The Department of Justice has opened investigations into conditions at two detention centers in South Carolina, citing “credible allegations” of inmate deaths and assaults.
In a Nov. 2 press release, the DOJ said it would be opening two separate probes into conditions at Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, operated by the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office in North Charleston, and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia.
Both jails are individually funded.
Officials said they had found “significant justification” to launch the probes after conducting an “extensive review” of publicly available information and information gathered from stakeholders.
The department said it had received credible reports that multiple inmates at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center had died in recent years owing to the “use of force, gross medical neglect or suicide.”
Additionally, the DOJ received multiple credible allegations that the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center is “structurally unsafe and that there have been sexual assaults, homicides, and prevalent violence resulting in serious injuries,” it said.
“People confined in local jails across our country do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
“We are launching these investigations to determine whether the jail conditions in two of South Carolina’s largest countries comply with basic constitutional standards. We are committed to ensuring that people held inside jails and prisons are not subjected to excessive force, violent conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, and other dangerous physical conditions while in the custody of their local government,” she added.
High-Profile Deaths
According to the DOJ, the probe into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center will focus on the medical and mental health care available for inmates, the use of solitary confinement, and the use of force by staff.It will also examine whether the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office discriminates against disabled individuals inside the detention center, officials said.
Meanwhile, the probe into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center will focus on living conditions and whether or not the detention center fails to protect prisoners from violence.
Both detention centers have pledged to cooperate with the investigations, the DOJ said.
Former inmate Jamal Sutherland, who was mentally ill, died after jail staff repeatedly shot him with stun guns and pepper sprayed him when he refused to leave his cell and attend a bail hearing, according to prosecutors. Mr. Sutherland had been jailed following an incident at a behavioral health center on Jan. 4, during which he committed “a misdemeanor offense of simple assault on a nurse staff member” prosecutors said.
Two sheriff’s deputies in South Carolina were later fired over his death but no charges were pressed.
At a press hearing Thursday, Ms. Clarke said there have been eight deaths among inmates at the Charleston jail since 2022 and six known deaths among inmates at the Columbia jail since February 2022.
She also mentioned the death of another inmate, D’Angelo Brown, who died in December 2022 from severe dehydration after being placed in isolation for months at the Charleston County jail’s mental health unit.
Escapes, Inmate Stabbings
Medical staff allegedly failed to give Mr. Brown—who was also suffering from mental health issues—his prescribed psychiatric medications, which caused him to “decompensate severely,” she said.“Brown was subsequently deemed not mentally competent to stand trial due to psychosis. Brown remained at the detention center, reportedly in the same neglectful conditions, until staff found him unconscious in his cell. He died eight days later at an outside hospital. The county coroner has attributed Brown’s death to ‘gross medical neglect’ and ruled his death a homicide,” Ms. Clarke said.
In addition to the inmate deaths, there have also been at least two escapes and 16 confirmed reports of stabbings or other acts of violence at prisons, and two alleged rapes, according to the department’s initial assessment.
Nine inmates were also reportedly injured in violent incidents at the detention center in May and June 2023 alone, the DOJ noted.
The DOJ stressed that it has not yet reached any conclusions regarding the allegations made against the two prisons.
However, Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano released a statement Thursday afternoon in response to the department’s announcement in which she said the “allegation that we have been anything but transparent is categorically false.”
“I welcome the announcement of the DOJ investigation. Any member of the public – including those same elected officials who called for the investigation – is always welcome to ask questions and to come see the great work we are doing at the Charleston County Detention Center,” she added.
