2 guards hurt after riot at county jail in South Carolina
Sep 3, 2021, 8:27 AM | Updated: 8:45 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Prisoners attacked two officers at a South Carolina county jail on Friday and destroyed much of a unit housing about 50 inmates before a special team of officers “used a show of force” to end the riot, a sheriff said.
The officers at the Richland County jail were hospitalized and are expected to survive, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a news conference. No inmates were injured, the sheriff said.
The officers were attacked around 8 a.m. Friday. Investigators are still trying to determine how many of the 50 inmates in the pod were involved in the riot, Lott said.
Jail staff called a special response team, which stopped the riot without attacking any inmates or using tear gas.
“We used a show of force. We wanted them to know we were not playing. They had already injured 2 of the guards and we were not going to let anyone else get injured,” Lott said.
Deputies ordered everyone back into their cells and were taking them out individually to another wing of the jail, Lott said.
Deputies have found one homemade knife so far, the sheriff said.
Lott said the experience for the guards was harrowing even if their physical injuries aren’t life-threatening.
“You got attacked by multiple inmates and you were at their mercy for a while,” Lott said.
The jail is named for officer Alvin S. Glenn, who was beaten and strangled by three inmates trying to escape in 2000.
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