Columbia Police Department re-apprehends detainee who escaped psychiatric hospital
Authorities in Richland County recaptured a detainee who escaped the G. Werber Bryan Psychiatric Hospital Friday night.
“The joint efforts of all involved agencies played a crucial role in the swift and safe recovery of the detainee,” a Richland County spokesperson wrote in a press release Saturday morning.
The detainee, whose name has not been released, was re-apprehended by the Columbia Police Department around 9:20 a.m. Saturday.
They had been on the run on the run since they escaped from the facility late the previous evening. Shortly before 11 p.m., staff at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center received a notification that a detainee had escaped from the facility, north of Columbia near Dentsville.
The inmate had been a detainee at the Richland County Jail but was being cared for at the hospital, which is run by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, according to a spokesperson for Richland County.
A county spokesperson said the county was unable to release the name of the escaped detainee. However, the detainee was at the state-run psychiatric facility following a court order.
In response to the situation, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department entered the information into the National Crime Information Center and issued a Be On the Lookout, better known as a “BOLO,” to law enforcement.
In a statement, county officials said that the information is preliminary and they were waiting an incident report from Bryan Psychiatric Hospital.
This is a breaking news story. Check back here for more updates.
This story was originally published January 13, 2024 at 9:03 AM.