‘Pig sty’ jail in Richland County should be closed after man died there, attorney says
The family of a man who died this month in the Richland County jail plan to pursue legal actions against the county and other parties, arguing his civil rights were violated in a place where conditions were described as deplorable and inhumane.
“That pig sty on Bluff Road needs to be shut down. You wouldn’t house animals in there,” attorney Bakari Sellers said at a Tuesday news conference, referring to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where 27-year-old Lason Butler was found dead in a cell Feb. 12.
Sellers, a former South Carolina state representative who is representing Butler’s family along with Houston-based civil rights attorney Audia Jones, said they are calling for a federal investigation into the conditions at Alvin S. Glenn by the FBI and U.S. Attorneys Office, as well as calling on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate.
Butler is the third person to die in the Richland County jail in 2022, according to a court official. At least three people are known to have died inside the jail in 2021.
Biting rats, the stench of urine and feces, men locked in showers as punishment, and chronic understaffing were among the conditions at Alvin S. Glenn described by attorneys Tuesday.
The State has reached out to Richland County for comment regarding the attorneys’ statements about conditions at the jail.
The attorneys did not disclose Butler’s manner of death but said rat bites were found on his body.
Butler’s family members and their attorneys described him as “comical” and “fun-loving” and said he was in school for truck driving.
“He was violated,” said Butler’s mother, Lakeshia Butler. “You took the best of me when you took my son. ... You will never forget Lason J. Butler.”
Butler had a “promising future,” Deneathra Butler, his aunt. “There is nothing that we can do to bring him back, but we will be fighting for justice for Lason J. Butler and others.”
Sellers and Jones have said that Butler’s death was preventable and the result of understaffing and “deliberate indifference” at the jail.
Butler, a resident of Orangeburg, had been jailed since Jan. 31 on charges of reckless driving, failure to stop for police and driving with a suspended license. Court records show that he was granted a bond on Feb. 1 to get out of jail.
The fact that he was still in jail by Feb. 12 likely indicates that Butler had not paid the bond.
“It’s a barbaric system that we manage when we allow it to become a debtor’s, poor person’s jail, and that’s exactly what’s going on in Columbia with far too many of the individuals who are detained,” said Stuart Andrews, an attorney with Burnette Shutt McDaniel law firm, who noted that the conditions surrounding Butler’s death suggest “there is a crisis that’s emerging” at Alvin S. Glenn.
According to Andrews, some 650 detainees are held at Alvin S. Glenn. On some days, Andrews said, as few as 10 officers are present at the jail.
The day before Butler was found dead in his cell, Sellers said he had come to the jail to visit to clients. Sellers said he was told he could not meet with the detainees he was representing because there was not adequate staffing.
“That ain’t how you run a jail,” Sellers said.
The attorneys said they plan to push the county and other entities to reduce the jail population and to improve jail conditions in Richland County — including by shutting down Alvin S. Glenn in favor of a new facility, Sellers said.
Investigations followed two of the deaths reported at Alvin S. Glenn in 2021. Information about the findings of those investigations was not available.
Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center has been plagued by under-staffing and high turnover, which contributed to a riot at the jail in September.
Staff reporters Travis Bland and Noah Feit contributed to this story.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 1:49 PM.
