House Democrats call for investigation of fatal SC prison riot

S.C. House Democrats called Tuesday for an investigation into the S.C. Department of Corrections after seven S.C. inmates were killed and 22 more were injured in a riot at a maximum-security prison.

State Rep. James Smith of Richland — one of three Democrats running for governor in the June primary — said South Carolina is at a "crisis point" and called on legislators to take action.

"Inmates, their safety should be guaranteed along with those that work there (at the prisons) and the public," he said.

Smith said a House committee had been asked to investigate the state Corrections Department and conditions in the state's 21 prisons. Democrats hope the investigation prompts action to make S.C. prisons safer.

Seven inmates died in what prison officials said was a "gang-related" brawl that began Sunday night and lasted into Monday morning in three dorms at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville.

A disagreement over territory, contraband and cellphones sparked the fights, said Corrections Department Director Bryan Stirling.

The deaths of seven men — in the worst U.S. prison riot in 25 years — had some lawmakers calling Tuesday for the state to find more money so the Corrections Department can fill job vacancies at the state's prisons.

About 28 percent of the positions for correctional officers at Lee Correctional are vacant, Stirling said Monday. That is slightly higher than the agency's overall vacancy rate of 25 percent.

State leaders say the prison system's staffing woes are a direct result of low pay and undesirable, sometimes violent, working conditions.

The average starting salary for correctional officers at maximum-security prisons is $34,596.

However, corrections officers are set to get a small raise in the next year as part of the state budget that takes effect July 1. The S.C. House added about $3.7 million to its version of the state budget to give corrections officers a raise — about $750 apiece. The Senate added $5 million, bumping that raise to about $1,000 apiece, the amount requested by the Corrections Department.

Later this month, the differing House and Senate versions of the budget likely will head to negotiations between House and Senate members.

Adding more money for Corrections this late in the budget process would take a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate — a move rarely taken by the chambers, House Ways and Means chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, said Tuesday.

"The approach we've taken is looking ... (at) those folks on the bottom of the pay band, to get them up," White said. "It's going to take some time. That's our goal."

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 1:54 PM with the headline "House Democrats call for investigation of fatal SC prison riot."