A Black Tennessee man went viral from his jail bed — but not for reasons one might assume. Derrick McDonald went live on Facebook to showcase the “deplorable” conditions inside the Shelby County jail. After his post garnered the attention of outraged social media users, authorities responded with a move many are calling the height of state-sponsored pettiness.
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In November, McDonald was pulled over by police and arrested on outstanding warrants for drug charges, local news station WREG Memphis reported. During his four-day stay at the jail — known as “201 Poplar” after its address — McDonald said his cell phone was returned to him in a bag after “they put me straight in that little housing area,” laid him there and left.
McDonald, who has been paralyzed for a decade following a car wreck, used said phone to go live on Facebook to expose the facility’s medical unit’s “deplorable and inhumane” conditions.
“201, them folks got a thousand roaches under the table, mane,” McDonald said. He added how he had “been down here two days and ain’t got changed, no nothing. I asked medical, ‘Could they change me?’ And medical told me ‘no.’”
McDonald claimed the jail was roach infested and covered in black mold. He even alleged no one was monitoring a blind man who he said was left wandering around the facility. McDonald was released after four days and his charges were dropped, according to the outlet.
“After I made the live video, they like put me up outta there,” McDonald said.
After folks took notice of McDonald’s accusations, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office responded — with a warrant for his arrest. Records show an active warrant was issued for McDonald’s arrest for possession of contraband in a penal facility, according to Fox 13.
It didn’t take long for a #FreeDerrick movement to take over the Black internet.
One person wrote on Facebook how McDonald’s new charges were issued by “a desperate prosecutor.” Another suggested, “Derrick better hide. They’ll say they found him dead from an ‘apparent suicide.’”
A third person commented: “Foolery. Y’all booked him in. Y’all should have found the phone and confiscated it during processing.” One Facebook user agreed, asking whether it’s “considered contraband if they technically allowed him to have it? The police failed to find it then the jailer failed to find it.” It’s unclear if McDonald is in custody on the new charge.
The sheriff’s office also addressed McDonald’s accusations in a statement. “We are actively investigating these complaints to ensure accountability,” the statement read, clarifying they don’t “provide medical care in the jail. The Mayor’s Office contracts with a medical company to provide medical care to all County inmates.”
But this isn’t the first time 201 Poplar made headlines.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the death of an inmate at the Shelby County Jail in December, marking the 12th inmate death at the men’s jail in 2024 alone, Action News 5 reported.
Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell Jr. told localmemphis.com, “We need a new jail. […] because that jail is falling apart.” He admitted the “deteriorating” facility with “mold and rusted pipes all throughout the building” have contributed to the growing number of inmate deaths. And McDonald, the whistleblower who brought attention to the jail’s “deplorable” conditions, seemingly agreed.
“They don’t treat us right in there,” McDonald told Action 5 News. “They really don’t care. Like, it’s a lot of young people in there that just, they just working there to be working there.”
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