Longest-serving SC death row inmate dies of natural causes at 81
The longest-serving inmate on death row in South Carolina died of natural causes, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Fred Singleton, 81, was pronounced dead at the Kirkland Correctional Institution’s infirmary Monday, according to a post on X by the corrections department. Singleton had been on death row for 42 years.
Singleton, who was also the oldest inmate on the state’s death row, was convicted in 1983 after sexually assaulting a 73-year-old woman and strangling her to death with a bedsheet in Newberry County.
Following his 1985 death sentence, Singleton filed several petitions for post-conviction relief, often the last option to overturn a conviction. He asserted incompetency for execution, but was denied by several courts between 1986 and 1990.
In 1990, a judge ruled Singleton was unable to be executed on the basis of his mental incapacity from brain damage, vacating his death sentence and imposing a life sentence instead. The state appealed in 1991, sending the case to the S.C Supreme Court.
One issue arose in Singleton’s case that would impact South Carolina’s landscape on privacy: the ability of the state to implement forced medication of inmates to ensure competency for execution.
Expanding upon two other U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with forced medication, Washington v. Harper and Riggins v. Nevada, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled that forced medication of an inmate solely for execution would violate South Carolina’s constitutional right to privacy. The 1993 decision asserted that inmates “must be free from unwarranted medical intrusions,” in addition to affirming medical ethics on giving medication for the purpose of execution.
Twenty-four men now remain on the state’s death row, with the oldest being Jamie Wilson, 56, who was convicted of killing two elementary students and wounding several other children and school employees at Oakland Elementary School in Greenwood in 1988.
This story was originally published October 11, 2025 at 12:12 PM.
