SC Department of Corrections releases timeline of Greg Leon’s final hours in prison

Ted Clifford
·3 min read
18

Gregorio “Greg” Leon apparently took his own life in a South Carolina prison in a small window of time between when lunch was delivered and a security check was completed at midday on Friday, according to information provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Alone in his cell, Leon, who officials say hung himself, may have gone undiscovered for just a few minutes or up to 20 minutes.

This information comes from a one-page breakdown of the final hours of restaurateur Leon’s life inside of the Kirkland Correctional Institution released by the department of corrections Saturday. Leon had been incarcerated at Kirkland’s Reception and Evaluation Center.

The founder of the popular chain of San Jose Mexican Restaurants reportedly took his own life inside of the prison Friday. Leon had been found guilty the previous week of murdering his wife’s lover on Valentine’s Day 2016.

Timeline

Leon was moved into a housing unit with two other men on Wednesday, July 12. On Friday, he was alone in his unit — one cellmate was moved out Thursday, the other cellmate was at work “performing tasks in the living unit” at the time, according to the document.

The Department of Corrections has said that it performs standard checks on inmates twice an hour, or at most every 40 minutes, but the checks are “not done on a strict schedule to limit predictability.” As a result, Leon could have taken his life any time after the security check began, at approximately 12:15 p.m..

The following timeline is based on information provided by the Department of Corrections.

  • 11:06 a.m.: Lunch trays arrived in the unit. Inmate trays begin to be distributed.

  • 11:10 a.m. (approximately): Security check begins.

  • 11:30 a.m.: Security check is complete in the unit. All inmates reported as OK. Security check would have started roughly 20 minutes earlier.

  • 11:40 a.m. (approximately): Security check begins.

  • 11:50 a.m.: Institution count clears. This is an institution-wide count that happens several times a day. All inmates are seen and accounted for. This is different from the security check that happens two times an hour.

  • 12:00 p.m.: Security check complete again in the unit. All inmates recorded as OK. Security check would have started roughly 20 minutes earlier.

  • 12:15 p.m. (approximately): Security check begins.

  • 12:20 p.m.: Delivery of lunch trays is complete.

  • 12:35 p.m.: Security check complete. Security check would have started roughly 20 minutes earlier. All inmates reported as OK.

  • 12:36 p.m.: Inmate Leon is found unresponsive in his cell. Officer calls for “A team” and medical workers to respond.

All new inmates in South Carolina spend 45 days at the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center, located on Broad River Road. They are evaluated for their mental and physical health needs and they undergo a battery of other metrics including education level.

Leon had already received a mental health evaluation, according to the Department of Corrections.

“There were no indications that he needed to be placed on suicide watch or needed a higher level of scrutiny,” according to the document. These processes meet national standards, according to the department, and are approved by a court-appointed Mental Health Implementation Panel that was established following a lawsuit settlement a decade ago.