SC juvenile justice detention center secure after 2 hurt in disturbance, officials say

Youth at a state Department of Juvenile Justice detention center in Columbia assaulted a staff member and damaged vehicles and property with hammers Tuesday morning, DJJ Executive Director Eden Hendrick said in statement.

The staff member’s injuries are non-life threatening.

One juvenile was also injured during the incident, Renee Wunderlich, spokesperson for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, told The State. The juvenile’s injuries were not considered life threatening, according to Hendrick.

Further information on the staff member and juvenile’s conditions was not available.

The disturbance drew several dozen law enforcement officers top the center on Broad River Road. The facility was declared secure around midday.

“All juveniles and staff are accounted for,” Wunderlich said.

The facility is in Columbia, near South Carolina Department of Corrections facilities and SLED headquarters in the area between Interstate 20 and the Broad River.

There was a large law enforcement presence at the facility, Wunderlich said. That included Richland County deputies, the sheriff’s department told The State, and Columbia police were also spotted at the scene.

The FBI did not have agents at the scene, but Columbia field office spokesman Kevin Wheeler told The State that the agency was aware of the incident and ready to offer assistance if needed.

SLED is leading the investigation, according to Wunderlich.

The incident happened at the Birchwood School at the DJJ facility, but there was no word on the number of people involved.

Kezia Jordan, the daughter of a DJJ employee, was on the phone with her mother during the incident.

During the conversation, Jordan said her mother dropped the phone and she could hear someone in the background say they “had to go.”

Jordan’s mother was barricaded in a room and there was an “uproar” in the facility that included inmates smashing windows.

They weren’t being threatening, the inmates were just trying to get out, Jordan said.

“It’s frustrating to have a mom who works here ... it’s frightening ... I only have one mother,” Jordan said.

A similar incident happened at DJJ about a month ago, according to Jordan.

Widespread problems plaguing DJJ were detailed to a S.C. Senate panel in April 2021. They included staffing shortages, misdirected pay raises, poor training, and violence because the agency was unequipped to adequately supervise the juveniles in its care.

“It just looks to me like a dumpster fire,” S.C. Sen. Dick Harpootlian said after hearing the report in 2021.

A previous report in 2017, which prompted the resignation of former agency director Sylvia Murray, found the juvenile jail at the Broad River Road Complex in Columbia was unprepared for riots, which had plagued the facility, and that security policies and procedures were outdated and in need of revision.