News & Commentary

Today we sent a second letter to the City of Charleston reiterating objections to mass police violence in and around Marion Square by the Charleston Police Department (CPD) on the afternoon and evening of Sunday, May 31, 2020. This action follows an initial letter we sent on June 2 calling on local law enforcement leaders to publicly explain their rationale for responding to non-violent protests against police violence with more police violence. The June 2 letter also issued a list of demands including a public apology from law enforcement leaders as well as outlined plans for holding officers accountable and guaranteeing people’s right to protest in Charleston.On June 22, nearly 60 days since this police brutality, the city finally responded. In their letter, they bypassed our questions and demands and defended law enforcement’s actions on May 31.The CPD has attempted to justify its actions on May 31 by pointing to events that happened during the previous evening. But, the CPD’s own policy on use of force clearly states that force is only justified in times of imminent danger. A past event, even by their own standard, is not an acceptable reason for Charleston police officers to carry out mass violence and deploy potentially lethal weapons against people peacefully exercising their Constitutional rights.In addition to the use of force policy outlined in the CPD’s General Administrative Order, officers also violated the department’s rules on the use of chemical agents, which are only deemed necessary “where a serious danger to life and property exists and other methods of apprehension would be ineffective or more dangerous.”Our letter also raises concerns about excessive and unprovoked violence carried out by police on residents of Charleston’s Eastside neighborhood on the evening of May 31. The city and Charleston Police Chief Reynolds have dismissed concerns from Eastside residents and their allies about CPD’s violent actions in their neighborhood. This excessive, unprovoked police action is a part of a pattern against Black Eastside community members that cannot be ignored. Residents have called for services that will improve safety and, instead, CPD is using city resources to increase patrols. We know what happens when police go down this road, it’s not new. All this will do is further criminalize Black and poor people. 

Following the murder of Walter Scott by the North Charleston Police Department five years ago, South Carolina lawmakers passed legislation requiring all law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. In the five years since the law’s passage, law enforcement have turned a tool sold to the public as a way to strengthen law enforcement accountability and community trust of law enforcement into a tool to shield law enforcement officers from accountability. As calls for expanding body camera programs grow in the wake of more police violence, lawmakers must codify strong policies governing their use, including the following mandates:

We are united in solidarity with incarcerated people and their loved ones and allies. The recent spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths among our state’s prison population is the tragic result of a failure of leadership.South Carolina has a moral and legal obligation to protect the people it incarcerates. For months we have asked Governor Henry McMaster, Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, and the Board of Paroles and Pardons uphold this obligation in the face of COVID-19, including releasing those most vulnerable to contracting and dying from this virus. South Carolina officials have ignored their responsibility. The consequences are tragic and predicted.Because South Carolina’s leaders have failed to uphold their Constitutional duty to protect people in their custody, in April, we filed a federal lawsuit against them. The judge assigned to our case has ordered us to work with the state to find ways that will improve conditions for incarcerated people.These priorities include:

Along with our partners Root & Rebound, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center and Wyche, P.A., we filed a lawsuit today in the United States District Court challenging Spartanburg County’s failure to protect incarcerated people from risks associated with a COVID-19 outbreak in custodial settings. Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. (P&A) also joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff on behalf of incarcerated people with disabilities. Defendants named in the suit are Sheriff Chuck Wright and Jail Administrator Allen Freeman. 

COVID-19 has illuminated our failures as a society. To urge decision makers to minimize the harms made worse by this pandemic, today we released a blueprint for COVID-19 relief in South Carolina. The blueprint calls on our leaders to ensure the burdens of the pandemic do not unfairly fall on South Carolina’s most vulnerable communities and that all responses are rooted in science and public health and are no more intrusive on civil liberties than necessary. To ensure a COVID-19 response that protects all people, South Carolina must: 

South Carolina has a moral and legal obligation to protect the people it incarcerates. For weeks we have asked South Carolina officials to uphold this obligation in the face of COVID-19, including releasing those most vulnerable to contracting and dying from this virus. South Carolina officials have ignored their responsibility. The consequences are tragic and predicted. James Slater, a 70-year-old man incarcerated at Allendale Correctional Institution, died yesterday from COVID-19. To be clear, no one in custody should die in connection to abuse or neglect by the state.Mr. Slater’s death was preventable. The rate of recidivism for people over age 65 is nearly 0%, meaning almost all incarcerated people over age 65 pose virtually no threat to public safety. Additionally, there are multiple avenues by which Mr. Slater and other incarcerated people his age or older could have been released to a safer environment ahead of a COVID-19 outbreak. The Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) has the authority to petition the parole board to release people who are 70 years of age or older. During a state of emergency, the Governor has the authority to do anything necessary to keep people safe. Neither SCDC nor the Governor, we tragically learned yesterday, has upheld their duty to protect.The virus’s ability to spread through asymptomatic carriers has been well-documented. For example, correctional institutions across the country that have issued mass testing have found that as much as 70% of the population of a single institution has tested positive for COVID-19, with a vast majority showing no symptoms at all. Therefore, testing and monitoring only those who are symptomatic is neither a solution nor a good faith effort.It is absolutely essential that those with the authority to act do everything in their immense power to prevent future deaths from COVID-19 in correctional settings. This includes ordering mass testing of all incarcerated people and staff and substantially reducing the number of people held in South Carolina’s prisons and jails.

