Nicholson, Nequeva

Tenure Summary

Nequeva Nicholson’s GDC career began at Macon State Prison, where records list her as a Correctional Officer (2015), CSM Correctional Officer 1 (2016), CSM Correctional Officer 2 (2017), and CSM Correctional Sergeant (2018–2019). She served as a CSM Correctional Lieutenant from 2020 through 2022, a period for which the records list no facility. At Dooly State Prison she is listed as Lieutenant in 2023, Correctional Captain on Nov. 22, 2023 and through 2024, Captain and Deputy Warden on Jan. 1, 2025, and Deputy Warden of Administration from Jan. 16, 2025 forward. A separate single-date Deputy Warden entry is recorded for Aug. 27, 2026. Her status is active.

GPS’s death registry attributes 11 deaths to her leadership tenure, all of them at Dooly State Prison. The registry entries for those deaths record her role at the time as Deputy Warden of Administration. No lawsuits naming Nicholson as a defendant appear in the records reviewed.

What happened on their watch

Macon State Prison (2015–2019). Records list her only as a Correctional Officer, Officer 2, and Correctional Sergeant during these years.

Lieutenant (2020–2022). Records list the rank and dates; no facility is named.

Dooly State Prison — Lieutenant (2023), Captain (Nov. 22, 2023–2024), Captain/Deputy Warden (Jan. 1–15, 2025), Deputy Warden of Administration (from Jan. 16, 2025). All 11 deaths attributed to her tenure occurred at this facility. The named decedents in GPS’s registry are:

• Horatio Philmore died February 2, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Homicide, age 58. An intel item records the death as officially classified a suicide, with inmate reports indicating strangulation — an allegation, not a finding.
• Timothy Glenn Williams died April 17, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Overdose, age 56.
• Orlando Perez Glass died August 17, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Unknown/Pending, age 49.
• Marshall Davis Crews died September 19, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Unknown/Pending, age 69.
• Willie Mote died October 14, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Unknown/Pending, age 70.
• Paul Counts died October 30, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Unknown/Pending, age 60.
• Darrow Brown died November 7, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Homicide, age 58. An intel event records that Brown was stabbed to death at the facility.
• Dexter Andres Levy died November 16, 2025, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Overdose, age 32.
• Samuel Jacob Blackmon died January 19, 2026, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Overdose, age 40.
• Martez Desmond Terry died April 29, 2026, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Natural/Medical, age 42.
• Jerry Jerome Smith died August 21, 2026, at Dooly State Prison; the registry lists Unknown/Pending.

Beyond the deaths, intel items dated inside her Dooly tenure describe sustained violence and contraband. GDC told 13WMAZ and WGXA that fights injuring five inmates (March 23, 2026), six inmates with three airlifted (April 1, 2026), and nine inmates on May 22, 2026 were gang-related; the May 22 fight preceded a statewide GDC lockdown and cancellation of Memorial Day visitation at four prisons. A June 7, 2026 altercation involved three inmates. GPS case submissions allege further stabbings, a mass stabbing, a hospitalized head injury, and lockdowns in 2026.

WGXA reported that cadet Julius Deshawn Williams Jr. was found in June 2024 with four packages of methamphetamine in his pants, and that a vehicle search turned up four more packages and a pistol — 640 grams of 100% pure methamphetamine; per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia, he pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced Aug. 20, 2026 to 10 years plus five years supervised release. WALB, WESH and News-Journalonline reported that inmate Abraham Rivas was accused of impersonating a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy to obtain $1,000 sent to his commissary account; an intel item records an arrest warrant charging organized scheme to defraud and grand theft. Rivas claimed other inmates ran similar scams and that correctional staff were aware — an allegation.

Staffing and conditions reports dated in her tenure state Dooly held 1,593 people in a facility designed for 500, with roughly 50% statewide correctional officer vacancies, and describe housing units without officer supervision for hours or entire shifts (Jan. 31, 2026; Nov. 25, 2025). On Feb. 19, 2025 GDC deployed cell phone blocking technology at Dooly and other prisons. On Feb. 16, 2025 a report noted Warden Mark Agbaosi was appointed at Dooly without a bachelor’s degree. On Oct. 1, 2025 inmate Zeary “Blue” Davis was stabbed and a contraband phone was used to summon emergency medical help. On Dec. 8, 2025 Deputy Warden Charles Hudson was bitten by an inmate while assisting with handcuffs. An April 7, 2025 intel item alleges an inmate named David was beaten by Lt. Fudge and a CERT team after requesting protection from gang threats. An AJC report published Jan. 21, 2025 states a coroner alleged Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta may have been dead more than 24 hours before his body was found at Dooly, and that James Yarbrough suffered uncontrolled diabetes for months at the facility and died of ketoacidosis in a case alleging medical malpractice.

Sources

• GPS death registry — decedents, dates, facilities and cause categories for the 11 deaths at Dooly State Prison
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Dooly reports on Carlos Omar Soldiew-Acosta and James Yarbrough (Jan. 21, 2025)
• WGXA — Williams methamphetamine smuggling case; gang-related fight reports at Dooly
• WALB, WESH, News-Journalonline — Abraham Rivas fraud allegations and staff-awareness claims
• 13WMAZ — gang-related fight at Dooly State Prison
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia — Williams guilty plea and sentencing
• GPS case submissions — alleged stabbings, mass stabbing, head-injury transport and lockdowns at Dooly

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.