Press Release
Officials at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center are under fire again today with attorneys from the Columbia-based Strom Law Firm asking why they put a 21-year-old man awaiting trial on a simple drug charge in a position to be repeatedly raped by multiple inmates and a guard.
The victim, a 21-year-old man, represented by Bakari Sellers and Alexandra Benevento with the Strom Law Firm, is only the latest in a long and ever-growing line of victims at Richland County's troubled jail. Since 27-year-old Orangeburg resident Lason Butler's February 2022 death was ruled a homicide by Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford due to the “lack of action” by the jail's staff, Strom Law Firm attorneys, including Sellers and Benevento have brought seven additional lawsuits against Richland County and Alvin S. Glenn officials on behalf of numerous other detainees who were violently and brutally assaulted while awaiting trial. Sellers and Benevento also represent the family of Lason Butler.
“One sexual assault is too many,” said Sellers. “One time is unacceptable. This young man was subjected to multiple assaults by multiple perpetrators, including an Alvin S. Glenn detention officer. 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.”
Attorneys explain that the victim was sexually assaulted on at least two different occasions beginning on August 26th by four different perpetrators.
“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. Every single member of the public should be outraged by these horrific failures. 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. This young man's life is forever changed. When is enough going to be enough?”
In February, Sellers and Benevento called on the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division to investigate the jail due to the subhuman conditions, neglect and violent attacks.
Click here to view the DOJ request.
