Gun-Free Zone Mass Homicide: South Carolina Prison Riots Leave 7 Dead

A South Carolina prison riot has left seven dead and 17 others injured. In a gun-free zone, violent homicidal maniacs still managed to slaughter people.

Lee Correctional Institution was secured at around 2:55 a.m. Monday morning, nearly eight hours after multiple fights broke out in three housing units Sunday night, prison spokesman Jeff Taillon said. The incident started around 7:15 p.m., he said.

According to Fox News, all prison staff and responding law enforcement officers were reported safe after the incident, the South Carolina Department of Corrections wrote in a tweet. The department added the State Law Enforcement Division was assisting prison officials in its investigation.

Emergency services from several South Carolina counties responded to the “mass casualty incident,” Lee County Fire wrote in a tweet. The mainstream media couldn’t paint this as a “mass shooting” event since prisons are gun-free zones. Lee County Coroner Larry Logan told the Associated Press that the seven inmates who were killed during the riot died of stabbing and slashing wounds. Logan said he arrived at a chaotic scene.

“How else are you going to die in prison? They don’t have guns,” Logan said. Details surrounding the multiple fights that had broken out were scarce, but one inmate who witnessed the incident told the Associated Press he saw bodies stacked on top of each other and that correctional officers didn’t do anything to quench the violence or check on the wounded inmates. “I just saw three dead on the sidewalk outside of my unit. One guy is still alive and breathing, but just barely,” the inmate said, adding he wasn’t sure what started the riot.

Lee Correctional is located in Bishopville, 55 miles east of Columbia and has been the site of several recent violent eruptions. In March, inmates at the prison held an officer hostage after taking control of a dorm room, The State reported. The inmates held the officer for about 25 minutes before the room was secured by law enforcement.

In February, one inmate was killed by another inmate in a fight.