McDaniel, Derrick B

Tenure Summary

Derrick B McDaniel began GDC employment as a corrections officer in 2015, then moved through sergeant and lieutenant posts before becoming a correctional unit manager in 2021. In 2022, McDaniel was listed as deputy warden at Macon State Prison, a facility-leader position recorded through the end of 2025, with annual salary rising from $56,265.88 in 2022 to $74,324.67 in 2025. GPS records attribute 69 deaths to McDaniel’s Macon State Prison leadership tenure; all 69 are listed under Macon State Prison. The structured records list no lawsuits with McDaniel as a defendant.

The Macon State Prison years overlap a period of documented systemic strain. A U.S. Department of Justice report released in October 2024 described assaults, stabbings, and rapes as routine at “woefully understaffed” Georgia prisons, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that about two-thirds of Macon State Prison correctional officer jobs were unfilled as of October 2024.

What happened on their watch

Macon State Prison, Deputy Warden (2022–2025)

In the 2022–2023 period, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation tied several Macon State Prison deaths to homicides: Dan Brooks (50), stab wound of the neck; Kendrick Milike Brown (25), blunt force head injury; James Cornelius McLeroy (26), stab wounds to the torso; Carlos Sabino Ramos (34), multiple stab wounds; and Kevin Deshawn Lamar (44), sharp force chest trauma. The AJC and DOJ documentation also record Taurean Dante Hardy (40) as a December 2023 homicide following an altercation with his cellmate. GPS records list additional 2022–2023 decedents with no published cause.

For 2024, the AJC investigation attributed multiple Macon State Prison deaths to inmate-to-inmate assaults or sharp-force trauma: Kenneth Keith Malcom (38), Reginald Lamar Ginn (31), Devontae Marquez Young (28), Mathis Lee Ward (37), Jarod Quayshawn Williams (32), Shannon Wayne Pickett (48), and Keith Antwone Green (44). Other 2024 deaths such as William Louise Wilson (56), Jekari Oshay Strozier (31), and James Douglas Talley (62) appear in GPS records with cause category 6 and no stated cause.

For 2025, GDC’s published January 2025 mortality data, as retained in GPS records, listed Jonathan Mitchell as “Homicide due to Head Trauma.” The AJC reported that fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin was accused of beating Mitchell with his foot, knee, and fist, and reportedly confessed. The same GDC January 2025 release listed David Gill as “Suicide due to a Drug Overdose,” but a GBI Medical Examiner autopsy later certified sudden cardiac death, manner natural. GPS case reports also document 2025 deaths classified as suicides — Calvin Earl Noble (25), described as suicide by hanging in a one-man cell in tier 2 dorm, and Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (55) — and homicides including Marquel Smith (29), D’Andrius Brown (30), Lukas Lance Way (32), Sanchez Jackson (48), Xavier Anthony Adams (40), Pierre Cedric Scott (41), and Marquis Young (37). Many additional 2025 records carry cause category 6 with no stated cause.

The sampled decedent list also includes 2026 dates — Eric Roberts (33), Allan Sharpe (69), Anthony Williams (60), Brett Michael Scudder (37), Joe Dywane Rayton (56), and Gregory Brent Scott (68) — although the positions table lists McDaniel’s Macon State Prison assignment through the end of 2025. Roberts’s death record carries cause category 3, while a GPS intel event describes no reported altercation and no signs of foul play, with the GDC Office of Professional Standards investigation ongoing.

GPS intel records at Macon State Prison also document allegations and events alongside the deaths. According to the AJC, the mother of Carrington Juwon Frye alleged that her son bled for more than half an hour after being stabbed before help arrived. The AJC also reported that the county coroner found only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. GPS records note a January 24, 2025 Southern Center for Human Rights filing over inadequate bedding and hygiene conditions, with 96 inmates sharing a single toilet, and separate reports of four correctional officers arrested on charges of violating their oath and providing false statements. Later reporting by 13WMAZ documented guilty pleas in a Macon State Prison drug-trafficking prosecution coordinated through contraband cellphones, and CBS News reported on an alleged hunting-lease fraud scheme tied to a Macon State Prison prisoner.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — multiple Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation entries; reports on Macon State Prison understaffing and systemic violence
• U.S. Department of Justice — October 2024 findings on Georgia prison conditions, as reflected in GPS intel records
• Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner — autopsy report for David Gill
• GDC official mortality data — January 2025 and CY2024 mortality reports retained in GPS records
• 13WMAZ — Macon State Prison drug trafficking guilty pleas
• CBS News — hunting-lease fraud allegation tied to Macon State Prison
• 41NBC — coverage of Antony Knight’s death at Macon State Prison
• WALB / WGXA / Douglas Now — coverage of Johnathan Vann’s death after a fight at Macon State Prison
• Southern Center for Human Rights — January 2025 Macon State Prison conditions litigation, per GPS intel event records
• GPS case reports and intel records — death classifications, incident reports, and allegations at Macon State Prison

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Aug 23, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.