Smoky Mountain Journal -South Carolina Prison Riots Leave 7 Dead, 17 Injured Near Columbia




The Great Smoky Mountain Journal Source: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:47 PM

South Carolina Prison Riots Leave 7 Dead, 17 Injured Near Columbia
A South Carolina prisons spokesman says seven inmates are dead and 17 others required outside medical attention after hours of fighting inside a maximum security prison. Prisons spokesman Jeff Taillon announced the grim outcome after State Law Enforcement Division agents helped secure Lee Correctional Institution around 3 a.m. Monday. Taillon said no officers were wounded after multiple inmate fights broke out at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Lee County Fire/Rescue said ambulances from at least seven jurisdictions lined up outside the prison to tend to the wounded. The local coroner's office also responded. The maximum-security facility in Bishopville houses about 1,500 inmates, some of South Carolina's most violent and longest-serving offenders. Two officers were stabbed in a 2015 fight. One inmate killed another in February. (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)