The Department of Justice found themselves another jail to probe following the gruesome death of a Black inmate. The victim’s family says his body was found riddled with rat bites in his solitary confinement cell.
The department announced two civil rights investigations into the conditions of the Sheriff AL Cannon Detention Center and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center (ASGDC) located in South Carolina. In a statement, the Feds said they decided there was “significant justification” to launch the probe based on an extensive review of public information and allegations by families that their loved ones died from a use of force or negligence.
One of those inmates was 27-year-old Lason Butler. He was booked into ASGDC in January for several traffic charges, per WIS10. However, his family claims he was isolated to solitary confinement and denied medical care or basic needs like water. His screams for help went ignored, they said. By February, the report says he died of dehydration. His body was 42 pounds lighter and covered with rat bites which family attorney Bakari Sellers said maimed Butler while he was still alive.
His death was ruled a homicide.
“People confined in local jails across our country do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We are launching these investigations to determine whether the jail conditions in two of South Carolina’s largest counties comply with basic constitutional standards.”
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Clarke reported six known deaths since February 2022 at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia. Investigators will look into whether people there are adequately protected from violence and subjected to dangerous living conditions.
The capital city jail has also recently seen two escapes, one riot, 16 confirmed reports of stabbings or assaults and two alleged rapes, according to Clarke.
Thursday’s announcement followed calls from civil rights attorneys for investigations into the facilities. Butler’s lawyers accused local officials of neglecting a jail they described as a “death trap” in a Thursday news release.
The department had previously announced a probe into the conditions of Fulton County Jail in Atlanta after the death of LaShawn Thompson who was found dead in a filthy jail cell and allegedly eaten alive bed bugs.