Richland jail detainee died of dehydration in February, had rat bites, medical report says
A detainee of Richland County’s jail died because he didn’t get enough water, according to a medical report.
Lason Butler died of dehydration while in a cell at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the report says.
The report also states Butler had no traumatic injuries. During an autopsy it was discover he had a heart condition, but his cause of death was “complications of acute dehydration,” the report says.
The report indicates that Butler’s body was bitten by rats after he died. “Possible postmortem rodent activity” was present on his body, the report says.
“The conditions that led to his death, people should not only be ashamed but somebody probably should go to prison,” said Bakari Sellers, a Columbia-based attorney and former state lawmaker who is representing Butler’s family. “There needs to be community outrage over this.”
That State obtained the medical report a day after reporting that several attorneys allege the jail is in “crisis” because of a shortage of detention officers.
The 27-year-old Orangeburg native was jailed at Alvin S. Glenn on Jan. 31 on charges of failing to stop for police, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. All those charges are misdemeanors. He was found dead on Feb. 12.
Why he was still in jail is unclear. He had been given a bond shortly after being jailed.
Sellers and attorney Audia Jones of Houston, Texas, are representing Butler’s family.
Butler was in truck driving school and had a caring family, Sellers said. “You don’t treat animal the way” the jail treated Butler.
In February, Sellers said “because of the deliberate indifference of Richland County and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, this young man died alone in a jail cell, the latest casualty of a system that doesn’t care and doesn’t work.”
A lawsuit is expected from the Butler family against Richland County, which operates the jail.
The detention officer shortage at the jail appears to be extensive, according to the account of former guards, lawyers and a former detainee. The jail’s staff deficiency has caused detention officers to face mounting dangers of attacks, detainees to live with worsening violence, and lawyers to be hindered from seeing clients.
“Our community is facing a dire situation with the understaffing crisis” at the jail, Richland County Public Defender Fielding Pringle told The State in February.
The county has said it has taken steps to attract and retain jailers and improve working and living conditions.
“It’s imperative for the public to know that the health and safety of all individuals at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center are paramount to Richland County,” County Council Chair Overture Walker told The State. “The County remains committed to taking actions that promote and/or enhance the health and safety of every individual” at the jail.
