Ward, Alicia Necole

Tenure Summary

Alicia Necole Ward began her career with the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2014 as a correctional officer at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison. Over the next decade, she advanced through the ranks—sergeant, lieutenant, correctional unit manager—before assuming her first facility-leadership role: Deputy Warden at Dodge State Prison, effective December 2024, a position she still held as of early 2025. GPS records attribute a total of two deaths to her facility-deputy tenure. Both occurred at Dodge State Prison during the first half of 2025. Ward has been named as a defendant in several lawsuits, though the majority are multidistrict litigation or insurance disputes whose connection to her corrections duties is not established in the available records; one case, Lynch v. Ward, directly names her, but details remain sealed or unsummarized.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden — Dodge State Prison (December 2024 – present)
Two incarcerated men died at Dodge State Prison while Ward served as deputy warden, according to GPS records. On May 20, 2025, Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez, age 51, died; on June 13, 2025, Joseph Chatfield, age 62, died. Both deaths are assigned cause category 6 in the GPS database—a code that typically denotes homicide or suspicious circumstances, though the system provides no accompanying narrative. No incident narratives, intel reports, or litigation sources in the GPS intelligence archive link these deaths to specific acts or omissions by Ward. The broader GPS event database documents systemic violence and overcrowding across the Georgia prison system during this period—including a January 2025 report that the flagship Georgia Diagnostic facility was operating at 568% of its original design capacity—but none of those reports are tagged to Dodge State Prison or to Ward’s tenure there. The GPS record for Dodge during this window is otherwise quiet: no news mentions, no settled civil rights claims, and no DOJ findings specific to that facility.

Litigation

• Lynch v. Ward, No. 5:21-cv-00461 (GAMD, filed Dec. 27, 2021, terminated June 7, 2023). Ward was a named defendant; the nature of the claims is not disclosed in GPS records.
• Daker v. Oliver Filing Restriction Per 59 Order, No. 1:25-cv-03191 (GAND, filed June 6, 2025, terminated Mar. 30, 2026).
• Willis v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 5:23-cv-00430 (GAMD, filed Oct. 26, 2023, terminated Jan. 23, 2026).
• Benvenutti v. Geico General Insurance Company Do Not Docket in This Case, No. 5:22-cv-00182 (GAMD, filed May 11, 2022, terminated May 30, 2024).
• Butler v. The Georgia Department of Corrections, No. 6:18-cv-00170 (GASD, filed June 21, 2018, terminated Jan. 7, 2019).
• In Re Equifax Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, No. 1:17-md-02800 (GAND, filed Dec. 6, 2017, terminated Apr. 13, 2022).
• In Re Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability, No. 1:17-md-02782 (GAND, filed June 2, 2017, pending).

Only Lynch v. Ward unambiguously names Ward as a defendant during her employment with GDC; the others appear to be consumer, insurance, or product-liability multidistrict actions. GPS records do not provide complaint details or settlement amounts for any of these matters.

Sources

• Georgia Prisoners’ Speak personnel records — career timeline, salary data, accountability tiers for Alicia Necole Ward
• GPS death records — attributed deaths list for Dodge State Prison (Chatfield, Uriquiza-Hernandez), cause categories
• GPS lawsuit index — case dockets from CourtListener for Lynch v. Ward, Daker v. Oliver, Willis v. GEICO, Benvenutti v. Geico, Butler v. GDC, and the Equifax/Ethicon MDLs
• GPS incident database — systemic capacity and violence reports for Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (not directly tied to Ward’s tenure)

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.