McDaniel, Derrick B

Tenure Summary

Derrick B. McDaniel began his Georgia Department of Corrections career in 2015 as a correctional officer, served as a sergeant in 2016, a lieutenant in 2017–18, returned to sergeant in 2019–20, and was a correctional unit manager in 2021. In 2022 he moved into facility leadership as Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison, the post the records show him holding continuously from 2022 through August 2026, as annual pay rose from $56,265.88 in 2022 to $74,324.67 in 2025.

Georgia Prisoners' Speak's personnel record attributes 69 deaths to McDaniel's leadership tenure, all of them at Macon State Prison. Criminal homicide investigations, a U.S. Department of Justice findings report, and multiple civil suits touching the facility all fall inside that 2022–2026 window. The records show no lawsuit naming McDaniel as a defendant.

What happened on their watch

Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2022–2026

Records attribute 69 deaths at Macon State Prison during McDaniel's tenure as deputy warden. A most-recent sample of individual decedents in the records — not the full count — includes Brett Michael Scudder (37, June 20, 2026), Anthony Williams (60, May 2, 2026), Allan Sharpe (69, April 10, 2026), Eric Roberts (33, Feb. 9, 2026), Joe Dywane Rayton (56) and Gregory Brent Scott (68), both in January 2026, Randall Allen Cleveland (77, Nov. 30, 2025), Michael Tony Cooper (73, Nov. 20, 2025), Marquis Young (37, Oct. 22, 2025), Calvin Earl Noble (25) and Clifton B. Boston (67), both Aug. 26, 2025, and Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (55, Aug. 25, 2025).

Multiple deaths in the sample are documented as inmate-on-inmate homicides. Mathis Lee Ward (37) died June 8, 2024 from sharp-force chest and neck trauma inflicted with a homemade instrument of two sharpened metal pieces; Shannon Pickett (49) died July 21, 2024 of exsanguination and sharp-force trauma; Devontae Marquez Young (28) died May 10, 2024 of cardiac arrest and sharp-force chest trauma; Reginald Ginn (31) died March 13, 2024 of blunt-force head trauma, reportedly beaten with a fan motor tied to a belt, per incident reports; Kenneth Keith Malcom (38) died Feb. 12, 2024 of sharp-force trauma. Taurean Hardy (41) died Dec. 10, 2023 after an altercation with his cellmate, per the DOJ report. Kevin Deshawn Lamar (44) died Aug. 10, 2023 of sharp-force chest trauma, and his cellmate was charged. Carlos Sabino Ramos (34) died March 22, 2023 of multiple stab wounds; the DOJ report states four gang members ran past an officer into the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed. James Cornelius McLeroy III (26) died Dec. 19, 2022 of stab wounds, with incident reports showing two other prisoners involved were gang members. Kendrick Malik Brown (25) died Oct. 16, 2022 of blunt-force head injury; his mother alleged, per the AJC, that he was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous about a month before his scheduled release. Dan Brooks Jr. (50) died Aug. 21, 2022 of a stab wound to the neck; Joseph Walter Brown (36) died July 26, 2022 of multiple stab wounds.

AJC reporting dated March 31, 2025 alleged that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon were unfilled as of October 2024; that the county coroner reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths; that low staffing allowed gangs to exert influence; and that non-working locks and wall and ceiling materials made shanks easy to fabricate. The same reporting cited a DOJ report released in October 2024 describing assaults, stabbings and rapes as routine in woefully understaffed Georgia prisons, and an AJC analysis finding 13 deaths investigated as homicides from Jan. 1 to Feb. 4, 2025 — the bloodiest start to a year in at least a decade. For 2024, GDC investigated 66 prisoner deaths as homicides, with a record 332 total prisoner deaths, up about 27% from the prior year.

Jonathan Mitchell died Jan. 21, 2025 after being beaten; fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin was accused of using his foot, knee and fist to cause fatal head trauma and reportedly confessed, per the AJC. Henry Finley was stabbed to death Jan. 18, 2025, confirmed by Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley. Sanchez Jackson was killed in June 2025; the AJC reported an investigator told his sister there was a rumor he died in a gang attack, and that his family received only a brief call from the warden with a promised follow-up that never materialized. A separate allegation described Jackson saying as many as four men were packed into one cell. Records also log the torture of Glen Christian Krauch — a three-week period dated June 2024, and a January 2025 finding of brain bleeds, broken ribs, slashed feet, cigarette burns and a necrotic wound. In August 2025, inmate Rodney Edward Smith was extradited to Florida over an alleged hunting-lease fraud run with smuggled cell phones. Gregory Sampson became warden on Feb. 1, 2025, and Gov. Brian Kemp proposed $600 million in prison investment in January 2025.

Litigation

• Southern Center for Human Rights filings, Macon State Prison — filed Jan. 24, 2025 (attorney Sarah Geraghty identified in the records). The complaints concerned overcrowding and inadequate bedding and hygiene, including an allegation that 96 inmates shared a single toilet. Disposition not stated in the records.
• Federal lawsuit over the death of Bobby Edward Lee Jr. — filed Jan. 21, 2025. The suit alleges Lee was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer, and blames understaffing and indifference by prison officials; records further state officials placed Lee with a prisoner who had previously killed a fellow parolee despite his pleas, and that no officers responded until after he was strangled. Disposition not stated.
• No lawsuit in the records names McDaniel as a defendant.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — "Georgia prison homicides outpacing last year" (Sept. 16, 2025); "Prison homicides soar as Georgia legislators focus on fixes" (March 31, 2025); "GA prison homicides: a list of those killed in Georgia's prison system" (Jan. 21, 2025); "Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions"
• U.S. Department of Justice findings report on Georgia prison conditions (October 2024), as reported by the AJC
• GDC incident reports and Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley statements, as cited in AJC reporting
• Georgia DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (Open Records) — $32,500 payout tied to Macon State Prison (Robin Kimbrel, 2022 incident); $6,250 payout (Bavarious Nelson, 2022 incident)
• Southern Center for Human Rights litigation records (Jan. 24, 2025)
• Georgia Prisoners' Speak personnel and death records for Derrick B. McDaniel

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