South Carolina jail plagued by rapes, assaults and security shortfalls, a federal report says
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Federal researchers found A scathing report this week says a major South Carolina prison vastly underreports the violence happening behind its walls and lets dozens of inmates go unsupervised for so long that at least two inmate murders have been reported to prison staff by outside callers.
The U.S. Department of Justice has informed the jail in Richland County, which includes South Carolina’s capital, Columbia, that this is the case conditions must improve as quickly as possible – fixing holes in walls, fixing locks that won’t lock at all, and fixing broken light bulbs that could otherwise be turned into weapons.
The prison must do the same stop the flow of contrabandit said. Cell phones are used to organize gang beatings, even as prisoners are moved from one wing to another for safety. Drugs entering the facility caused eight inmates to overdose in two months last year, according to the report released Wednesday by federal investigators.
The 36 page report is filled with stunning details and damning facts.
The prison, named the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center after a guard who was killed by inmates during an escape attempt in 2000, has more openings for guards than the current number of actual officers, the report said. It added that hours pass without a single staff member checking the prison wings and keys go missing.
According to the report, the prison has four times as many assaults as the Miami-Dade prison, even though the South Florida prison has four times as many inmates. It also says a private company helping with security has hired people with felonies.
The report also details stories of people who have been charged but not convicted of crimes and are in jail awaiting trial.
One inmate who served three years in prison was beaten and stabbed and the prison took no action until his mother called them two days later, the report said. It added that he was beaten again and that a guard only responded when other inmates reported that he was bleeding. He was attacked a third time by four prisoners and then a fourth time by seven prisoners. He only received help when an inmate called the central command center and reported that he was bleeding and crying, the report said.
According to the report, prison officials twice learned about inmate killings only from outside callers: once, someone left a message with the prison warden that an inmate was dead in a pool of blood. A second time, a prison nurse received a call from someone on the outside who had watched the killing on Facebook Live, the report said.
“Individuals accused of a crime and held at Alvin S. Glenn face very real possibilities of being stabbed, raped and beaten before they ever see a courtroom. Such circumstances violate the United States Constitution,” said U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs.
Richland County officials did not respond to messages seeking comment. Boroughs noted that the county began repairs to the jail and began reviewing procedures and personnel after the investigation was announced more than a year ago. She urged them to continue the work or face charges from the federal government.
According to the report, criminal behavior in prison often goes unpunished.
“We have found multiple, multiple incidents where crime scenes were cleared by inmates before the sheriff’s office was ever notified — or perhaps they were never notified,” Boroughs said at a news conference.
Federal authorities continue to investigate the Charleston County jail and have issued an injunction against Department of Juvenile Justice jails in the state. In all, more than a dozen prisons and jails in the US are subject to federal investigations or court orders.
According to the report, an inmate said he had been raped and the genetic material on his back matched another inmate. But no further investigation has been reported.
Another inmate threatened to commit suicide to be moved from a unit where he had reported a rape. In the next unit, he was raped again after failing to get a family member outside to pay $200 to the inmate who attacked him, the report said.
The report contains four pages of prison requirements.
It says the prison must have at least one guard on each wing at all times and a second guard walking between two wings. The prison should also stop requiring inmates to file a complaint with an officer assigned to their unit.
The prison should also search all employees for contraband, the report recommends, adding that employees were bringing illegal items into the prison in lunch coolers and under food containers.
“Corrections officers have a duty to protect inmates from violence at the hands of other inmates, because being violently attacked in prison is simply not part of the punishment that criminal offenders pay for their crimes against society,” the researchers wrote in their report.