SC suspends assisted living home’s license after finding residents locked up

A Ridgeway assisted living facility’s license was suspended after residents there were locked up and unsupervised for over a day, according to the S.C. Department of Public Health.

After inspecting the home on Tuesday, the department issued an emergency license suspension to J C Laraes Southwinds Assisted Living Community.

Early that day, inspectors found five residents locked in a building without any staff present, the agency said in a press release. In a second building, the inspectors found three more residents, but the facility was only licensed to take care of five residents at a time. The second building did not have any staff in it for over 24 hours, the press release read.

If there had been a fire, the locked doors would have put the residents at risk, according to the DPH. Additionally, the agency described one resident as needing a higher level of care than what was available at the facility.

The facility’s owner arrived at the first building after a health department employee set off an alarm while opening the doors.

The health department inspectors “believed the conditions in the facility posed an immediate threat to the health, safety and welfare of the residents” and recommended the revocation of the community’s license, the release read. The residents have been relocated with the help of three other state agencies.

This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM.