Special team hired to prosecute Lee Correctional killings, SC prison officials say
More than a year after the deadly prison riot at South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution, officials have decided to hire a special team to prosecute the crimes committed during the fighting, according to a statement from the S.C. Department of Corrections.
The team, which consists of a former circuit judge and a former prosecutor, will review the results of an investigation into the April 2018 riot, according to the statement. Then, they will decide which charges will be brought forward and against whom.
“This case demands a tremendous amount of resources and expertise, and this team has the years of experience to handle the prosecution,” Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said in the statement.
While no charges have been announced in connection to the riot and the seven deaths that resulted, and few details about what transpired have been released, the investigation into what happened on the night of April 15 wrapped up in April this year. That’s when the department’s Police Services Division turned over the investigative file to the Third Judicial Circuit’s Solicitor’s Office. Solicitor Ernest Finney and Corrections officials decided to hire the special prosecution team, Corrections announced Friday.
The team consists of retired state Judge Knox McMahon, who served 12 years on the bench and several years as a prosecutor, and former prosecutor Kathryn Luck Campbell of the state’s Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
McMahon was selected for the team earlier this month, according to the statement. Campbell will begin her work Monday.
The results of Police Services’ investigation has largely been kept under wraps, though the day following the riot, Stirling and S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster blamed the cause of the riot on a fight over cell phones and territory.
Later, two former Department of Corrections officials have challenged that explanation for the riot.
Former Lee Correctional Warden Aaron Joyner blamed a mass transfer of inmates and chronic understaffing for causing the riot. Joyner, who was in charge of the prison during the riot and retired after, has a pending lawsuit against Corrections officials, claiming they were using him as a scapegoat for the riot.
Though corrections officials have admitted to needing hundreds of more security staff, some reports commissioned by the department have suggested that number could be more than 2,000.
In an exclusive interview with The State, former Deputy Director of Operations Michael McCall, who was in charge of operations across all S.C. Corrections facilities at the time of the riot, said there were several warning signs ahead of the riot that department officials ignored, including more armed inmates and broken doors in a dorm.
This story was originally published May 31, 2019 at 1:27 PM.
