Nearly 800 people died in South Carolina jails and prisons between 2015 and 2021, according to a new report from researchers at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Law students, led by professor Madalyn Wasilczuk, compiled data showing 777 deaths across 52 facilities, including state-run prisons, local detention centers, and a juvenile detention facility, between 2015 and 2021.
Facilities in Richland County were the sites of 301 of those deaths — more than any other county. The majority of those deaths occurred at the state-run Kirkland Correctional Institution (160) and Broad River Correctional Institution (101.) Both institutions are among the largest in the state. Kirkland is rated to hold more people than any other state-run prison, according to Department of Corrections data.
Eleven of the deaths occurred at Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Four people died at both the Lexington County Detention Center and the Kershaw County Detention Center between 2015 and 2021, both are smaller jails than Richland County’s.
The report comes as the Alvin S. Glenn center is being scrutinized for routinely violating state standards, and after four people died at the facility between February 2022 and January 2023.
The report did not include data from 2022 and 2023, meaning those four deaths aren’t included in the analysis.
In February 2022, 27-year-old Lason Butler was found dead in his cell at the jail. An autopsy revealed he died of dehydration, and a report noted he had rat bites on his body. The Richland County Coroner deemed the death a homicide.
Thirty-eight-year-old James Mitchell was found dead Dec. 7 at the jail, but that’s all the information that has been shared about his death.
On Jan. 17, 2023, Demond Thompson died just two hours after arriving at the jail.
On Jan. 27, Antonius Randolph was found murdered at the facility. Five other detainees have been charged in his killing.
Findings
Of the 777 deaths statewide analyzed by researchers, 109 of the people had not been convicted of a crime but were awaiting trial.
More than 500 of the deaths were attributed to medical reasons. Almost 90 were deaths by suicide.
Deaths between white and Black people were evenly split, though Black inmates died from violence in the facilities at a higher rate than white inmates, while white inmates were far more likely to die from drug-related incidents. Death by suicide was also much higher among white inmates.
Nearly 94% of the deaths analyzed in the report were among men, who represent 93% of people incarcerated after conviction in South Carolina, according to the report.
Age was also a key factor in jail and prison deaths. In state prisons, 14% of people held are 55 years old or older. More than 60% of the deaths analyzed in the report were among people over 50 years old.
The researchers gathered the information by requesting documents from detention facilities and state agencies, so details are limited to what was reported by those entities.
To further analyze the findings, Wasilczuk invited several panelists to an event Thursday to discuss conditions in the state’s penal facilities.
State Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Garner and civil rights attorney Stuart Andrews all agreed that staffing problems are a major contributor to the safety problems raised by the report.
Staffing has been identified as one of the top problems at the Alvin S. Glenn center. In the most recent inspection of that facility, conducted Oct. 24, 124 positions were vacant.
Another contributing factor, the three men agreed, was a lack of employees property trained to deal with the mental health needs of inmates and detainees.
“We are the repository for mental health (care) in South Carolina,” Stirling said, adding that 30-40% of people in state correctional facilities have mental illnesses.
Andrews, the civil rights attorney, echoed the concern. He is currently suing Richland County’s jail on behalf of Disability Rights South Carolina, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.
The suit, filed April 2022, alleges dangerous and inhumane conditions at the jail and inadequate support for people with mental illnesses.
As part of that suit, Andrews wants a judge to require Alvin S. Glenn to stop accepting detainees from jurisdictions outside the county to reduce the number of detainees officers have to supervise.
Richland County officials say they are making progress on improving conditions at the jail and say they have committed $12 million in repairs.
Stirling, the state corrections director, said state prisons attempt to address staffing problems by allocating overtime and using private security firms. The firm Allied Universal has worked with numerous South Carolina jails and prisons.
Richland County has paid Allied Universal between $26,000 and $38,000 a week to supplement staff at Alvin S. Glenn.
Allied Universal employees are still limited in what they can do. They aren’t certified to interact with inmates, and so can only perform certain duties inside the jail, Jackie Swindler, director of the state’s Criminal Justice Academy, has told The State.
Forward looking
Wasilczuk, the law professor and researcher, said her team is gathering data for 2022. As the research develops, she’d like to expand the analysis to include injuries that occur in these facilities.
She is also hoping to learn more about what medical providers each facility uses and the policies around providing care to people in the facilities.
The work is part of a program called Incarceration Transparency started by Loyola University New Orleans law students, who previously complied similar data for the state of Louisiana.
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