Lee Correctional Institution, Lee County, South Carolina
September 13, 2012
A correctional guard was overpowered during an uprising in the Sumter Unit, which houses 120 prisoners. During the disturbance, prisoners took the correctional guard’s keys, pepper spray, and vest before he was held in a closet for 5 hours. The guard sustained minor injuries before hostage negotiators spoke with prisoners through their contraband cell phones and armed correctional guards entered the unit. There are no reports from prisoners for the reasons for this disturbance, but state officials cite overcrowding, a shortage of personnel, and a lack of rehabilitative programming as reasons for the uprising.
Citations:
“Inmate charged in 2012 riot at Lee Correctional Institute in Bishopville“, SC Now, November 14, 2013.
“Locked in During Lockdown“, The Sumter Item, December 13, 2018.
