Justice Department launches civil investigations into 2 South Carolina detention centers

The Justice Department (DOJ) announced Thursday it is launching civil investigations into two detention centers in South Carolina, citing several reports of inmate deaths and assaults, concerning physical conditions and alleged discrimination of those with disabilities.

The probe will look into the 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, according to Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

“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,” Clarke said in a statement Thursday.

The investigation into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center will focus on access to medical and mental health care, the use of solitary confinement and the use of force by staff, Clarke told reporters in a press conference.

There have been eight reported deaths at the Al Cannon center since 2022, and Clarke pointed to two deaths that gained attention at either a local or national level.

Former inmate Jamal Sutherland died in January 2021 after two sheriff’s deputies forcibly extracted Sutherland, a Black man with mental illness, from his cell for a bond hearing and restrained him when he did not comply. The deputies used pepper spray and a stun gun on Sutherland before he later died from complications — after an hour of resuscitation attempts.

The DOJ said a use of force expert for the county prosecutor found Sutherland’s death was preventable, though the department announced last year it would not press federal civil rights charges against the two deputies, who were both later fired.

Clarke also referred to the death of D’Angelo Brown, who died in December 2022 at the center after months of isolation in the detention’s mental health unit. Medical staff allegedly failed to give Brown, who had serious mental illness, his prescribed psychiatric medications, which caused him to “decompensate severely.”

He was found unconscious in his cell and died eight days later at a hospital. The county coroner pointed to “gross medical neglect” as the cause of his death, and ruled it a homicide, according to Clarke.

At the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center — directed by Richland County — Clarke said there have been six known deaths since February of last year. One inmate died from dehydration, which was later ruled a homicide, and another incarcerated person was killed by fellow inmates after the center did not secure the cell doors, Clarke told reporters.

She added that there were at least two escapes, one riot and 16 confirmed reports of stabbings and assaults, along with two alleged sexual assaults.

Calling the physical conditions of the center “troubling,” Clarke said there are reports of mold and vermin.

“People confined in local jails across our country do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” she said. “Incarceration should never carry with it a risk of death or serious harm.”

Noting most of the people incarcerated in the detention centers are people of color, the department argued that each inmate deserves to be treated fairly, regardless of their alleged crimes.

“While some people who are arrested are released quickly from jail, far too many others remain for months or even years without ever being convicted,” Clarke continued. “And this is especially true for vulnerable populations who because poverty, lack of housing or drug addition, are more likely to face repeated and longer stints in jail.”

Adair F. Boroughs, a U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, said she has “held the hands” of family members forced to bury their loved ones and spoken with law enforcement officers who do not feel safe upon entering the spaces.

“We recognize that today’s law enforcement and corrections landscape faces many challenges,” Boroughs said. “Our detention centers are decentralized and run by individual counties or sheriffs and it can make things difficult as far as ensuring oversight, ensuring adequate staffing and making necessary changes.”

The investigation “supports changes” that will lead to the safe detainment of inmates, the attorney added.

Clarke said the facilities will not be placed under federal control and will work with officials in local jurisdictions to address any uncovered violations.

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