He thought he could escape deadly SC riot. A guard locked him in with his attackers, lawsuit says

As prison inmates were stabbed and died around him, Javier Ferguson found a way out of the F-5 unit at Lee Correctional Institution.

He and other inmates were running for their lives after being attacked in the prison's common area, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. They managed to escape the dorm and make it to an outdoor area of the prison.

As they dashed across the yard, Ferguson looked up just in time to see a correctional officer locking the gate in front of him, trapping him with violent, armed prisoners.

Ferguson was stabbed numerous times in the head, neck, stomach and hand, according to the lawsuit. He climbed over a razor wire fence to get away, and was left bleeding in the prison's recreational yard for hours as his attackers moved on, leaving seven dead and 22 injured by the end of the riot.

Ferguson said he laid bleeding in full view of several correctional officers, according to the lawsuit. Some of his fellow inmates who climbed the fence with him died.

The lawsuit is one of 14 filed after the deadly April incident at Lee Correctional Institution, which houses some of South Carolina's most dangerous offenders. All detail claims of overcrowding, understaffing and armed prisoners.

In another lawsuit filed Monday, James Lee Williams detailed returning from the showers in the prison's F-3 unit to a scene of absolute chaos.

On his way back to his cell, he heard inmates yelling and saw a fellow inmate running towards him, according to the lawsuit. The inmate was stabbed several times before the armed assailant ran away.

Williams dragged the injured inmate's body back to a cell and tried to barricade the door between wings, according to the lawsuit. Though Williams and other prisoners were able to hold off the attackers for a while, the armed inmates eventually began "dispersing a chemical spray" and broke the barricade.

Williams was hit in the head and spine with a pipe or an "ax type weapon," according to the lawsuit. He was also stabbed in the head and thigh.

Williams and others injured in the fight hid until correctional officers regained control of the dorm several hours later, according to the lawsuit.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 11:38 AM with the headline "He thought he could escape deadly SC riot. A guard locked him in with his attackers, lawsuit says."