Inmate death reported at Charleston County jail (2024)

NORTH CHARLESTON — Members of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of an apparent suicide around 2 p.m. June 24 at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center,according to an incident report.

The incarcerated person was declared dead by emergency medical services that arrived shortly after.

The man, whose identity hasn't been released, was housed in the Behavioral Management Unit, the jail's disciplinary housing wing, and found hanging from a light fixture with a torn off piece of his mattress cover tied around his neck, according to the report.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating.

At least three apparent suicides have occurred at the jail since South Carolina began reporting deaths in custody in 2019, per the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act. If confirmed, this would be the second this year.

The man was discovered when a staff worker used a microphone to call his cell at around 2:20 p.m. to tell him he was being relocated. When he didn't respond, officers went to his cell, where they found him hanging, according to an incident report.

Jail staff called authorities.

Jail officers, medical staff and responding firemen administered life-saving measures before EMS arrived at the scene and declared the man deceased.

In April, 33-year-old Forrest Kreider was found hanging in his cell. He died at theMedical University of South Carolina the same day.

Kreiderdied at the same time officials with the U.S. Department of Justice met with community members to hear concerns about how jail employees treat people who are incarcerated.

The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the Charleston jail and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia in November of last yearafter receiving reports that multiple inmates died at each in recent years due to various forms of mistreatment.

The investigation specifically focuses on each jail's use of solitary confinement, use of force and whether they discriminate against inmates with psychiatric disabilities.

It's unclear why the person who died over the weekend was housed in the Behavioral Management Unit, which is reserved for individuals who break the jail's rules, according to the Charleston County website.