How did inmates climb onto the roof of SC maximum-security prison?

State corrections agents are still trying to determine how several inmates at a South Carolina prison climbed onto the roof one of one of the prison’s dorms last week.

The S.C. Department of Corrections remains tight-lipped about the investigation, but department spokesman Dexter Lee said those inmates identified as participating in Wednesday’s disturbance at McCormick Correctional Institution will face criminal and disciplinary charges.

Officials have said a handful of inmates climbed onto the roof of a dorm at the McCormick County prison, which is one of six maximum-security facilities in the state. Initial reports from other media outlets at the time indicated a fire in the prison, but Corrections officials said there was never a fire.

“We responded to a structure fire call at the prison,” said Chris Doolittle, director of McCormick County Emergency Services. “The report came into 911 from inside the prison system.”

Doolittle said it remains unclear who placed the call, including whether it was a prison employee or an inmate. The State newspaper has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the audio from the call.

McCormick County firefighters responded to the prison and staged themselves outside the fence. Doolittle said they later were told by prison officials that they were not needed.

Deputies from the McCormick County Sheriff’s Department also responded. Maj. Robbie Christie said deputies waited at the fence around the prison until they were told the situation had been contained.

The dorm where the disturbance happened is a disciplinary dorm, which Lee said is for inmates who have committed “serious violations” of Department of Corrections rules. There were 38 inmates assigned to the dorm when last week’s disturbance happened, one of whom was treated on scene for non-life threatening injuries. No staff members were injured.

The prison has 174 correctional officer positions, of which 109 are currently filled, Lee said.

Officials told the Associated Press last week that they did not see the incident as a serious escape attempt because the inmates would have had to get through at least three fences topped with razor wire to escape.

In December, an inmate serving a life sentence escaped the McCormick prison on a food truck and stabbed a Columbia police officer at a store on Bush River Road. He later was captured while trying to enter a locked Lexington school.

That escape came less than a month after an inmate was killed in the prison by another inmate.