Justice Department Finds Conditions in Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in South Carolina Violate the Constitution

The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of confinement at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center (the Jail) in Columbia, South Carolina, violate the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The department's report details the findings of a comprehensive investigation of the Jail, which is funded and operated by Richland County through an Administrator and Director. The Jail currently houses approximately 965 people.

The department concluded that the county and Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center violate the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at the Jail. Specifically, the department found that the Jail fails to provide reasonable safety and to protect incarcerated people from serious harm and death by physical violence from other incarcerated people, including assaults with weapons, assaults by multiple people on single victims and sexual assaults.

"Incarceration in our nation's jails should not expose a person to severe and pervasive violence like that in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Most people in the jail have not been convicted of any crime - they are awaiting hearings or trial dates. They have a right to be free of violence, threats and sexual assault. The Jail has a constitutional duty to protect people in its care from the horrific violations we uncovered here. We hope Richland County and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center will respond to our findings by working with the Justice Department to implement much-needed reforms."

"The conditions inside the Richland County jail are a matter of life and death. Individuals accused of crimes in Richland County should not face a death sentence before they ever see a court room," said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs for the District of South Carolina. "By addressing the remedial measures outlined in our findings, we believe this can change. We hope to work with Richland County and the detention center to make it a safer place for both detainees and staff."

Systemic problems that have persisted at the Jail for years engender severe violence and avoidable harm. There were at least 60 stabbings in the Jail in 2023. Gangs prey on incarcerated people. Weapons, drugs and contraband cell phones are commonplace and facilitate gang control and violence in the Jail. Inadequate staffing, a deteriorating facility and systemic security lapses, such as deficient prisoner supervision, inadequate internal investigations and lax contraband prevention, yield an ongoing failure to protect incarcerated people from violence. Jail leadership knows about these conditions, and others detailed in the report, which fall far below the constitutional minimum.

The department conducted its investigation of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), which authorizes the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The department provided Richland County and the Jail with written notice of the supporting facts for its conclusions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the alleged violations. The department is committed to working with the county and Jail toward a cooperative solution.

The Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section conducted this investigation jointly with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina. The findings announced today are the result of the department's civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.

The Civil Rights Division continues to prioritize unconstitutional conditions and violations of federal law in correctional and juvenile justice facilities. It opened new investigations into prisons and jails in Tennessee, California, South Carolina and juvenile justice facilities across Kentucky. The division also issued findings in its investigations of Mississippi prisons, Texas juvenile justice system's facilities, the Georgia Department of Corrections and San Luis Obispo County, California, Jail. The division entered into agreements, including consent decrees, covering the Fulton County, Georgia, Jail, Cumberland County, New Jersey, Jail, the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, the Broad River Road Complex in South Carolina, the Manson Youth Institution in Connecticut and the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The division is also litigating matters related to the constitutionality of conditions in Alabama's prisons for men and the incarceration of people beyond their release dates in Louisiana prisons.

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and its Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations by completing the complaint form available at civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the department's investigation of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, please call 1-888-473-3201 or email the department at [email protected].