Sought to improve safety for officers at state prisons

Gov. Nikki Haley wants South Carolina lawmakers working on next year’s state budget to come up with an additional $18 million for the state Department of Corrections to improve safety for state corrections officers and the public.

She included the money in her budget proposal after two hostage situations at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville last year. A corrections officer was stabbed during one of them.

In her State of the State address on January 16th, Haley said, “As a legislator, it was always my belief that giving money to corrections was giving money to criminals, and that there were better, more noble places our tax dollars should go.”

Now, she says, she realizes the money isn’t going to prisoners; it’s going to the officers and protecting them.

Lee Correctional Warden Michael McCall says, “Locking up an inmate and throwing away the key? I was raised that way, too. That doesn’t work. These guys are going to be our neighbors someday, and just locking ‘em up and throwing away the key is not making them a better human being.”

The additional money the governor is asking for would build two guard towers at Lee, which now has none. The towers would allow officers to not only watch for inmates trying to escape, but also let them watch for friends and family members of inmates coming up to throw contraband over the fences.

The Department of Corrections says it confiscated about 3,300 cell phones last year. McCall says a cell phone now goes for around $800 inside a prison. “They can coordinate an escape. They can also get a hold of a victim out there with these cell phones, which we’ve had cases like that — they’re calling the victims and hassling them with these cell phones,” McCall says.

The extra money would also buy hand-held metal detectors for officers to use to find shanks and other contraband on inmates. Gov. Haley’s plan would also give a 3 percent pay raise to officers who work in the state’s maximum security prisons, like Lee.

McCall has 54 vacancies right now and has a hard time finding qualified officers willing to work there. The starting salary for corrections officers is $25,000.

Some of the money would also be used to change the ventilation system in the prison cells. Now, four or six cells share vent shafts. When an officer comes to search a room for contraband, the inmate will tie string to the contraband and “fish” it to another cell. McCall says he doesn’t have enough staff to have officers watch the connected cells while another searches.

Five large courtrooms were created along with meeting rooms and suites for the judges including private kitchens, toilets and showers. Three former holding cells are expected to be used for storing valuable archives, according to Adam McCormack of the selling agent.

The court fixtures have been removed and the building, which extends to 2,029sq m (21,839sq ft), has been redecorated to appeal to new owners. Although modernised, the building still features the timber panelled, tiled entrance hall dedicated to the former hospital’s benefactors and a stair hall to the west with arches supported by tapered marble columns.

The Richmond originally formed part of a complex of three hospitals – the others were the Whitworth and Hardwick – collectively known as St Laurence’s. Developer Liam Carroll of Zoe Developments converted the Hardwick into an apartment block and built about 600 apartments in the immediate area during the property boom. He attempted but failed to buy the Richmond. The Whitworth has been owned since 2002 by the Irish Nurses’ Organisation, which uses it for meetings, training and study.

In 1994, the Richmond and the Whitworth were converted for use as business incubation centres to help deal with high unemployment in the inner city. The experiment led to the launch of a range of new enterprises which capitalised on the impressive redbrick, copper-domed Richmond to show as the address of the businesses.

The Richmond opened as a hospital in 1901 with the two wings of the U-shaped building accommodating the wards. There was one window for each bed. The double loggias at the ends of the wings allowed sheltered access to fresh air for patients. The Irish Times report on the opening, on April 22nd, 1901, boasted that it was “practically fireproof”, was fitted with modern ventilation including warmed filtered air for the theatres and “the whole building is raised from the ground upon high arches”.

Now 110 years later, Space Property Group has been looking at the likely uses that the Richmond could be put to by a new owner. These could include an office headquarters, educational or medical use, nursing home, museum, library, residential scheme or serviced offices. The agency also suggests that the building could end up as a casino.