Three inmates were stabbed during a violent altercation at Lee Correctional Institution near Bishopville, South Carolina late last week.
According to our sources, the incident occurred last Thursday at the level three (maximum security) facility – which is operated by the S.C. Department of Correction (SCDC). We’re told one inmate was stabbed more than two dozen times and had to receive a “lung splint” in the aftermath of the melee.
Is that accurate?
“There was a lung injury … (but) I’m told it was under ten stab wounds and could be less than that number but not twenty-five,” a source close to the prison told us.
What precipitated the violence?
So far, it’s unclear …
“We don’t know why … it’s under investigation,” our prison source said.
This news site has been extensively chronicling violence in Palmetto State prisons in recent years – including a fatal stabbing that took place at Lee last November. To read some of our recent reports chronicling this untenable situation, click here, here and here. And to read some of our proposed solutions, click here.
Those who have loved ones behind bars say they the situation has gotten out of control.
“No one cares about these men dying,” the family member of a SCDC inmate told us. “Criminals or not, they were sentenced to time – not death.”
They also lament the lack of coverage provided to these incidents.
“No news station has picked up the story,” the family member told us.
Generally, SCDC notifies the public when prison violence results in the death of an inmate. Why don’t they announce details of other incidents? According to our sources, it’s often because they don’t have them.
“We get so much wrong info it’s hard to really know until we investigate,” our prison source said. “And usually no (inmates) cooperate so its hard to really know what happened until much later.”
Developing …
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Banner: iStock