Lee County prison killings: A look at the nation’s deadliest prison riot in a quarter-century

The Greenville News and Independent Mail Reports
Lee Correctional Institution on Monday, April 16, 2018 after a "mass casualty incident" overnight at the institution in Bishopville left seven inmates dead and 17 others requiring medical attention.

The cellphone images and recordings by inmates themselves show the visceral brutality of it all — the day when South Carolina’s most-dangerous prison, for seven hours and without intervention, became a slaughterhouse.

In one image, the lifeless, blood-stained bodies of three Lee Correctional inmates are stacked like roadkill in a cluster against a prison fence outside.

Seven inmates were killed on April 15, slashed and beaten in the nation’s deadliest prison riot in a quarter-century. Another 22 inmates were injured. No employees were hurt.

The Greenville News and Independent Mail's reporting team took a deep dive into the various aspects of this deadly incident. Here are their stories.

Early reports: violence breaks out

The inmates 

These undated photos provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows, from top row from left, Corey Scott, Eddie Casey Gaskins, Raymond Angelo Scott and Damonte Rivera; bottom row from left, Michael Milledge, Cornelius McClary and Joshua Jenkins. The seven inmates were killed, and at least 17 prisoners wounded, in a riot at the Lee Correctional Institution on early Monday, April 16, 2018, in Bishopville, S.C.

Underlying causes

South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, center, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, left, and SLED Chief Mark Keel, address the media at a press conference Monday, April 16, 2018, in Columbia, after a "mass casualty incident" overnight at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville that left seven inmates dead and 17 others requiring medical attention.

Cellphones in the cells

History of violence

Aftermath of prison riot