| Greenville News
Twenty-nine men were charged in the April 2018 prison riot at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina, the most deadly prison riot in the United States in a quarter of a century.
Collectively, men face more than 60 charges, ranging from prisoners carrying or hiding weapons, to conspiracy, assault and mob beating resulting in serious injury or death, to murder.
The charges were announced Thursday in Columbia at a news conference that included South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Bryan Stirling, the director of the state’s Department of Corrections.
Original research: At least 41 inmates investigated on murder charges, records show
Seven prisoners died and nearly two dozen others were injured in the riot. Inmates with smuggled cell phones captured terrible photos and videos that were posted on social media.
They showed a man lying next to a pool of his own blood, corpses piled against the prison fence and a shower curtain draped over another body. These images provided bloody snapshots of violence that started around 7 pm on a Sunday and went uninterrupted for seven hours.
The men who were killed are: Raymond Angelo Scott; Michael Milledge; Damonte Marquez Rivera; Eddie Casey Jay Gaskins: Joshua Svwin Jenkins; Corey Scott
and Cornelius Quantral McClary.
The violence focused on three dormitories in the maximum security prison: F-1, F-3 and F-5. It involved members of three rival gangs of inmates, officials said at the news conference, according to a live broadcast of the event by WSPA.
Milledge was one of the first to be killed. Other inmates then retaliated against Rivera and others who were part of his gang, according to authorities.
To know more: A special team was hired to process Lee’s cases of correctional disorder in SC
In comparison: Lee’s correctional officers received milder discipline than those in similar SC prisons
Stirling said smuggled cell phones were factors in Lee’s violence. He said he believed the violence would not have spread to several dormitories had it not been for cell phones.
“As I said before, illegal cell phones contribute to smuggling and violence, and we need national legislation that allows us to prevent the operation of these phones,” he said.
Wilson echoed the sentiment:
“Illegal cell phones in our prisons continue to boost and facilitate the smuggling trade within the walls, and this smuggling trade drives much of the violence within institutions,” he said. “Violence also spreads within institutions because of cell phone smuggling.”
State officials have spent more than $ 500,000 to install cell phone lock technology in the prison, but failures in the effort to block cell phone use remain.
Greenville News analyzed hundreds of Department of Corrections records provided to the newspaper in response to a 2018 Freedom of Information request and found that before the deadly turmoil, correction officers in Lee were given more lenient discipline than guards in other prisons. in South Carolina.
More than two years have passed since Lee’s deadly violence, and Thursday’s announcements were the first charges in the case.
Wilson said information and materials related to the violence in Lee’s prison were handed over to a grand jury for review in December 2019. He said the review was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The cases will be judged by the State Grand Jury Division of the Attorney General along with third circuit special assistant solicitor R. Knox McMahon and third circuit special assistant solicitor Barney Giese.
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The accused and his charges are as follows:
(1) Stephen J. Green
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Murder: 30 years of life
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st Degree Mob, resulting in death
iv. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun
(2) Michael Juan Smith
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results)
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(3) Andre T. Boone (a / k / a “Fang”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
(4) Michael Antonio Williams, (a / k / a “Mikey”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
(5) Jerell Rashaun Jackson
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(6) Keon Daunte Moore
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(7) Rico Hickman
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. First-degree mob assault and beatings (death results): not less than 30 years
(8) Mike Smalls
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(9) Tyrone Lewis
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
(10) Teron Hikeen Jackson (a / k / a Teron Hakeen Jackson, “2-5”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
(11) Jacoby Jamar Gregory:
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
(12) Shawn Roseberry Bisnauth:
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(13) Arsenio Donta Colclough:
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(14) Torey Robert Blackwell (a / k / a “Zay”):
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
(15) Rahim F. Carter (a / k / a “Zilla”):
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
(16) Montez Lavarrey Rutledge (a / k / a “Booger Rat”):
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
(17) Ricardo Labruce Joseph (a / k / a “Townhead”):
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Murder: 30 years of life
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(18) Danielle Lamar Peay (a / k / a “P”):
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Murder: 30 years of life
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Assault and assault by 2nd degree mob (results of serious bodily injury): 3-25 years
v. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(19) Harold Leon Junes III, (a / k / a “Red”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Assault and assault by 2nd degree mob (results of serious bodily injury): 3-25 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(20) Jeffrey Samuels
Me. Assault and assault by 2nd degree mob (results of serious bodily injury): 3-25 years
ii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(21) Kevin Tyrone Bryant, (a / k / a “KB”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Assault and assault by 2nd degree mob (results of serious bodily injury): 3-25 years
iii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(22) Jody Lovonte Gary, (a / k / a “Deek”, “Dirt”)
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
(23) Jordan Russell Wall, (a / k / a “Chucky”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beating by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
v. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(24) Chan Soheap Bun, (a / k / a “Bun C”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(25) Richard Dewayne Lyles, (a / k / a “White Boy Lyles”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
v. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(26) Joshua Phillips
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Attack and beating by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
v. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(27) Christopher Devaul Lovely (a / k / a “P-90”)
I. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
ii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(28) Derrick Jerrod Rice, (a / k / a “9-0”)
I. Criminal Conspiracy: 0-5 years or up to $ 5000
ii. Attack and beating by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iii. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
iv. Attack and beatings by 1st degree mob (death results): not less than 30 years
v. Prisoner carrying or hiding a weapon: 0-10y
(29) Antwan Dominique Grayson
Me. Prisoner carrying or hiding a gun: 0-10y
Check back for updates on this last-minute story.