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A detainee in the custody of Richland County, South Carolina briefly escaped early Tuesday morning (July 11, 2023) from the Alvin S. Glenn detention center.
Or did he?
According to the Richland County sheriff’s department, 38-year-old Charles Kenneth Meador was last seen inside the facility at approximately 3:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. He was “not located later during a regular count of detainees,” however. In response, Richland county deputies “barricaded” entranceways and exits to the facility, sources familiar with the situation told us.
“Blue lights (are) everywhere,” one witness told us, describing the scene at the jail early Tuesday.
Thankfully, deputies reported apprehending Meador prior to 8:50 a.m. EDT.
Did he actually escape, though? Or did prison officials simply lose track of him?
(Click to View)
Sources familiar with the situation claimed Meador “did not escape” and was merely “lost” in the system.
Richland County sheriff’s deputies confirmed Meador did escape, though – saying he was apprehended “in the parking lot of Knights Inn on Bush River Road,” a hotel located approximately 13 miles northwest of the detention center.
Previously, Richland County had claimed Meador was apprehended in the 700 block of Zimalcrest Road – also approximately 13 miles northwest of the detention center.
There is no confusion about the fact Meador has plenty of charges on his rap sheet. He was charged last November in connection with a stolen vehicle and failure to stop for blue lights. He was subsequently charged with carrying or concealing a weapon behind bars. All of those charges are currently pending in the S.C. eleventh judicial circuit.
Meador is also facing charges in the S.C. fifth judicial circuit including larceny, burglary, drug possession, failure to stop for blue lights, reckless driving and resisting arrest – all filed against him within the last two-and-a-half years.
According to Noah Feit of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper, no information was immediately available as to how Meador escaped. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said no one was hurt during his escape and there was no indication he was armed during his brief period of freedom.
(Click to View)
As this news outlet has previously reported, the “Glenn” is on the verge of a state takeover due to its repeated failure to address basic inmate needs.
Back in February, we published a column from Columbia, S.C. attorney Alexandra “Ally” Benevento about the plight of inmates at this facility.
“Society must do a serious gut check on how it handles punishment and why,” Benevento wrote. “Do we care about rehabilitation and deterrence or do we merely aim to incapacitate criminals and seek retribution for wrongs? On a micro level, the citizens and lawmakers of South Carolina must decide whether we can, in good conscience, continue to fill up our jails knowing the jails are woefully incapable of handling their most basic of responsibility – making sure the people in them stay alive.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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2 comments
What a pity and a shame that a man who died in the line of duty, Alvin S Glenn, had that sh-t hole named supposedly in his honor. There appears to be nothing honorable left about that place. There is no adequate control over some of the inmates nor is reasonable safety afforded others, given the unusually high number of deaths and other incidents that occur there. They should remove Mr Glenn’s name from that facility and find some other way of remembering Mr Glenn and truly honoring his memory.
“Did he actually escape, though? Or did prison officials simply lose track of him?”
I’d say an escaped prisoner is the very definition of prison officials losing track him.