Video shows guards left inmate to die outside prison, family says

Disturbing video shows guards at a South Carolina prison apparently ignoring a dying inmate as he writhes on the ground outside the facility, the dead man’s family contends.

Allen Jerome Capers, 32, died on Dec. 31, 2017, after being stabbed multiple times inside Turbeville Correctional Institution, where correctional officers took him outside and laid him on the ground, The State reports, citing a lawsuit filed by Capers’ family against the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Footage released by an attorney representing Capers’ family shows him writhing in pain on the ground outside the facility, as guards mill about the area, seemingly unaware of Capers’ presence. Several inmates then show up with a gurney for Capers about 30 minutes later before taking him to an infirmary, where he was later pronounced dead.

Capers — who was stabbed in the head, neck, stomach and hand — was attacked after several inmates somehow managed to get keys to unlock cell doors inside the prison, according to the lawsuit. Eight other inmates were also injured during the melee.

State Rep. Justin Bamberg, who is representing Capers’ relatives in its lawsuit, said the footage clearly shows the problems facing the state’s Department of Corrections “on one screen.”

A corrections spokeswoman, meanwhile, acknowledged that prison staffers “didn’t render aid” in the incident.

“That’s wrong,” spokeswoman Chrysti Shain told the newspaper in a statement. “Director Bryan Stirling is committed to getting to the truth and holding people accountable for the lack of action.”

Shain’s statement also called for increased security and better pay for correction officers, the State reports.

Source: Read Full Article