COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Columbia local law firm is asking a federal court to step in and take immediate action at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, claiming the jail has "inhumane conditions" for the housing of detainees with serious mental illnesses.
On Monday, July 22, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel filed papers asking a federal court to issue a preliminary injunction on behalf of 15 unnamed plaintiffs to order Richland County to improve conditions at the county jail. The filing claims the county's failure to provide necessary mental health services for SMI (serious mental illness) detainees, that SMI detainees are housed throughout Alvin S Glenn in large numbers leading to substantial risk of harm to those detainees, and the county's "long-standing knowledge of significant, obvious risk" to SMI Detainees.
The over 900-page filing describes worsening conditions and calls the County's response to ongoing issues "objectively unreasonable."
The injunction request also cites what it states are "unsanitary conditions" at the jail, including broken toilets that led to human waste in cells.
In response, the county issued a statement Tuesday stating they are committed to "providing constitutionally required mental health to our detainees." They added that jail's are not a mental health hospital, and while they provide necessary mental health care, they don't offer comprehensive mental therapy and other programming.
The county said they've contracted with country's largest correctional mental health provider to offer care, and currently have 10 mental health professionals, two psychiatry providers, and a discharge planner, and they hope to expand that staff.
They also dispute the claims about sanitary conditions, saying that's based on outdated information and that the jail has done extensive renovations, and more improvements are on the horizon.
The same law firm filed a federal lawsuit more than two years ago against Richland County on behalf of Disability Rights South Carolina over overcrowded and understaffed conditions at Alvin S Glenn. In early July of this year, attorneys from Burnette Shutt & McDaniel attended a Richland County Council meeting and asked council members to do something to help alleviate conditions at the jail rather than await a court order.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation in November 2023 into both the Richland jail and the jail in Charleston County. Allegations include civil rights violations, structural deficiencies, and reports of violence resulting in serious injuries. There's no timetable on when that investigation may be complete.