Jasper County inmates charged with starting fire in jail cell that injured 8
Two inmates at the Jasper County Detention Center have been accused of starting a fire that engulfed the jail’s booking area last fall, seriously injuring multiple inmates and guards.
Carlton Alexander German, 38, and Jamari Tylik Williams, 22, both of Hardeeville, were charged Friday with first-degree arson and criminal conspiracy, both felonies. First-degree arson is punishable by a minimum of 30 years in prison under South Carolina law.
Arrest warrants from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division say German and Williams purposefully lit the fire while in a holding cell together the night of Sept. 21, 2024. Surveillance footage showed German moving a mattress to the area where the fire started before the inmates disabled the cell’s “only working camera,” according to the warrants.
Williams then used a black BIC lighter to set ablaze a makeshift kindling pile, including blankets, paper and loose material from the inmates’ mattresses, the arrest warrants say.
The fire injured six inmates and two members of jail staff, according to SLED. Six people were hospitalized and three underwent surgery for burns, jail director Arthur Benjamin told Bluffton Today.
Dozens of Jasper County detainees were moved to jails in neighboring counties, including Beaufort, to help manage inmate numbers in the months following the blaze. Even before the incident, officials struggled with inmate overcrowding in the Jasper County jail, which shares a building with the sheriff’s headquarters near downtown Ridgeland.
Damage from the flames required a full demolition of the detention center’s booking area, which consisted of five cells. It was unclear when repairs were expected to finish.
German and Williams remained in custody at the Jasper County jail, according to the Tuesday press release from SLED.
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM.
