Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks Announcing Civil Rights Investigations into Conditions in South Carolina Jails

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. I am joined today by United States Attorney Adair Boroughs for the District of South Carolina. 

We are here today to announce that the U.S. Department of Justice is launching civil investigations into two detention centers in South Carolina: the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, South Carolina. These investigations will examine the conditions of confinement for incarcerated people in these facilities. I will briefly address each matter.

Our investigation of the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center will focus on access to medical and mental health care, the use of restrictive housing or solitary confinement and the use of force by staff. We will also examine whether the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center discriminates against incarcerated people with psychiatric disabilities.

The investigation into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center will examine whether the jail fails to protect incarcerated people from violence and subjects incarcerated people to dangerous living conditions at the jail.

We are conducting both investigations pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. This federal law authorizes the Justice Department to investigate state institutions, including county jails, to determine whether incarcerated people are subjected to a pattern or practice of constitutional violations. The investigation into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center is also being conducted pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which mandates that incarcerated people with disabilities have the same access to public services and benefits as non-disabled incarcerated people.

Based on an extensive review of information that is publicly available or that we have received from stakeholders, we find significant justification to open these investigations now. We have been made aware of the following incidents at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center:

• In January 2021, Jamal Sutherland died after Detention Center staff tased and pepper sprayed him multiple times when he refused to leave his cell for a bond hearing. Staff dragged him to a restraint chair and placed him in a spit hood until he became unresponsive. Following Sutherland’s death, Sheriff Graziano acknowledged that the detention center does not have enough mental health providers. Additionally, a use-of-force expert for the county prosecutor found that Sutherland’s death was preventable.
• In December 2022, D’Angelo Brown, an individual with serious mental illness, died after spending months in isolation in the detention center’s mental health unit. Medical staff allegedly failed to administer prescribed psychiatric medications, causing Brown to decompensate severely. Brown was subsequently deemed not mentally competent to stand trial due to psychosis. Brown remained at the detention center, reportedly in the same neglectful conditions, until staff found him unconscious in his cell. He died eight days later at an outside hospital. The county coroner has attributed Brown’s death to “gross medical neglect” and ruled his death a homicide.
• Overall, there have been eight deaths at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center since 2022.

Our investigation into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center follows reports from public sources and stakeholders regarding the experience of incarcerated people at the facility.

• There have been six known deaths at the Detention Center since February 2022. In one case, an incarcerated person died from dehydration and the coroner ruled the death a homicide. In another case, an incarcerated person was killed brutally by other incarcerated persons after the detention center did not secure cell doors. These deaths have been accompanied by reports that the bodies of the deceased were not found for significant periods of time.
• In addition to these deaths, there have been at least two escapes, one riot, 16 confirmed reports of stabbings or assaults, and two alleged rapes. Nine incarcerated persons were reportedly injured in violent incidents at the detention center in May and June 2023 alone.
• The physical conditions at the detention center are also concerning, with reports of mold and vermin, and multiple violations by the State of South Carolina’s Department of Corrections, Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Fire Marshal.

Incarceration should not carry a risk of death or serious harm. But, just within the last week, two more incarcerated people have lost their lives at these facilities. Jails like the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center are often a critical first stop for those entering the criminal justice system. Many people who are arrested and charged with crimes spend at least some time in a local jail. In fact, the majority of people held inside jails have not been convicted, but they are awaiting bail hearings, competency evaluations and restoration services, or they are detained because of their inability to post bail. Some will see their charges dropped or are waiting to be transferred to other jurisdictions, while others await hearings in connection with their potential prosecution on criminal charges. Some are serving short sentences for misdemeanor violations. While some people who are arrested are released quickly from jail, far too many others remain for months — or even years — without being convicted. This is especially true for vulnerable populations, who due to poverty, lack of housing or drug addiction, are more likely to face repeated and longer stints in jail. At each detention center most of the individuals incarcerated are people of color. Regardless of someone’s alleged crimes, they deserve to be treated fairly, and they should not face substantial risks of serious harm while incarcerated.

The Supreme Court has held that, “There is no iron curtain drawn between the Constitution and the prisons of this country.” People in jails are entitled to basic protections of their civil rights, and jails must provide constitutional and humane conditions. These minimum standards require jails to provide adequate clothing, shelter, sanitation, protection from harm and medical and mental health care so that all people can live safely as they go through the criminal process.

Moreover, incarcerated people exercise little control over the conditions of their confinement and have limited means to address any mistreatment, leaving them uniquely vulnerable to abuse and neglect. It is critical that appropriate steps are taken to safeguard against unconstitutional conditions of confinement in jail and prison settings.

Addressing unconstitutional conditions in our prisons and jails is a top priority for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. I would like to take a moment to highlight the critical work we are doing to institute transformative change in our correctional facilities. For example:

• We recently opened an investigation into the Fulton County Jail in Georgia that is focused on living conditions, medical and mental health care, use of excessive force, protection from violence and discrimination against incarcerated persons with psychiatric disabilities.
• Last year, we secured a settlement agreement with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice requiring changes to increase safety at the Broad River Road Complex in Columbia, South Carolina, and limiting the use of force, restraints and isolation.
• We have secured settlements covering conditions in prisons in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and the jail in Cumberland County, New Jersey.
• We have issued findings reports describing unconstitutional conditions in jails in Cumberland County, New Jersey, and San Luis Obispo County and Alameda County, California; in prisons in Mississippi and Louisiana; and in the detention of youth in Connecticut and South Carolina.
• We have open statewide investigations into conditions at adult prisons in Georgia and juvenile detention centers in Texas.

We are committed to conducting independent, thorough and fair investigations. We have not drawn, and will not draw, any conclusions until our investigations are complete. If our investigations reveal reasonable cause to believe there is a systemic constitutional violation or a violation of the ADA, we will provide relevant authorities with written notice of the violation or violations, along with the supporting facts and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the violation or violations. We have briefed Charleston County and Richland County officials and we are pleased that officials in both jurisdictions have pledged their cooperation.

We are pleased to carry out these investigations with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.

I now turn it over to U.S. Attorney Boroughs who will offer remarks.