COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Richland County Coroner has identified the woman who died at the Richland County jail over the weekend.
Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said Tuesday 20-year-old LaRoyal Harley of Gadsden was found dead at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on Saturday, March 2.
Rutherford did not list a a cause of death in her news release. However, hours later she spoke with News19 and confirmed that the death was self-inflicted but did not go into details.
Harley was found unresponsive in her cell around 10:30 p.m., according to Richland County Government, which operates the jail. Richland County deputies said she was being housed alone in the cell and did not have a roommate assigned to her.
Rutherford, however, said Harley's death is not tied to some of the ongoing problems that have been identified at the jail.
"There are issues that are being addressed with Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and I think the county administrator and the county are working diligently to solve those issues," Rutherford said. "This is not that."
Rutherford said she spoke to the family, who allowed Rutherford to release some details about who Harley was and what she was going through before her death.
"She was overwhelmed," Rutherford said. "She had hoped to go with the military. She was a student who graduated with honors. And she leaves behind a three-year-old child. And this was at her own hand. This was not something that the jail did that put her in danger."
She added that jail medical staff worked hard in an attempt to revive Harley before she was eventually pronounced dead.
According to Richland County officials, she was booked at the jail on February 29 on charges of discharging firearms into a dwelling, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and accessory after the fact of a felony. They added that she was not on suicide watch and there was no indication she needed to be when she was booked.
"We are devastated by this loss of life," the county said in a statement on Sunday.
This is the first known death at the jail this year. But in the previous year, a series of deaths were part of why the U.S. Department of Justice launched a federal civil rights investigation into the jail last November. The Department of Justice said there was credible evidence of structural issues at the jail that led to stabbings and other assaults.
Since the beginning of 2024, there have been at least four stabbings. The first happened on January 2 between two detainees who were later hospitalized. Other stabbings followed on Jan 3, 7, and 16.
In addition to stabbings, Alvin S. Glenn has had 11 employees arrested since the start of the year on numerous charges, mainly involving providing contraband to employees. In late January, County Administrator Leonardo Brown confirmed the jail was working with the sheriff's department in an increased effort to stop contraband from getting into the jail. The county said all jail employees have annual training and recertification every three years, and they also have training protocols that educate officers on how to avoid improper relationships with inmates.
Deputies made the latest arrest of an employee on March 1. , when investigators accused the man of taking money from a detainee, a person he knew previously. The jail terminated other employees after investigators found evidence that they supplied contraband to inmates or were involved in misconduct or civil rights violations.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections has some oversight of the jail and has been working with the facility to establish improvements. Alvin S. Glenn leaders have until March 15 to update the facility's corrective action plan and submit it to the state agency.