Jails and prisons in South Carolina have experienced numerous, untimely, preventable serious injuries and deaths in recent years. These would include the recent series of deaths in the Spartanburg County Detention Center, as well as the Greenville County Detention Center. Often, these deaths involve a denial of necessary medical treatment. Attorney Kyle White of our firm was recently asked to weigh in on the subject by Live5 news in Charleston, South Carolina, in the article located here. Kyle explained:
“ . . . in general, jails in South Carolina are required to provide detainees with access to adequate medical care. Unfortunately, many times when a county hires an outside contractor to provide medical care, the medical contractor actually operates as a barrier to adequate medical treatment, because if the contractor was not there, the patient would be transported from the jail to the emergency room where they would receive adequate care. Instead, the medical contractor retains responsibility for providing treatment that it has no business trying to provide. These arrangements in reality are just a cost-shifting or liability-shifting arrangement for the jail, and provide no benefit and are dangerous to the patient . . .”
Despite the concerns raised by the recent jail and prison deaths and others like them, many correctional facilities across the United States ignore the risk – a risk that is compounded by issues like overcrowding, understaffing, and inadequate or improperly trained medical staff. These issues are often exacerbated by a lack of funding and political will to prioritize the well-being of inmates. It is clear that more needs to be done to address these issues and ensure that inmates are treated with dignity and respect. Necessary measures include providing adequate medical care and mental health services, implementing suicide prevention measures, and addressing issues like overcrowding and understaffing. It also requires a commitment to reducing the number of people who are incarcerated in the first place, as many of these deaths are the result of nonviolent offenses and could have been avoided with more effective and compassionate approaches to justice.
As a society, we must prioritize the well-being of all individuals, including those who are incarcerated. It is only by working together to address the root causes of these issues that we can hope to create a more just and equitable criminal justice system for all.
If one of your loved ones has been a victim of a wrongful death at a jail or prison in South Carolina, including the Spartanburg County Detention Center, we can help you fight for justice. Knowing how to navigate the wrongful death claim process, especially in the context of suing the government, can be challenging, so it’s important to have help from attorneys with extensive experience in this area. Our wrongful death lawyers in Anderson, South Carolina have many years of experience handling these cases. We can go over the details of your case and help you gather the necessary documents and other evidence to support your claim. We offer legal services for wrongful death claims and other personal injury and civil litigation cases in all counties in South Carolina, including but not limited to, Anderson, Orangeburg, Fairfield Greenville, Spartanburg, Lee, McCormick, Hampton, Jasper, Allendale, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington, Dillon, and Greenwood. Contact Kyle White with the White Davis and White law firm today – 864.231.8090 or visit us online at wdwlaw.com.