Prison officials: Unrest began after Ridgeland inmate sneaked through ceiling tile
An inmate at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution caught trying to retrieve contraband in the jail yard -- and inciting a near-riot in the process -- might have crawled through a ceiling tile to get outside at a time when prisoners are supposed to be confined to a common area, S.C. Department of Corrections officials said Wednesday.
It's not yet clear whether accomplices helped the prisoner shimmy through the ceiling to get outside, according to spokesman Clark Newsom. The inmate left at a time of night when prisoners are allowed to be in an indoor common area, outside of their cells.
The inmate's identity has not been released.
The department's investigation of the incident continues, but investigators suspect the inmate went through a tile in a low drop ceiling to get out into the yard, where he was spotted and arrested before he reached the package of contraband, Newsom said.
The package contained cellphones, a charger and tobacco, all of which are banned in Department of Corrections facilities. It had been thrown over a fence from outside the prison by an unknown person and landed in an outdoor area between two fences, Newsom said.
At about 10:30 p.m., the 123 inmates in the prison's Beaufort A wing -- wings are named for nearby cities -- are allowed to leave their cells and go into a common area, with lights-out scheduled for 11 p.m. Prisoners are not allowed outside the wing during that time, so the inmate who went for the contraband was quickly spotted in the yard and arrested by two officers.
It is unclear how he avoided detection as he made his way outside the wing and into the yard.
After the inmate was apprehended outside and brought back inside to be taken to a holding cell, he scuffled with an officer in sight of the other prisoners, which caused a commotion in the common area, Newsom said.
One of the officers sustained a cut during the struggle, but both escaped relatively unharmed. They put all four wings of the prison on lockdown. Two guards are assigned to each wing at that time of night, a level of security that is "not unusual," Newsom said.
After many inmates refused to return to their cells, a rapid-response team was called in. Its officers shot tear gas into the common area to subdue them, leaving one inmate who was hit by a tear-gas canister with minor injures, officials have said.
By 4 a.m., the prisoners were back in their cells, Newsom said.
"You've got 123 prisoners inside with no supervision," he said. "But they usually give out after awhile.
"They knew they weren't going to win that battle."
Each corrections facility has a negotiations team and a rapid response team made up of officers employed by the Department of Corrections for situations like Monday's. Newsom said the prison's response to the inmates did not require back-up from local law enforcement or from the prison's higher-level special operations team.
Newsom said there have not been any incidents like Monday's at the Ridgeland facility in years. He described the near-riot as an "incident of opportunity," saying that contraband is something that "really gets them going."
In 2003, three inmates who used a makeshift ladder and scaled a razor wire-topped fence to escape the prison were later caught.
The Beaufort wing will remain on lockdown indefinitely, with extra patrols, as the investigation continues.
Newsom declined to comment on whether officials were considering repairs or other changes as a result of the discovery, citing the investigation.
The Ridgeland facility is a medium-security, or level 2, prison near Interstate 95. It houses inmates convicted of both violent and non-violent offenses, though typically not those sentenced with long or life sentences, Newsom said.
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This story was originally published June 5, 2013 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Prison officials: Unrest began after Ridgeland inmate sneaked through ceiling tile."