Johnson, Edwina L

Tenure Summary

Edwina L. Johnson’s career with the Georgia Department of Corrections spans more than two decades, beginning as a counselor at Smith State Prison in 2000 and progressing to deputy warden roles at Ware State Prison, where she served as Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment in 2012 and later as Deputy Warden from 2016 through 2020. She subsequently held senior correctional administration titles and, as of mid-2025, a regional operations coordinator post. According to GPS records, eight deaths are attributed to facilities during her leadership tenures, all of them at Ware State Prison in 2020, when Johnson held the facility-deputy tier. She is also named as a defendant in three federal lawsuits filed during her time at Ware.

What happened on their watch

While Johnson served as Deputy Warden at Ware State Prison, eight incarcerated men died at the facility between April and September of 2020. Among them, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s homicide investigation identified Christopher Rawls, age 32, whose death certificate lists strangulation, and Robert Lee Wilson III, 31, who died of multiple stab wounds. The remaining six deaths—Jimmy Kelly, Verlin Edward Spivey, James Franklin Conkle, Steve Purcell Jones, Tony Jackson, and Trent Lorenzo Veal Sr.—are recorded with a cause category of 6 in GPS data. The AJC later reported that ten inmates were killed at Ware State Prison between July 2020 and August 2024, with multiple inmates involved in several of the homicides according to GDC incident reports, a pattern that encompasses the year Johnson held her deputy role.

During this same period, the facility experienced a major security incident on August 1, 2020. While the GDC publicly described it as a “disturbance,” the AJC found that internal records documented hostage-taking, escape attempts, assaults, and use of force. Johnson’s tenure as deputy warden overlapped with these events, though no records provided here link her personally to any specific misconduct.

Litigation

• Gandy v. Bryson (5:16-cv-00044, GASD), filed June 9, 2016, terminated April 5, 2019.
• Slaughter v. Gramiak (5:15-cv-00090, GASD), filed November 17, 2015, terminated February 11, 2022.
• Smith v. Ward (1:19-cv-03871, GAND), filed August 12, 2019, terminated June 7, 2023.

All three lawsuits were terminated; no outcome amounts are recorded in GPS files.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide investigation reporting on deaths at Ware State Prison, including the cases of Christopher Rawls and Robert Lee Wilson III, and the August 2020 disturbance at the facility.
• GPS records — personnel positions, death counts, and cause categories for the eight decedents.
• CourtListener — federal docket entries for Gandy v. Bryson, Slaughter v. Gramiak, and Smith v. Ward.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 31, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.