The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday initiated civil rights investigations into two local South Carolina jails, including one facility where a man died after being tased and pepper sprayed in his cell, a top department official said.
The probe will examine whether there are systemic civil rights violations at the two jails and focus on issues such as access to medical and mental healthcare, use of force by jail staff and whether incarcerated people are protected from violence, said Kristen Clarke, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Local officials overseeing both jails said they welcomed the investigations and have been working to improve conditions in both facilities.of an inmate at one of the jails under investigation, the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, in 2021. The death of Sutherland, who was Black and reportedly said “I can’t breathe” during the encounter, drew comparisons to the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department said last year it would not bring charges against two former officers involved in Sutherland's death.
Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano, whose office oversees the jail, said in a statement the facility was going “above and beyond our call of duty to provide assistance on mental health concerns.”
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