Seven Inmates Killed Following Incident at Maximum Security Prison

Several hours of fighting at a maximum security prison in South Carolina led to the death of seven inmates.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Apr 17, 2018

Seven inmates are dead and 17 more require outside medical care after a fight between prisoners broke out in a maximum security prison in South Carolina.

Lee Correctional Institution spokesman Jeff Taillon said the fights began around 7:15 p.m. on Sunday night. State Law Enforcement Division agents worked to secure the prison for hours, finally completing the task around 3 a.m. on Monday.

Taillon said no officers were wounded after multiple inmate fights broke out, but 17 inmates were seriously injured and would require care from outside the facilities.

Lee Correctional Institution was secured at 2:55 AM following an incident which started at 7:15 PM. The incident involved multiple inmate on inmate altercations in three housing units.

— SC Dept. Corrections (@SCDCNews) April 16, 2018

The South Carolina Department of Corrections tweeted that the incident involved multiple inmate-on-inmate altercations in three housing units.

The maximum security facility in Bishopville houses about 1,500 inmates, some of South Carolina's most violent and longest-serving offenders. Two officers were stabbed at the prison in a 2015 fights. One inmate killed another in February.

The deaths in Sunday night's incident are the most in any South Carolina prison in recent years. Four inmates were killed by a pair of prisoners in the state's Kirkland Correctional Institution last year.