Deadly South Carolina Prison Riot: Another Guilty Plea

Another inmate of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) has pleaded guilty in connection with his role in a 2018 prison riot that left seven inmates dead and more than 20 injured.

According to an SCDC news release issued on Thursday (August 22, 2024), 27-year-old Jordan Russell Wall pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and battery by mob, one count of first degree assault and battery, one count of second degree assault and battery by mob and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Wall received a total of 145 years of prison time on his new charges, although those sentences will run concurrent to each other – and concurrent to the 30-year sentence he was already serving for murder. According to the SCDC release (.pdf), “the new time will extend his projected release date to about 2050.”

Frankly, we believe some of those involved in this violence should be facing sterner sentences… several of which have recently become available to prosecutors once again, incidentally.

The 2018 Lee Correctional riot – a graphic gang-on-gang slaughter – was the deadliest prison riot in the United States in a quarter century. It is also the focus of “a large-scale, ongoing prosecution of inmates responsible,” per SCDC.

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According to our sources, the violence at Lee began when rival gangs within the prison initiated a turf war after several inmates were transferred to Lee from McCormick Correctional Institution – another maximum security SCDC facility located in McCormick, S.C.

Gang members known as “renegades” (owing to their refusal to follow orders from their leaders) initiated the bloody melee, we were told.

“Renegades” from three gangs – the Bloods, the Crips and the Gangsta Disciples (a.k.a. Folk Nation) – were allegedly involved in the riot, which began in the prison’s F1 pod at around 7:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday April 15, 2018. The violence quickly spilled over into two other pods at the prison.

As the violence escalated, a relatively new arrival who had joined the Crips for protection was said to have been slaughtered “ritualistically” in front of the other inmates – allegedly to “send a message.”

“He was quietly staying out of riot but the Bloods came and took him out and killed him,” a source familiar with the incident told us at the time. “He was carved up in front of the others.”

After the first round of murders, gang members began “fighting (throughout) the prison.” At one point, bodies of wounded inmates were “stacked like cordwood” inside the facility.

“Some of the inmates were bleeding out in the pile still alive,” one witness told us.

SCDC officers did not regain control of the facility until approximately 3:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 16, 2018. The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) – which has assisted in the investigation of the riot – dispatched its SWAT team to assist in that process.

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Inmate Jordan Russell Wall, 27, pleaded guilty today to multiple charges for his part in the 2018 violence at Lee CI that left seven inmates dead. Details: https://t.co/gafyelTFI2 pic.twitter.com/KOnAg6knjR

— S.C. Department of Corrections (@SCDCNews) August 22, 2024

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According to prosecutors, Wall was “an integral part of the violence that erupted in dorm F5 at the Bishopville prison on April 15, 2018.”

“Wall is a member of the Gangster Disciples, which joined together with the Crips to attack the Bloods during the violence that night,” SCDC’s release noted. “He and others gathered Blood gang members, marched them outside their housing unit and stabbed them multiple times. Three of these inmates died.”

Indictments were issued in connection with the riot in December of 2020. Last summer, four inmates pleaded guilty for their roles in the violence. As noted, prosecutors are continuing to work to secure convictions in connection with the riot.

“These inmates who were killed and injured are victims, and their families deserve justice,” SCDC director Bryan Stirling said in a statement. “I am glad this man has been held accountable for his part in this violent night.”

Prison officials have blamed contraband cell phones for helping escalate the bloodshed.

“That really played a huge part in this,” former S.C. fifth circuit solicitor and special prosecutor Barney Giese said last summer. “(Phones) kept it from being isolated.”

After some initial reservations, my media outlet endorsed jamming cell phone signals as part of an expansive vision for prison reform back in November 2017. I have since consistently editorialized in favor of jamming cell phones, having been convinced of the utility of such a policy by Stirling, former U.S. attorney (and current U.S. district court judge) Sherri Lydon, S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson and many others.

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THE RELEASE…

(SCDC)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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