July 23rd, 2024

Burnette Shutt & McDaniels attorneys ask court for an injunction ordering immediate changes at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center

COLUMBIA, SC – Burnette Shutt & McDaniel attorneys have asked a federal court to issue a preliminary injunction ordering Richland County to take immediate action to end inhumane conditions at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

More than two years ago, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel filed a federal lawsuit against Richland County on behalf of Disability Rights South Carolina regarding conditions at the overcrowded and understaffed county jail. Since then, 15 detainees have joined the case as plaintiffs.

The county, however, has taken inadequate steps to improve conditions and a trial is months, if not a year away.

Earlier this month, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel criminal justice civil rights attorneys Stuart Andrews, Ashley Pennington and Annie Day Bame went to a County Council meeting to call on the county to fix the problems now, rather than await a court order.

Relatives and friends of inmates who have suffered from conditions at the jail joined them. They offered powerful testimony to what their loved ones have experienced.

Andrews and two mothers of inmates spoke briefly – each limited to two minutes – during the council meeting. Council members did not ask questions or respond.

The request for the injunction, filed July 22, and supporting documents describe worsening conditions at the jail. These include:

Eyewitness accounts of the recent suicide of a 20-year-old woman who hung herself in her cell. A psychiatrist declared that “The lack of formal suicide assessments and appropriate watch and unsanitary environment both increase the substantial risk of harm to detainees at ASGDC.”
Numbers demonstrating what one expert describes as “worsening inmate population growth, minimal improvement in staffing levels, and skyrocketing inmate-to-staff ratios.” For instance, fewer than one out of every three open security jobs at the jail had been filled. Meanwhile, in 2023 the inmate population averaged 701, and that had climbed to over 1,000 in July, 2024.
Grossly unsanitary conditions, causing the presence of human waste in cells. An inspection conducted in January 2024 found 104 of 315 toilets and 14 of 18 urinals were inoperable. Inmates have limited access to clean drinking water.
Evidence of dysfunction that goes far beyond the overcrowding and lack of supervision. The reports mention: door and cell locks that do not work, failing to contain inmates or protect them from attacks by others; unnecessary and excessive force used by staff on inmates; failure to provide physically or mentally ill inmates with needed medication or care; and violations of minimal fire safety standards.
The summation by one corrections professional with almost 50 years’ experience: “My conclusions are that ASGDC is failing, and for years has failed, to protect men and women confined there from inmate-on-inmate violence, inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse, staff on inmate excessive and unnecessary use of force, and to provide safe and sanitary living conditions. These failures do occur in other correctional facilities, however, the extent and magnitude of these failures by ASGDC sets it apart. The operational and security deficiencies, hazardous physical plant conditions, and denial of basic life necessities in totality are unique to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.”