Home › Intelligence › Personnel Accountability › Wilcox, Rickey W
Wilcox, Rickey W
Status: active
Profile written August 30, 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
Rickey W. Wilcox held Georgia Department of Corrections roles from 2015 onward, including correctional officer, CSM lieutenant, unit manager, and, by 2023, deputy warden at Telfair State Prison. GPS records attribute 34 deaths to his leadership tenure, all at Telfair State Prison. No deaths are attributed to his earlier staff or unit-supervisor postings. The structured record lists no lawsuits naming Wilcox as a defendant.What happened on their watch
Wilcox’s facility-leadership posting is Deputy Warden at Telfair State Prison. The attributed deaths in GPS records run from Bobby Murray on Dec. 21, 2023 and Kwesi Jamal Stultz on Dec. 22, 2023 through Kwame Conte McCombs on July 25, 2026.Coroner and GBI records document multiple homicides: Preston C. Phelps, stabbed during a gang fight Dec. 13, 2025; Malindzo Eddy Hatcher, stab wound to the chest July 21, 2025; Lester James Smith, torso stab wound June 2, 2025; Aaron Joshua Smith, found stabbed in his cell Dec. 19, 2024; Eric Leigh Whitehead, blunt-force trauma in the setting of strangulation Sept. 18, 2024; Henry Earl Crump, strangulation by cell cord Sept. 2, 2024; Zoumana Madiou Sarre, multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso July 5, 2024; Lamar Jarmaine Wilson, blunt trauma to the neck June 1, 2024; Joey Lebron Kilgore, homicide Feb. 29, 2024; and Kwesi Jamal Stultz, blunt-force head injuries Dec. 22, 2023. Suicides by hanging include Robert Baker on Oct. 12, 2025 and Anthony James Mulder on July 7, 2024. Drug-intoxication deaths include David Lane Campbell, acute methamphetamine intoxication on July 22, 2025, and Robert Wayne Messer, synthetic cannabinoid intoxication on Sept. 11, 2025. Eric Bernard Haynes was recorded as an acute myocardial infarction, manner natural, on Jan. 21, 2026. Several other causes remained pending or unknown in the provided records.
Facility-level reporting overlapping this period describes systemic pressures. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Telfair was missing 76% of its essential workforce, leaving about 36 correctional officers for roughly 1,400 prisoners; a separate AJC report put unfilled correctional officer positions at 79%. In March 2024, the Telfair warden was stabbed by an inmate during a contraband shakedown, according to event records. Federal prosecution Operation Ghost Busted reached the facility: Sergeant Desiree Briley was sentenced to 18 months after pleading guilty to helping prisoner James Dylon NeSmith smuggle meth into Telfair for at least two years. Separately, facility event records note the July 20, 2023 death of Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano after officers placed him in an outdoor cage in extreme heat; 13WMAZ reported a $3.2 million settlement with his family, and a GA DOAS ledger entry lists a $3,249,873 payout tied to a 2023 Telfair incident. That incident appears in facility-level event records, not in the 34-death person-level attribution above.
Sources
- GPS personnel and death records, Telfair State Prison attribution file
- Telfair County Coroner records, multiple 2024–2025 death certifications
- GBI Division of Forensic Sciences autopsy reports for Baker, Mulder, Campbell, and Messer
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Telfair staffing, homicide, and contraband reporting
- 13WMAZ — Ramirez Bibiano settlement and alleged officer comment
- GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — Telfair State Prison payouts
Positions Held
| Title | Facility | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Warden | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| CSM Correctional Lieutenant | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2026-08-27 → present |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL SERGEANT | 2024-01-01 → present | |
| DEPUTY WARDEN | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2023-01-01 → present |
| Deputy Warden | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM Correctional Officer 2 | TELFAIR STATE PRISON | 2023-11-22 → 2023-11-22 |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 2 | 2020-01-01 → 2023-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL UNIT MANAGER | 2020-01-01 → 2022-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONAL OFC 1 | 2019-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| CSM CORRECTIONAL LIEUTENANT | 2016-01-01 → 2019-12-31 | |
| CORRECTIONS OFFICER (SP) | 2015-01-01 → 2015-12-31 |
Deaths attributed during tenure
34 people died at facilities under Wilcox, Rickey W's leadership.
Submit a correction
If you are the named individual or an authorized representative and dispute information on this page, submit details below. Substantiated corrections are applied promptly. Disputes that remain unresolved are flagged on the profile.