McDaniel, Derrick B

Tenure Summary

Derrick B. McDaniel entered the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a corrections officer, moved through correctional sergeant (2016, 2019–2020), correctional lieutenant (2017–2018) and correctional unit manager (2021), and in 2022 became Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison — the posting he held through 2025. On July 16, 2026 he moved into the role of Deputy Warden of Security at the same facility, the position he holds as of the most recent record. His status is listed as active.

GPS's death registry attributes 67 deaths to McDaniel's leadership tenures, all of them at Macon State Prison. No lawsuit in the records names him personally as a defendant. The facility he helped lead was, during those years, the subject of a federal lawsuit over a prisoner's strangling death, a Southern Center for Human Rights suit over crowding and sanitation, and sustained Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting on homicides, staffing collapse and contraband.

What happened on their watch

Deputy Warden, Macon State Prison (2022–2026). Deaths recorded during this posting begin in the summer of 2022: Joseph Walter Brown died July 26, 2022, from multiple stab wounds; Dan Brooks Jr. died August 21, 2022, from a stab wound to the neck. Kendrick Malik Brown died October 16, 2022, from blunt force head injury — his mother said he was due for release in a month but was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous, per the AJC. James Cornelius McLeroy III died December 19, 2022, from stab wounds to the torso; an incident report shows two other prisoners involved were gang members. Sabino Carlos Ramos died March 22, 2023, from multiple stab wounds; the DOJ report states four gang members ran past an officer to the kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed. Kevin Deshawn Lamar died August 10, 2023, from sharp force chest trauma, and his cellmate was charged; Taurean Hardy died December 10, 2023, after an altercation with his cellmate, per the DOJ report. In 2024 the registry records Kenneth Keith Malcom (February 12, sharp force trauma), Reginald Ginn (March 13, blunt force head trauma, reportedly beaten with a fan motor tied to a belt), Devontae Marquez Young (May 10), Mathis Lee Ward (June 8, assaulted with a sharpened metal instrument), Jarraad Quayshawn Williams (July 17), Shannon Pickett (July 21, exsanguination and sharp force trauma) and Keith Antwone Green (August 30). Glen Christian Krauch was reportedly tortured over a three-week period in June 2024 and found severely injured under a bunk on January 5, 2025. Henry Finley died January 18, 2025, after being stabbed, confirmed by the Macon County Coroner; Jonathan Mitchell died after being beaten by fellow prisoner Jon Edward Pippin, who was accused of using his "foot, knee and fist," per the AJC. The AJC reported that 13 Georgia prison deaths from January 1 to February 4, 2025 were being investigated as homicides — the bloodiest start to a year in at least a decade. On March 31, 2025 the AJC reported that about two-thirds of correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were unfilled as of October 2024, that the coroner described only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths, and that low staffing let gangs operate amid locks that mostly did not work. Sanchez Jackson was killed at the facility in June 2025; his family told the AJC they received only a brief call from the warden and that an investigator gave "short and vague" answers, and his sister said as many as four men were packed into one cell. In August 2025 inmate Rodney Edward Smith was extradited to Florida on charges alleging a hunting-lease fraud scheme run with smuggled cell phones; CBS News reported deposits taken from hunters across 15 Florida counties.

Deputy Warden of Security, Macon State Prison (July 16, 2026–present). Tony Horne died August 20, 2026. On September 18, 2026 a report circulating in a Telegram group said the prison had come off lockdown. Between October 21 and 23, 2026, Juld Gerald Carter, Veasna Johnathan Bun and John Doe died; GDC said its Office of Professional Standards was investigating Carter's death as a homicide, with the body sent to the GBI Crime Lab. Inmate reports from inside described "three killings in two days," a body reportedly under a bunk for days, and a homicide in which the victim was reportedly restrained for days, stabbed, and the body set on fire — accounts that did not uniformly name the facility.

GPS's death registry names the following people as having died during McDaniel's tenure at Macon State Prison:

• John Doe died October 23, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending.
• Veasna Johnathan Bun died October 22, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending.
• Juld Gerald Carter died October 21, 2026, at Macon State Prison; homicide.
• Tony Horne died August 20, 2026, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 48.
• Randall Allen Cleveland died November 30, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 77.
• Michael Tony Cooper died November 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 73.
• Marquis Young died October 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 37.
• Gary Simpson died October 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 63.
• Clifton B Boston died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 67.
• Calvin Earl Noble died August 26, 2025, at Macon State Prison; suicide, age 25.
• Cassiem Mahlon Johnson died August 25, 2025, at Macon State Prison; suicide, age 55.
• Pierre Cedric Scott died August 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 41.
• Xavier Anthony Adams died July 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 40.
• Niko Lamar Swann died June 27, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 36.
• Lukas Lance Way died June 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 32.
• Sanchez Jackson died June 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 48.
• Terell Rasheen Everett died May 22, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 35.
• Cornelius Lee Mason died May 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 64.
• Douglas Wayne Medearis died May 19, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 50.
• Marion Washington died May 16, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 61.
• John Austin Mitchell died April 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 50.
• D'Andrius Brown died March 23, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 30.
• Lynn Alexander Durett died March 20, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 74.
• Michael Alvin Reddings died March 8, 2025, at Macon State Prison; cause unknown/pending, age 64.
• Marquel Smith died February 14, 2025, at Macon State Prison; homicide, age 29.

Litigation

• Bobby Edward Lee Jr. — federal lawsuit filed January 21, 2025. The suit alleges Lee was strangled by his cellmate, a convicted murderer, and blames understaffing and indifference by prison officials; the AJC reports officials placed Lee in that cell despite his pleas for protection and that no officers responded until after he was dead.
• Southern Center for Human Rights v. Macon State Prison — filed January 24, 2025. The suit concerns overcrowding and inadequate bedding, documenting 96-plus inmates sharing a single toilet.
• GDC settlements (GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger, opened by records request): $6,250 tied to Macon State Prison (Bavarious Nelson, incident 2022, dated July 17, 2022) and $32,500 tied to Macon State Prison (Robin Kimbrel, incident 2022, dated August 1, 2022). Neither is recorded as a suit naming McDaniel.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — homicide reporting from Macon State Prison (2022–2025), the March 31, 2025 investigation into staffing and contraband, the September 16, 2025 report on homicides outpacing the prior year, and the Lee lawsuit coverage
• U.S. Department of Justice report on Georgia prison conditions (October 2024), as reported by the AJC
• CBS News (Miami) — Rodney Edward Smith extradition and fraud allegations
• GA DOAS Risk Management settlement ledger (open records)
• GDC statements on Office of Professional Standards and GBI investigations (October 2026)
• GPS intake reports submitted from inside Georgia prisons (Telegram and case submissions, 2026)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Oct 25, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.