Johnson, Edwina L

Tenure Summary

GPS records attribute eight deaths to Johnson’s leadership-tenure postings, all at Ware State Prison and all during 2020 while Johnson held the Deputy Warden role. Court records also list three lawsuits associated with Johnson; all are terminated, with no settlement or damages amount recorded.

What happened on their watch

Smith State Prison, Counselor (2000)

Ware State Prison (2011–2020)

• Jimmy Kelly, 72, died April 1, 2020; Ware County Coroner listed natural stomach cancer with metastases.
• Verlin Edward Spivey, 64, died May 13, 2020; Ware County Coroner listed natural acute respiratory failure due to pneumonia. The GBI declined an examination.
• James Franklin Conkle, 71, died May 19, 2020; GDC’s official mortality reporting lists the in-custody death, but cause remains unknown/pending in GPS records.
• Robert Lee Wilson, 31, died July 17, 2020; Ware County Coroner ruled homicide by multiple stab wounds.
• Steve Purcell Jones, 44, died July 20, 2020; Ware County Coroner listed natural COVID-19.
• Tony Jackson, 68, died July 26, 2020; Ware County Coroner listed natural causes with COVID-19 positive; the GBI declined an examination.
• Trent Lorenzo Veal Sr., 51, died August 20, 2020; GDC’s own coding, obtained through the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project, classified the death as natural, though GPS notes this was not an autopsy finding.
• Christopher Rawls, 32, died September 5, 2020; Ware County Coroner ruled homicide by strangulation.

The eight attributed deaths include two coroner-certified homicides — Wilson and Rawls — and five deaths classified as natural or medical by coroner or GDC records; Conkle’s cause remains pending. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GDC publicly described an August 1, 2020 Ware State Prison incident as merely a “disturbance,” while internal records described hostage-taking, escape attempts, assaults, and use of force. The AJC also reported a broader tally of ten inmates killed at Ware State Prison between July 2020 and August 2024, a period that begins during Johnson’s Ware tenure but extends well beyond it.

Coffee Correctional Facility and later postings (2021–present)

Litigation

• Smith v. Ward, No. 1:19-cv-03871, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; filed August 12, 2019; terminated June 7, 2023. No damages amount listed.
• Gandy v. Bryson, No. 5:16-cv-00044, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia; filed June 9, 2016; terminated April 5, 2019. No damages amount listed.
• Slaughter v. Gramiak, No. 5:15-cv-00090, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia; filed November 17, 2015; terminated February 11, 2022. No damages amount listed.

Sources

• Ware County Coroner / GBI Division of Forensic Sciences records — coroner and death-investigation files for Kelly, Spivey, Jones, Jackson, Wilson, and Rawls
• Georgia Department of Corrections official 2020–2023 mortality report — in-custody death listings for Conkle and Veal
• UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project custodial mortality dataset — GDC self-coded cause for Veal
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Ware State Prison homicide tally and prison-transparency reporting
• CourtListener — docket records for Smith v. Ward, Gandy v. Bryson, and Slaughter v. Gramiak
• FOX 5 Atlanta and Yahoo.com — later Coffee Correctional Facility stabbing and indictment coverage, postdating Johnson’s Coffee posting

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.