On Sunday night, prolonged fighting at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina ended with 7 inmates killed and at least 17 more injured. ABC News reports word from spokesperson Jeff Taillon, who stated that the fights began in multiple housing units at the maximum-security facility at around 7:15pm, and the violence continued until at least 3:00am when State Law Enforcement Division agents secured the premises, which house around 1,500 inmates.
No guards were wounded during these fights, the news of which is arriving with gruesome detail. The Associated Press reports that the altercations appear to have mostly been conducted by knife, according to the coroner:
Lee County Coroner Larry Logan told The Associated Press that he arrived to a chaotic scene of fights everywhere at Lee Correctional Institution.
Logan says it appears most of the seven were killed by stabbing or slashing. He says others may have been beaten, but autopsies will be needed to confirm what caused their deaths.
As the New York Times points out, a Lee Correctional Institution ex-warden, Michael McCall, called this the “most dangerous prison” in the state. He made this statement in 2013, and since then, more fight-related violence has plagued the institution with two guards stabbed during a 2015 incident and three inmates killed during separate 2017 fights.
(Via ABC News, Associated Press & New York Times)