Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Philbin, Edward L
Philbin, Edward L
Not on GDC's 2025 payroll (last listed 2023)
Profile written September 23, 2026
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
Edward L. Philbin's GDC personnel records open in 2015, when he held a "Correction Administration" position (Jan 1–Dec 31, 2015). Payroll records then list him under a "Warden 1" classification for 2016 and 2017 with no facility attached. On Dec 1, 2017 he was assigned as Warden of Augusta State Medical Prison, a post he held through Nov 30, 2022 — a five-year tenure. Subsequent payroll rows carry the title "Warden 3" from 2018 through 2023, again with no facility attached; the 2023 row shows a partial-year salary of $47,393.90 against $111,500.02 for 2022.
Georgia Prisoners' Speak's compiled records attribute 179 deaths to his leadership tenure, all of them at Augusta State Medical Prison. Three state liability payouts tied to the facility during his wardenship appear in the Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, the largest a $3,000,000 payout linked to the 2020 death of Thomas Henry Giles. No news coverage in the dataset names Philbin directly.
What happened on their watch
Augusta State Medical Prison — Warden (Dec 1, 2017 – Nov 30, 2022). All 179 attributed deaths occurred during this posting, per Georgia Prisoners' Speak's death records for the facility. The decedent sample attached to his profile — the most recent rows — spans Jan 8, 2020 (Stephen Cowart, 69) to Nov 24, 2022 (Seth Brandon Spangler, 36), and therefore does not reach the first two years of his tenure. Ages in the sampled rows range from 25 (Daryl Wayne Gordon, Sept 26, 2022) to 88 (Clifford E. Pell, March 2, 2021), with many decedents in their 60s and 70s.
The intel records attach specific causes to six deaths during his wardenship, several of them homicides:
- Eddie Gosier, 39 (May 2, 2020) — died by ligature strangulation hours after inmate Daniel Luke Ferguson was moved into his cell by guards; per the incident record, Ferguson had a prior history of strangling an inmate at Hays State Prison.
- Thomas Henry Giles, 31 (Oct 28, 2020) — died of inhalation of products of combustion after being left in his smoke-filled cell for hours, per the incident record. The DOAS ledger records a $3,000,000 state payout tied to the incident; the death record states the state agreed to pay his family $5 million to settle a lawsuit over his death — the two figures as recorded differ.
- Terry Lee Bennett II, 43 (Jan 10, 2021) — blunt impact to the head.
- Ali Lamont Tanner, 45 (July 2, 2021) — stab wound to the neck.
- William Taylor Bodge, 61 (Feb 5, 2022) — delayed complications of blunt force head injuries, with the underlying incident dated Jan 20, 2022.
- Raphael Zachery Milligan, 41 (July 21, 2022) — blunt force injuries and strangulation; another prisoner was charged with his murder, per the incident record.
Two further DOAS settlement entries fall inside the tenure with Philbin listed as Warden at the time: a $517,000 payout tied to the facility (incident year 2021, named Terry Anthony), and a $2,726 payout (incident 2022, named Justina Collins-Powell). In 2018, an Augusta inmate, Ralph Harrison Benning, filed a lawsuit challenging GDC restrictions and censorship of inmate email, including a 12-contact limit tied to the in-person visitation log — filed while Philbin held the Warden role. No intel reports or news items in the dataset name Philbin at this facility.
Litigation
- Terrell v. Seals, 5:24-cv-00295 (M.D. Ga.), filed Aug 27, 2024 — pending. Filed after his Augusta wardenship ended.
- Martin v. Philbin, 1:19-cv-00216 (S.D. Ga.), filed Dec 17, 2019 — terminated Jan 8, 2020.
- Danenberg v. Philbin, 1:19-cv-00044 (S.D. Ga.), filed March 21, 2019 — terminated Dec 20, 2019.
- Martin v. Philbin, 1:18-cv-00212 (S.D. Ga.), filed Dec 10, 2018 — terminated Oct 23, 2019.
- Martin v. Philbin, 1:18-cv-00128 (S.D. Ga.), filed Aug 17, 2018 — terminated Jan 8, 2019.
- Mosley v. Zachery, 1:15-cv-00029 (M.D. Ga.), filed Jan 28, 2015 — terminated Sept 21, 2017; filed while Philbin was in the 2015 Correction Administration position.
No outcome amounts or dispositions beyond "terminated"/"pending" are recorded for any of these.
Sources
- CourtListener dockets — Terrell v. Seals (5:24-cv-00295); Martin v. Philbin (1:19-cv-00216, 1:18-cv-00212, 1:18-cv-00128); Danenberg v. Philbin (1:19-cv-00044); Mosley v. Zachery (1:15-cv-00029).
- Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — three Augusta State Medical Prison payouts dated 2020–2022.
- Georgia Prisoners' Speak personnel and facility death/incident records for Augusta State Medical Prison — 179 deaths attributed to the tenure and individual death narratives.
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN 3 | 2018-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| Warden | AUGUSTA STATE MEDICAL PRISON | 2017-12-01 → 2022-11-30 |
| WARDEN 1 | 2016-01-01 → 2017-12-31 | |
| CORRECTION ADMINISTRATION | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Lawsuits as defendant
| Case # | Court | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5:24-cv-00295 | GAMD | 2024-08-27 | pending |
| 1:19-cv-00216 | GASD | 2019-12-17 | terminated |
| 1:19-cv-00044 | GASD | 2019-03-21 | terminated |
| 1:18-cv-00212 | GASD | 2018-12-10 | terminated |
| 1:18-cv-00128 | GASD | 2018-08-17 | terminated |
| 1:15-cv-00029 | GAMD | 2015-01-28 | terminated |
Deaths attributed during tenure
179 people died at facilities under Philbin, Edward L's leadership.
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