The mother of a Jasper Co. inmate strangled to death in cell sues SC Dept. of Corrections
The mother of a Jasper County prisoner who was killed inside his cell filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the South Carolina Department of Corrections, branding the Ridgeland facility as a “dangerous environment” with inadequate protection for its inmates.
Patrick Massey, 34, was found dead inside his cell Dec. 10 after an “apparent fight” with his cellmate at the Ridgeland Correctional Institution, prison officials said at the time.
That cellmate, 31-year-old Javontay Savon Rogers, was charged with murder in February for the killing. Rogers’ arrest warrant said he used a nylon strap to strangle Massey to death inside their cell.
Filed Thursday by Kimberly Massey in Jasper County civil court, the lawsuit says her son’s death was “completely preventable.” Court documents allege RCI personnel ignored warning signs of the killing — including Rogers’ attack on another cellmate earlier that day — and violated SCDC policy by housing Massey with an inmate prone to violence.
Beyond the December incident, the suit unleashed a flurry of other allegations against RCI, such as inmate-on-inmate violence being a common occurrence that regularly goes undetected by security; some prisoners having access to “contraband weapons”; and the facility suffering yearslong staffing vacancies that leave inmate dorms “completely unsupervised” or under the watch of supervisors with inadequate training.
Cameron L. Marshall, a Charleston-based attorney who specializes in wrongful death and personal injury cases, said in an email that the lawsuit is meant to “expose conditions within SCDC prisons and hold the agency accountable.” He declined to comment further on the case.
An SCDC spokesperson said Friday afternoon that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
‘I’m gonna kill whoever is in there’
Massey had been incarcerated at various state prisons since January 2014 and was moved to RCI in July 2023 with a projected release date in May 2026. His convictions out of Greenville and Oconee counties included burglary, property damage and breaking into vehicles, according to SCDC records.
During his decade-long incarceration with SCDC, Massey had “no history” of violence, weapon possession or instigating fights with other inmates, the lawsuit says. He “had a reputation for being kind and non-confrontational,” according to the court summons.
Rogers began his prison sentence in December 2023 after being convicted in Georgetown County of pointing and presenting a firearm and first-degree assault, both of which are felonies. Records from SCDC show he had received two disciplinary sanctions during his incarceration, one in May 2024 for assaulting an inmate and the second in July for possession of a weapon inside prison walls.
Hours before Rogers allegedly murdered Massey in their shared cell Dec. 10, Rogers was temporarily placed in a holding cell with another inmate, who was trying to sleep on the cell floor. Rogers “violently stomped” on the man’s neck “in an apparent attempt to kill him,” the lawsuit alleges, although RCI staff separated the men before the attack became fatal.
Rogers allegedly told prison staff he attacked the man because he “wanted to be placed in his own cell.”
Later that day, the lawsuit claims, Roger was escorted to the “Georgetown B” unit of the prison, where he would be housed with Massey.
Rogers began shouting that he wouldn’t share a cell and wanted to return to isolated custody. His pleas then turned into explicit threats, the lawsuit claims, as nearby inmates heard Rogers yell, “I’m gonna kill whoever is in there.”
Shortly after Rogers was put into the new cell, he used the strap from a duffel bag to strangle Massey from behind as Massey “struggled for his life,” the lawsuit says. SCDC’s policies on “authorized inmate property” show inmates are regularly given duffel bags for storage and transfers to other institutions.
During Massey’s “terrifying and excruciating death by strangulation,” the cell block was completely unsupervised, court documents claim.
Noticing that Massey was lying on the cell floor, nearby inmates attempted to alert prison staff of the incident, the lawsuit says — but by the time security found the body, Massey had reportedly been dead for “several hours.”
The lawsuit argues that RCI staff “should have known” that housing Rogers with Massey would likely result in serious injury or death. The court summons also claims the pairing was a blatant violation of SCDC policy, which requires staff to review inmate records before assigning cellmates “to ensure that vulnerable inmates were not housed with inmates known to have violent tendencies.”
SCDC guidelines say detainees are placed into a restricted housing unit — a wing separated from the general inmate population, often with single-person cells — when their presence in the rest of the facility “poses a threat” to staff or other inmates.
Rogers’ SCDC sentence was set to end shortly after the alleged killing. He was transferred in February to the Jasper County Detention Center, where he awaits trial for the murder charge.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM.
