Tornado damage forces federal prison in SC to move inmates out of state
Inmates from a South Carolina prison, damaged by Monday’s tornado, will be moved to a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania.
According to Penn-Live.com, prisoners from FCI Estill, a medium-security prison located in Hampton County, will be moved to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Taylor confirmed Wednesday that inmates at FCI Estill, located west of Charleston, will be transferred but didn’t say where they were being moved.
“As a result of the extensive damage to the facility and infrastructure, we will begin relocating inmates from FCI Estill,” Taylor said. “For safety and security reasons, no additional information is being provided at this time..”
Taylor said the prison took a direct hit by the tornado but there were no injuries to staff or inmates. He added the institution command center has been activated as well as the Bureau of Prisons’ Regional Command Center, and emergency procedures have been put in place.
Visitations were already suspended as part of the BOP’s COVID-19 response.
Andrew Kline, president of Local 148 of the American Federal of Government Employees at Lewisburg, told Penn-Live he wasn’t sure when the prisoners would be moved but they will have to be quarantined for 14 days as a precaution against COVID-19.
There are 965 inmates at FCI Estill and another 222 at its satellite location, according to the BOP website. The Lewisburg prison has 542 total inmates, 179 at USP and 363 at its camp.
A EF-3 tornado, with winds up to 165 mph, touched down in Hampton County early Monday morning. Severe storms demolished homes and wrecked power lines across several counties in destruction Gov. Henry McMaster described as “enormous.” At least 11 tornadoes touched down in South Carolina during severe weather on Monday that caused nine deaths, according to the National Weather Service.
McMaster toured the damage in Seneca on Monday and in Hampton County on Tuesday. McMaster declared a state of emergency in response to the devastation caused by Monday morning’s severe weather event.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 4:16 PM.
