South Carolina prison riot leaves several dead; witness says he saw bodies stacked on top of each other
A riot at one of South Carolina’s most dangerous prisons left seven inmates dead and 17 others injured, a prison official said Monday.
Lee Correctional Institution was secured at around 2:55 a.m., nearly eight hours after multiple fights broke out in three housing units Sunday night, prison spokesman Jeff Taillon said. The incident started around 7:15 p.m., he said.
All prison staff and responding law enforcement officers were reported safe after the incident, the South Carolina Department of Corrections wrote in a tweet. The department added the State Law Enforcement Division was assisting prison officials in its investigation.
Emergency services from several South Carolina counties responded to the “mass casualty incident,†Lee County Fire wrote in a tweet.
Lee County Coroner Larry Logan told the Associated Press that the seven inmates who were killed during the riot died of stabbing and slashing wounds. Logan said he arrived at a chaotic scene.
"How else are you going to die in prison? They don't have guns," he said.
Details surrounding the multiple fights that had broken out were scarce, but one inmate who witnessed the incident told the Associated Press he saw bodies stacked on top of each other and that correctional officers didn’t do anything to quench the violence or check on the wounded inmates.
"I just saw three dead on the sidewalk outside of my unit. One guy is still alive and breathing, but just barely," the inmate said, adding he wasn’t sure what started the riot.
The inmate spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from other inmates and because of the prison’s no cellphone policy.
Most of the inmates are affiliated with gangs and several attackers taunted a rival gang member who was wounded.
