COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – A series of new lawsuits accuse South Carolina prisons officials of negligence and violations of constitutional rights in a 2018 riot in which seven prisoners were killed and more than a dozen others were injured.
Lawyers for prisoners injured in the riot at the Lee Correctional Institution accuse senior officials in the Corrections Department of being aware of security breaches in the maximum security male prison, but failing to repair them, putting the lives of prisoners at risk.
The lawsuits specifically target Lee’s door locking system, which has been the center of much of the criticism of security breaches at the time of the insurrection.
Correctional authorities did not immediately comment on the dispute.
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