Ward, Alicia Necole

Tenure Summary

Alicia Necole Ward entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2014 as a correctional officer at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, then moved through the ranks: Field Training Officer at Wilcox State Prison in 2016; Correctional Sergeant back at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification from 2017 through 2019 (salary records show $33,833.87 in 2017, $40,234.75 in 2018 and $39,111.99 in 2019); Correctional Lieutenant from 2020 through 2022; and Correctional Unit Manager in 2023, including a posting at Wilcox State Prison dated November 22, 2023. Ward moved into facility-level administration as Deputy Warden of Administration at Dodge State Prison on December 1, 2024, held the title Deputy Warden through 2025 (salary $72,428.18), and is listed again as Deputy Warden of Administration at Dodge from July 16, 2026, with a further Deputy Warden entry dated August 27, 2026.

GPS attributes three deaths to Ward's leadership tenure, all of them at Dodge State Prison. No lawsuit in the records names Ward as a defendant, and no news report in the records names Ward directly. Ward's status is listed as active.

What happened on their watch

Dodge State Prison — Deputy Warden of Administration (from December 1, 2024) and Deputy Warden (2025); Deputy Warden of Administration (from July 16, 2026) and Deputy Warden (August 27, 2026)

Every death GPS attributes to Ward's tenure occurred at Dodge State Prison, during the period Ward held a deputy warden role there:

• Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez died May 20, 2025, at Dodge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Natural/Medical and the age as 51. Ward's role at the time was Deputy Warden.
• Joseph Chatfield died June 13, 2025, at Dodge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Unknown/Pending and the age as 62 — GPS does not yet know the cause. Ward's role at the time was Deputy Warden.
• Warren Peacock died April 28, 2026, at Dodge State Prison; the registry lists the cause as Overdose and the age as 70. Ward's role at the time was Deputy Warden of Administration.

Separately, a State of Georgia liability payout of $16,000 tied to Dodge State Prison (incident year 2025) was recorded on May 26, 2025 in the Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger, obtained through open records. The event names Kimyania Smith as the person associated with the payout, and lists Ward's role at the time as Deputy Warden. The records do not state what the underlying incident was.

Ward's earlier supervisory postings — Correctional Lieutenant (2020–2022), Correctional Unit Manager (2023), and the Correctional Unit Manager posting at Wilcox State Prison dated November 22, 2023 — are not linked to any death in GPS's per-facility attribution, which lists deaths only at Dodge State Prison.

Sources

• Georgia Department of Administrative Services Risk Management settlement ledger (open records) — $16,000 Dodge State Prison payout recorded May 26, 2025, naming Kimyania Smith.
• Georgia Prisoners' Speak death registry — deaths of Sotero Uriquiza-Hernandez (May 20, 2025), Joseph Chatfield (June 13, 2025) and Warren Peacock (April 28, 2026) at Dodge State Prison.
• Georgia Prisoners' Speak personnel and salary records — Ward's position history and salaries, 2014–2026.

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 11, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.