McDaniel, Derrick B

Tenure Summary

Derrick B. McDaniel joined the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 as a correctional officer and rose through the ranks — sergeant, lieutenant, unit manager — before being appointed Deputy Warden at Macon State Prison, where GPS records show he has held that post continuously from 2022 through at least 2025. During his tenure as Deputy Warden, GPS records attribute 68 deaths at Macon State Prison to the period of his facility-deputy leadership, spanning cause categories that include homicide, suicide, and undetermined causes. No lawsuits naming McDaniel personally as a defendant appear in GPS records, but multiple federal lawsuits and media investigations have targeted conditions at Macon State Prison during the years he has served there.

What Happened on Their Watch

Macon State Prison — Deputy Warden, 2022–present

GPS records attribute 68 deaths at Macon State Prison to the period of McDaniel's Deputy Warden tenure (January 2022 through February 2026). Of those, GPS records classify at least 20 as homicides (cause category 3), at least 3 as suicides (cause category 2), and the remainder as natural or undetermined causes (cause category 6). The homicide victims ranged in age from 25 to 50 and died across every calendar year of McDaniel's tenure. The AJC's Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation documents the causes of death for many of these individuals with specificity: Joseph Walter Brown (36) died July 26, 2022 from multiple stab wounds; Dan Brooks (50) died August 21, 2022 from a stab wound to the neck; Kendrick Milike Brown (25) died October 16, 2022 from blunt force head injury; James Cornelius McLeroy (26) died December 19, 2022 from stab wounds to the torso; Carlos Sabino Ramos (34) died March 22, 2023 from multiple stab wounds; Kevin Deshawn Lamar (44) died August 10, 2023 from sharp force chest trauma; Taurean Dante Hardy (40) died December 10, 2023 after an altercation with his cellmate; and multiple additional homicides were recorded through 2024 and into 2025 and 2026, per AJC reporting and GPS case management records.

Several deaths carry specific aggravating allegations. According to the AJC, Kendrick Brown's mother alleged he was placed in a cell with a prisoner known to be dangerous shortly before his scheduled release. A federal lawsuit, reported by the AJC, alleges Bobby Edward Lee Jr. — who died at Macon State Prison in July 2020, before McDaniel's deputy warden tenure but during his time as a sergeant at the facility — was strangled by a convicted murderer cellmate due to understaffing and indifference by prison officials; a separate AJC report alleges officials placed Lee in that cell despite his pleas for protection and that no officers responded until after he was dead. The DOJ report, as cited by the AJC, states that in connection with the March 2023 death of Carlos Ramos, four gang members ran past an officer to a kitchen area and fatally stabbed a prisoner, with eleven prisoners ultimately stabbed in the incident — indicating a failure to prevent the assault.

On the suicides: Calvin Earl Noble (25) died August 26, 2025, per a GPS case management report citing a source inside the facility, by hanging in a tier 2 dorm single cell. Cassiem Mahlon Johnson (55) died August 25, 2025, per a GPS case management report. David Gill died January 30, 2025, per GPS records, from a drug overdose classified as suicide.

An additional non-fatal incident GPS records document: Glen Christian Krauch was allegedly tortured and left for dead under a bunk for approximately three weeks at Macon State Prison around June 2024, while McDaniel held the Deputy Warden role.

Systemic conditions at Macon State Prison during McDaniel's tenure have been extensively reported. According to the AJC, as of October 2024 approximately two-thirds of correctional officer positions at Macon State Prison were unfilled. The Macon County coroner, per the AJC, reported only five to eight officers staffing the entire facility when responding to deaths. The AJC further reports that low staffing allows gang influence to expand, that most locks at the facility do not function, and that prisoners can readily fabricate weapons from wall and ceiling materials. Sanchez Jackson's family, per the AJC, alleged that as many as four men were packed into a single cell, rotating spots to sleep, and that after Jackson's stabbing death in June 2025 the family received only a brief call from the warden with a follow-up that never came, and that investigators gave only "short and vague" answers. In January 2025, a new warden — Gregory Sampson — was appointed at Macon State Prison, per GPS records, while McDaniel continued as Deputy Warden. Georgia's 2024 statewide prison death toll reached a record 332, including 66 homicides, per GPS records citing an AJC analysis; Macon State Prison contributed multiple homicides to that count during McDaniel's tenure there.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Georgia Prison Homicides Investigation; reporting on Macon State Prison homicides 2022–2025; staffing vacancy reporting; Bobby Edward Lee Jr. federal lawsuit coverage; Sanchez Jackson family reporting; 2025 homicide pace analysis
• 13WMAZ, WGXA, 41NBC — Sanchez Jackson stabbing death, June 2025; Antony Knight death, December 2024; Johnathan Vann death, November 2024
• WALB, Douglas Now — Johnathan Vann death, November 2024
• DOJ report (as cited by AJC) — Carlos Ramos stabbing incident, March 2023; Taurean Hardy cellmate altercation, December 2023; gang-related assault findings at Macon State Prison
• GPS Case Management Records — GPS-DEATH-2025-2EF74 (Noble); GPS-DEATH-2025-54697 (Johnson); GPS-DEATH-2025-BEAF7 (Pierre Scott); GPS-DEATH-2025-B834B (Adams); GPS-DEATH-2025-CD311 (Marquis Young); GPS-DEATH-2026-DF391 (Eric Roberts); multiple additional case records
• Solitary Watch — Macon State Prison hot water cut allegation during 2010 strike (pre-McDaniel tenure, facility background)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on May 6, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.