We know little about a death at Richland’s jail. Has the county learned nothing?
An inmate is reported to have died in Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
We know nearly nothing beyond the detainee’s name — James W. Mitchell. He was 38.
A Richland County spokesperson would only confirm that a death happened, The State’s Ted Clifford reported Thursday. The jail’s administration wouldn’t answer The State’s calls. Even Mitchell’s lawyer said “I’m actively trying to figure out what happened . . . But I can’t even get the jail to answer a phone call, I’ve called every number I can think of.”
That sentence should never be said by a lawyer about a jail.
The problems with Richland County’s jail, which have been extensively reported by The State during the last year, were never going to be fixed overnight. But when a judge earlier this year ordered the jail administration to fix conditions that were keeping lawyers from their clients, one would believe the county would have acted with all haste to comply with that order.
This latest news is an ominous sign that the first steps toward improving the jail have not been taken. One of the first steps should be maximum transparency.
But another step is even more important. Empathy.
The first step in fixing the problems at Alvin S. Glenn should be Richland County administrators — especially those at the jail —putting themselves in the detainees’ shoes and, in cases like Mitchell’s, to think what the dead detainee’s family is feeling right now.
That first step should be a spokesperson who says: “We had a death. It’s tragic. We wish this had never happened. We’re sending our thoughts to the family,” and a jail administration that said the same, and for them to mean it, for them to feel it.
The start of fixing the problems at Alvin S. Glenn isn’t simply focusing on the issues plaguing the jail. It begins with focusing on humanity.
In no other function of Richland County is the goodness or cruelty of humanity played out more than in the jail.
Does the county value innocence before guilt? Does the county value fairness through legal representation? With another death, does the county value life and the ability of a person to redeem themselves from whatever landed them in jail?
If it does value these qualities, the jail will be improved. But that improvement comes with caring.
Some may read this and say that ideas on empathy and humanity are meaningless platitudes. Well, you’re wrong. Empathy and humanity are not platitudes. These qualities are the basis for good administration and governance.
We know little about the death in Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
But we know that this was someone’s child. Someone who was loved at some point in his life. We know that he has a family.
We know that the county and its jail must operate with the utmost transparency.
What I know from more than a year of reporting about the problems at the jail is that the county administration must care — not only about staff or upgrades to the facilities and technology, but care about the people detained in the jail.
This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 4:10 PM.