Man dies a month after being sent to SC prison, testing positive for COVID-19
Less than a month after being taken to a South Carolina prison, where he tested positive for COVID-19, an inmate has died, according to the Department of Corrections.
Robert Lee Ficklin died at Lieber Correctional Institute Monday, Department of Corrections officials said in a news release. The 58-year-old is the eighth inmate held at a South Carolina prison to die after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Department of Corrections said.
After Ficklin tested positive in the first week in July, prison officials said they suspended receiving any new inmates from county facilities through at least the rest of the month.
Ficklin, who the Department of Corrections said had “several underlying medical conditions,” was the first inmate at Lieber confirmed to have COVID-19, according to the release. He was admitted to Lieber after being locked up at the Laurens County Detention Center, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chrysti Shain told The State.
He had a fever and cough when he was admitted to the temporary reception and evaluation center at the high-security prison in Ridgeville on June 23, officials said. Those symptoms were “consistent with his other illnesses,” according to the release. Information on Ficklin’s previous condition was not available.
He was tested for COVID-19, and the initial results were negative, according to the Department of Corrections.
Like all other new arrivals to the prison, Ficklin was put in quarantine for 14 days, according to the release. As his condition from his preexisting conditions got worse, Ficklin was taken to an area hospital, where it was confirmed he had the coronavirus, Shain said.
When Ficklin showed signs of improvement from his previous ailments, he returned to Lieber and was isolated in the prison’s infirmary until he died, according to Shain. Ficklin was never released into the general population at Lieber, Shain said.
Through Monday, 13 inmates and 13 staff members at Lieber tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.
Across the 21 prisons in South Carolina operated by the Department of Corrections, there have been 639 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among inmates, according to the release. While 155 have recovered, 484 inmates are still active COVID-19 patients, officials said.
The first prisoner in South Carolina to test positive for COVID-19 was reported in April.
Overall, 107 of the 221 Department of Corrections staff members who have tested positive for the coronavirus have been cleared, according to prison officials.
Approximately 5,000 people work at the Department of Corrections, and there are 16,802 inmates in South Carolina prisons.
The Department of Corrections said it’s working closely with the Department of Health and Environmental Control “to ensure proper guidelines and protocols are being followed to safely manage our staff and offenders,” according to the release.
Last week, the Department of Corrections said it is expanding testing for the coronavirus at several prisons reporting the highest infection rates. That includes Tyger River, Kirkland, and MacDougall correctional institutions.
At Tyger River in Enoree, 14 of the 224 inmates there who’ve tested positive have recovered, while six of 26 employees confirmed to have the virus have been cleared, officials said.
Kirkland in Columbia has reported 112 prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19, with 52 being cleared, and a dozen of the 33 staff members confirmed to have the virus have recovered, according to Department of Corrections.
Through Monday, 108 inmates and 16 staff members at MacDougall have tested positive for COVID-19, with eight prisoners and three employees recovering, officials said. In the past week, 24 new cases have bveen confirmed among inmates at the all-male, medium-security prison outside of Charleston, where three inmates have died since July 7 after testing positive for COVID-19.
This is the second time during the coronavirus pandemic that the Department of Corrections has stopped taking inmates from county detention centers, according to Shain.
The first suspension happened when cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at Kirkland, SCDC’s primary reception and evaluation center. Those intake responsibilities were then shifted to Lieber, and prison officials are now reevaluating the process of admitting new inmates, according to Shain.
“We’re not going to take a risk,” Shain said.
When Ficklin was admitted to Lieber, it was the seventh time he was sentenced to prison in South Carolina. Shain said Ficklin had previously been an SCDC inmate after convictions in 1989, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2012.
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This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 9:01 AM.
