A new month has not lessened the violence between inmates being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
Two more assaults that resulted in inmates requiring medical treatment happened Sunday at the jail, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. In May, seven inmates were hospitalized following violent attacks in the jail.
In separate attacks, a 20-year-old inmate and a 53-year-old inmate were were injured in the most recent stabbings, the sheriff’s department said Monday in a news release.
At about 5:30 p.m., deputies responded to a call about a stabbing that had just happened at the jail, according to the release. The 20-year-old inmate was hurt during a fight with another inmate in the detention center’s P pod and was treated by medical staff at the jail, the sheriff’s department said.
Deputies were then informed of another attack that had happened earlier Sunday, according to the release.
That assault had taken place in E pod around 1:25 p.m., when a 53-year-old inmate had been punched and stabbed during a fight with two other inmates, the sheriff’s department said. The 53-year-old was taken to an area hospital for treatment, according to the release.
Further information on the inmates’ conditions was not available.
Deputies recovered a shank in both cases, but there was no word on a motive for the stabbings.
No arrests have been reported by the sheriff’s department, which is continuing to investigate the attacks.
Recent violence
There have been other recent violent incidents in the jail. Including Sunday’s attacks, deputies have reported seven hospitalizations for stabbings inside the jail since the start of May.
▪ On May 11, three inmates at the jail were stabbed in two attacks, according to the sheriff’s department.
The victims were taken to a local hospital by EMS, but further information about their conditions was not available.
There was no word on a motive in either of the attacks, and both were committed with a “lethal cutting instrument,” according to incident reports.
The sheriff’s department has not reported any arrests in either of the attacks.
▪ On May 25, a 29-year-old man who’s an inmate at the jail was found with a laceration and knot over his right eye and swelling all over his face around 11 p.m., the sheriff’s department said.
The inmate also suffered a 2-inch stab wound on his lower leg, along with multiple other cuts on his right arm and on both hands, according to the sheriff’s department.
He was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Further information on his condition was not available.
▪ On May 26, deputies were called to the jail at about 2:45 p.m. after jail staff reported that two inmates had gotten into a fight during recreation time.
During the fight, a 25-year-old male inmate received cuts to his upper body. Three homemade knives were recovered following the attack, according to the sheriff’s department.
▪ On May 27, deputies said they responded to reports of an assault at the jail in Columbia.
The deputies discovered that several inmates got into a fight in the jail’s medical dorm and a 35-year-old man locked up at the jail was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Further information on the inmate’s condition was not available.
No other injuries were reported.
There was no word about how many inmates were involved in the fight or the motive for the violence.
No arrests have been reported by the sheriff’s department, which is continuing to investigate the fight.
▪ On May 30, an inmate was taken to an area hospital after being stabbed, according to the sheriff’s department.
At about 9:15 p.m., deputies were called to the jail and learned an inmate had been taken to an area hospital after he was stabbed multiple times in the upper and lower body, the sheriff’s department said. Further information on the inmate’s condition was not available.
As in the other attacks, there was no word on a motive and no arrests had been reported by the sheriff’s department.
Ongoing problem
Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center has been under scrutiny because of severe understaffing, violence inside the jail and reports of poor conditions for detainees. Four people died at the jail between February 2022 and January 2023.
The jail is managed by the Richland County government, not the sheriff’s department.
In all, the sheriff’s department has reported 12 assaults in the jail in 2023.