After rape at Richland jail, victim was returned to same dorm, lawyers say. He was raped again

A Columbia law firm known for its litigation against the troubled Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center said it is representing a 21-year-old inmate who the firm says was repeatedly raped by multiple inmates and a guard.

Attorneys have said that the inmate, who was detained on what they described as a “simple drug charge,” was sexually assaulted on at least two occasions by four people. After the first sexual assault, jail officials placed the victim back in the same dorm, according to attorneys from the Strom Law Firm, who renewed their call for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Richland County jail.

“One sexual assault is too many. One time is unacceptable. This young man was subjected to multiple assaults by multiple perpetrators, including an Alvin S. Glenn detention officer,” said Bakari Sellers, who is representing the unnamed inmate. “And after the first assault, jail staff returned this young man to the same dorm where the first assault occurred. They literally sent the victim back to the scene of the crime so he could be sexually assaulted again”

County spokesperson Susan O’Cain said the incident is being investigated by the county sheriff’s department. The detention center notified the sheriff’s department upon receiving the allegations,” she said.

O’Cain declined to provide any further information into allegations that a guard was involved in the sexual assault, stating that the Richland County Sheriff’s Department was handling the investigation.

The assaults took place on Aug. 26 and Sept. 1 inside of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, said Alexandra Benevento, an attorney at the Strom Law Firm.

Those correspond with sexual assaults inside the jail that the Richland County Sheriff’s Department had previously announced it was investigating. While the sheriff’s department declined to release the name of the victim citing protections for victims of sexual assault, the department confirmed it was the same victim in both cases. There were no other investigations for criminal sexual conduct during the same time period, a sheriff’s department spokesperson confirmed.

Both attacks were described as “forcible rapes” in heavily redacted incident reports provided by the sheriff’s department. In both cases, investigators responded to a Richland County hospital where an inmate said that they had been sexually assaulted. Rape kits were collected in both cases, according to the incident reports.

On the Sept. 1 report, a “lethal cutting instrument” is listed as the weapon involved. Deputies wrote on the Sept. 1 report that they had notified the director of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, Crayman Harvey, about the attack and had asked him to keep the victim separated from “all subjects.”

“This is every parent’s nightmare. Our client is presumed innocent, detained for a non-violent drug charge. Instead of keeping him safe, the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, through its inexcusable incompetence and indifference, set the stage for the most horrific and unimaginable violations someone can experience,” Benevento said. “This young man’s life is forever changed. When is enough going to be enough?”

“Every single member of the public should be outraged by these horrific failures,” Benevento said.

A statement on the Richland County Administration’s website said the detention center “maintains a Zero Tolerance policy for sexual harassment of inmates.” Under a section headlined Prison Rape Elimination Act, referring to the 2003 law passed by Congress to address sexual abuse of individuals in custody, Richland County states “every inmate has the right to be free from sexual abuse and the Alvin S Glenn Detention Center is committed to providing professional law enforcement services that enhance the quality of life for all citizens of Richland County.”

With Friday’s statement, Sellers and Benevento once again called for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the jail. In February, following the violent murder of an inmate inside of his own cell, Sellers sent a letter to the justice department requesting an investigation into the jail and the county “for the inhumane conditions in which it houses detainees, as well as the violence and medical neglect they inflict.”

The Strom Law Firm has emerged as one of the loudest voices calling for a complete overhaul of the troubled jail.

Benvento and Sellers have brought eight federal lawsuits against the jail and Richland County alleging widespread abuses by detention center officers, including assaults and neglect inside of the jail.

Foremost among the cases brought by Sellers and Benevento is the lawsuit on behalf of the family of Lason Butler, who died in the jail in February, 2022. Butler, a 27-year-old resident of Orangeburg, died of dehydration inside of the jail while suffering a mental health crisis.

Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford ruled his death a homicide due to “lack of action” by the jail’s staff.

“How many more beatings, stabbings, sexual assaults and deaths need to happen on their watch before Richland County takes some meaningful action?” Benevento asked. “Alvin S. Glenn is hell on earth. It is a war zone.”

Ongoing concern over stabbings, assaults and other incidents at the jail prompted the South Carolina Department of Corrections to send inspectors into the facility in July. This came after the department issued an ultimatum following the February killing that the county submit a plan for improving the jail. Since then, the county has pledged to spend at least $12 million improving the facility and hiring more staff.

Richland County Administrator Leonardo Brown contradicted the Department of Corrections and denied that the July visit was an inspection.

Instead, the administrator characterized the first-of-its kind visit as a collaborative “offer for technical assistance” that had been “mischaracterized.”