed by the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner production as suicide, and continue through Jacob Ray Nicholson, 29, on July 13, 2026.Cause patterns in the records:
- Homicides certified by the Gwinnett ME include Brandon Lashawn Mincey, 37 (Oct. 11, 2024), Corey Madison Cochran, 29 (Dec. 18, 2024), Jody Stokes (Jan. 13, 2025, homicide due to strangulation per GDC-released January 2025 mortality data), and Alonzo Carter Jr., 78, who died Sept. 20, 2025. The ME certified Carter’s death as homicide from complications of blunt-force head trauma after a May 12, 2025 assault at Phillips, noting that the custodial medical record had not been received as of the report.
- Suicides listed include Young, Christopher Blake Hines, 37 (March 24, 2025), and Terry Nichols, 42 (Oct. 14, 2025).
- Accidents include Kendrick Keon Scales, 35 (Aug. 27, 2025) and Justin Curtis Kinsey, 37 (Nov. 8, 2025).
- Natural deaths make up a substantial share. The records include Eddie Ray Scott, 60; William Pate; Harry Ray Taldon; Rickey Ray Breedlove; Jerry Wayne Spencer; Tommye Mobley; Taron Edmonds; John Dean Tolbert; Joseph Ulrich; Willie Roseborough; Rodger Scales; and Cornelius Burge, 42. For Burge, the Gwinnett ME certified natural probable cardiac dysrhythmia due to concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, with schizoaffective disorder noted as a significant condition.
- The death of Leroy Brooks, 64, on Dec. 9, 2024, is recorded in a Gwinnett ME investigator report as cause undetermined/contested: the ME declined jurisdiction and no autopsy was performed; the death certificate was to be signed by the Phillips physician as natural based on medical history. Brooks’s daughter, Fredericka Thompson, told the ME “it can’t be natural causes,” per the investigative report, citing a history of beatings in custody and a previous lawsuit by his mother.
- Three 2026 deaths — Rickie Lynn Rutherford, 41; Richard L. Thatcher, 58; and Jacob Ray Nicholson, 29 — are listed by GPS with cause category 6 and no cause or manner notes.
Sources
- Gwinnett County Medical Examiner open records productions, including case nos. 25G-1850, 26G-0270, and 24G-2185; ORR R291519-082426 and R281208-061826.
- Gwinnett County Coroner / GBI Medical Examiner reports for Phillips State Prison in-custody deaths, received and OCR’d 2026-06-26.
- GDC-released January 2025 mortality data PDF.
- GBI DOFS toxicology production for Terry Nichols, report dated 01/07/2026.
- GPS personnel and facility intelligence records.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2025-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden of Security | PHILLIPS STATE PRISON | 2024-10-01 → 2026-01-15 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2024-01-01 → 2024-09-30 | |
| CSM Correctional Unit Manager | Arrendale State Prison | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL CAPTAIN | Arrendale State Prison | 2022-01-01 → 2023-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 2 | 2018-01-01 → 2018-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | Arrendale State Prison | 2017-01-01 → 2017-12-31 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | Arrendale State Prison | 2016-01-01 → 2016-12-31 |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER(WL) | Arrendale State Prison | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
| Correctional Officer | Arrendale State Prison | 2011-01-01 → 2011-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
27 people died at facilities under Fulbright, Joshua Craig's leadership.
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