COLUMBIA, S.C. — Now that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will investigate the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, people with firsthand experience with the jail say they're relieved and hopeful.
Deven Givens says he is out on bond after spending three months in the Richland County jail.
"I hope and pray that the Department of Justice center makes improvements," Givens said.
Givens says while he was in jail, he experienced a host of issues, from lack of food to showers that were backed up.
"The fighting, the stabbing," he added. "I'm not going to lie, I didn't want to go to the dorm because I done witnessed several fights. I done witnessed somebody making a shank."
It's the conditions that Unique Spain heard about from her two relatives, who she says were in the jail for about seven months.
"They both have some PTSD issues from the conditions. One of my relatives actually witnessed someone being stabbed over 20 times," Spain said. "So their anxieties are through the roof. They have horrible PTSD from it."
Spain says her relatives are out now and tells me she's happy to hear that the DOJ is investigating for the sake of detainees still in jail.
"They're just being held waiting on court, and they're being treated less than a common dog in an animal shelter," Spain said. "So I'm hoping that DOJ and its presence can bring, like I said, some change and some safety measures, giving these people just basic human rights."
Lason Butler was a 27-year-old Orangeburg man who died while in custody at the facility last year. Attorneys representing the family sent a letter to the assistant attorney general calling for an investigation. Now, attorney Bakari Sellers says his firm represents a total of 24 people who say they were assaulted or battered at the jail.
"We're going to get justice for these families," Sellers said. "Just because you've been charged with a crime or just because you've had an unfortunate set of circumstances, you should not be raped, battered, abused, left to die with dehydration."
Sellers says he's "ecstatic" about the investigation and says the families are hopeful it will bring justice.