Two South Carolina prisoners were sentenced on December 10, 2024, for their roles in a riot that killed seven fellow prisoners and injured 20 more. They were the most recent of 20 prisoners sentenced so far for convictions on charges stemming from the uprising, the worst in any U.S. prison in 25 years.

As PLN reported, the violence erupted at Lee Correctional Institution (LCI) on April 25, 2018, when two prisoners in the Gangster Nation gang assaulted and robbed a fellow prisoner, Michael Milledge, 44, a member of the rival Bloods gang. When he died of his wounds, outraged fellow gang members spread the word via contraband cell phone, retrieving or fashioning makeshift weapons to exact vengeance. Conditions in the rural prison quickly devolved into bloodshed as the Bloods’ reprisal on the Gangster Nation drew in prisoners from the rival Crips gang, as well, before it was finally put down eight hours later. [See: PLN, Mar. 2020, p.46.]

In the aftermath, Milledge and six more prisoners lay dead: Raymond Angelo Scott; Damonte Marquez Rivera; Eddie Casey Jay Gaskins: Joshua Svwin Jenkins; Corey Scott; and Cornelius Quantral McClary, 38. Investigators from the state Law Enforcement Division said that he was stabbed at least 100 times.

Two months later, an Association of State Correctional Administrators audit blamed the riot on transfers of multiple gang members into the prison, along with a staff shortage and even faulty door locks, as PLN also reported. Prisoners injured in the melee filed 81 lawsuits, which the state paid $6 million to resolve in a June 2021 global settlement. See: Scott v. Patterson, USDC (D.S.C.), Case No. 8:19-02057.

In April 2019, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) hired two special prosecutors, former circuit judge Knox McMahon and former prosecutor Kathryn Luck Campbell. After another year-and-a-half and at least $190,000 in expenses, indictments against 29 prisoners were handed down in December 2020. [See: PLN, Jan. 2021, p.36.] Local solicitor Ernest “Chip” Finney III blamed the investigation’s extraordinary length on prisoners and staff fearful of gang retribution if they spoke out.

“Assault and Battery by a Mob”

The indictments included charges for assault and battery by a mob against prisoner Michael Juan Smith. He was found guilty of McClary’s murder after a five-day trial in December 2023, and the 31-year-old was sentenced to prison for 40 years; at the time, he was in the Richland County Jail awaiting retrial for attempted murder in a 2013 Greenville street shooting that partially paralyzed a University of South Carolina freshman—after his first conviction and sentence were tossed in 2020.

Fellow prisoner Stephen J. Green, 45, was convicted on the same charges by a jury at the conclusion of a September 2024 trial and sentenced for each charge to life without parole. He had been in prison since 1999, serving two life sentences and three 30-year terms for burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping and rape convictions.

Another 18 prisoners have pleaded guilty to riot-related charges. Two of them, David Rohan Dozier, 27, and Camara Atiba Jordan, 33, were sentenced in December 2024 to three and two additional years in prison respectively. Dozier was serving 15 years for 2016 armed robbery and assault convictions. Jordan was serving 15 years for 2013 burglary and voluntary manslaughter convictions.

On August 22, 2024, prisoner Jordan Russell Wall, 27, pleaded guilty and was sentenced an extra 30 years on top of 30 he was serving for a 2015 murder conviction. Fellow prisoner Danielle Lamar Peay, 36, was sentenced on February 23, 2024, to 20 years, in addition to a 30-year term he was serving for 2015 convictions on weapons and manslaughter charges. Another guilty plea was entered that same day by prisoner Jeffrey Keith Samuels, 40, who then had 10 years added to a 30-year term that he was serving for 2001 kidnapping and robbery convictions.

More Pleas and Sentenced in 2023

For his guilty plea on November 15, 2023, prisoner Torey Robert Blackwell, 32, was sentenced to 15 years concurrent with a term he was serving for DUI and manslaughter. That same day, former prisoner Jody Lavonte Gary, who had been released since the riot, pleaded guilty and was ordered to remain on probation an extra three years.

Three more pleas were entered on August 25, 2023. Prisoner Teron Hakeen Jackson, 33, had 24 years added to a 37-year term he was serving for a 2007 murder conviction. Fellow prisoner Rico A. Hickman, 36, got an extra four years added to a 25-year term he was serving for 2009 armed robbery and assault convictions. Prisoner Montez Lavarrey Rutledge, 30, got an extra nine years running concurrent to his 33-year term for a 2012 murder conviction.

Another prisoner, Chan Soheap Bun, 39, pleaded guilty to contraband charges on August 15, 2023, and was sentenced to eight years, added to a 30-year term he was serving. The remaining guilty pleas included four entered on July 20, 2023. For possessing contraband, prisoner Rahim F. Carter, 40, had five years added to a life sentence that he was serving for a 2007 murder conviction. Fellow prisoner Tyrone F. Lewis, Jr., 34, had a three-year contraband sentence added to his 30-year term for a 2007 murder conviction. Former prisoner Arsenio Donta C. Colclough, 36, had been released and was sentenced to time served for his contraband conviction; he was in Sumter-Lee County Detention Center awaiting trial on new charges. Prisoner Mike Smalls, 28, whom prosecutors tied to the murders committed during the riot, pleaded guilty instead to assault and battery by a mob and was sentenced to 18 additional years—though another conviction will keep him in prison for life without possibility of parole.

It was unclear when prisoner Antwan Dominique Grayson, now 35, was sentenced to an extra year on top of the 30-year sentence that he was serving for 2011 kidnapping, armed robbery and criminal sexual conduct convictions.

Two charged prisoners have since died, the DOC said. They were among those indicted, who are otherwise presumably awaiting trial: Andre T. Boone, 34; Michael Antonio Williams; Jerrell Rashuan Jackson; Keon Daunte Moore, 26; Derrick Jerrod Rice; Christopher Devaul Lovely; Joshua Phillips, 37; Richard DeWayne Lyles; Kevin Tyrone Bryant, 39; Harold Leon Junes III, 34; Ricardo LaBruce Joseph; Shaun Roseberry Bisnauth, 37; and Jacoby Jamar Gregory, 36.  

Additional sources: Greenville News, South Carolina Daily Gazette, WACH, WCIV, WCSC, WIS, WLTX

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