South Carolina’s jails and prisons alike have too often become our society’s solutions for people struggling with homelessness and mental health or substance use disorders. Our jail and prison logs are a daily reminder that our criminal justice system is a racist system that stops, arrests, convicts, and incarcerates Black people at staggering rates compared to white people.With COVID-19, our failings as a society leave each of the nearly 30,000 people incarcerated in South Carolina’s prisons and jails facing a potential death sentence. That’s because incarcerated people are highly vulnerable to contracting and dying from COVID-19. They are housed in close quarters and are often in poor health. It is impossible for them to follow the social distancing guidelines.For weeks, public health experts have been urging policymakers to do everything in their power to substantially reduce prison and jail populations to safeguard the lives of those who work and live there. The findings outlined in a new report released today by the ACLU amplify the need to reduce South Carolina’s jail populations immediately.The report focuses on a new epidemiological model that shows COVID-19 could claim the lives of approximately 100,000 more people nationwide than current projections stipulate if jail populations are not dramatically and immediately reduced. These projections hold even if communities across the United States continue practicing social distancing and following public health guidance.South Carolina’s unfortunate embrace of mass incarceration makes this problem even more dire. We’re talking about approximately 10,000 people in South Carolina’s jails alone.Here are three things that our judges, solicitors, law enforcement, and local political leaders can do immediately to substantially reduce South Carolina’s jail population.First, review all people currently held pretrial and immediately release on a personal recognizance bond all but the very few people where pretrial detention is absolutely necessary to ensure the person’s return to court or public safety. Approximately 75 percent of the over 10,000 people in South Carolina’s jails are incarcerated only because they are too poor to afford their bond. These people have not even been convicted of a crime.Second, end the war on marijuana. As we reported on Monday, South Carolina has the second highest rate of marijuana possession arrests in the country. Every 15 minutes somebody is arrested for possessing marijuana in South Carolina - a substance that is legal or decriminalized for personal use in 26 states and the District of Columbia. As we work toward the legalization of marijuana statewide, our local leaders, from solicitors, to city and county leaders, to police chiefs and sheriffs, can immediately stop enforcing South Carolina’s marijuana possession laws. That’s a reduction of around 34,000 arrests each year.Third, prohibit the use of arrests unless necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm to another person and all non-incarceration alternatives have been exhausted. This would not only reduce unnecessary incarceration, but also strengthen trust in law enforcement - a key component to advancing public safety. As the Vera Institute of Justice noted, in “communities where distrust in police is high, people are less likely to report a crime or offer witness testimony, which impedes effective policing.”For weeks we have asked our South Carolina’s political leaders to listen to the experts and take immediate steps to reduce our incarcerated populations. Our political leaders are running out of time, as we saw yesterday moments after we, along with our pro bono partners at Arnold and Porter, filed a lawsuit seeking the release of people at heightened risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19 in South Carolina’s prison system. Shortly after we filed the lawsuit, the South Carolina Department of Corrections disclosed that a second incarcerated person tested positive for COVID-19 at Kirkland Correctional Institution, leading to a two-week lockdown at the facility. Because Kirkland is the facility where all newly sentenced people come before being sent to another prison, the Department of Corrections has announced that it will not take newly sentenced people for two weeks, leaving additional people warehoused in South Carolina’s jails until Kirkland opens again.As the new ACLU model found, aggressive action and policy change could save as many as 23,000 people in jail and 76,000 in the broader community if we stop arrests for anything but the five percent of crimes defined as most serious by the FBI — including murder, rape, and aggravated assault — and double the rate of release for those already detained.Incarceration should not become a death sentence. The ACLU model shows that a larger catastrophe can be prevented if governors and all system stakeholders drastically reduce their incarcerated populations.We cannot do this alone. Your voice can make a difference. Please click this link to learn how you can take action!

On April 9, we sent a letter calling on Governor McMaster to immediately mandate a prison reduction plan and protect incarcerated people from the perilous risks associated with COVID-19 in correctional settings. Despite the recommendations of public health experts and pleas from concerned advocates and loved ones of incarcerated people, Governor McMaster has continued to neglect his duty to care for people in custody -- including those who are most at risk of becoming critically ill or dying from COVID-19. We're suing to prevent death by incarceration. Along with our pro-bono partners at international law firm Arnold & Porter, we filed a federal lawsuit this evening against Governor Henry McMaster, South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling, and members of the South Carolina Board of Pardons and Paroles. Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. (P&A) also joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff on behalf of incarcerated people with disabilities. 

A new ACLU report released today documents how South Carolina’s marijuana laws needlessly ensnare tens of thousands of people -- disproportionately Black people -- in its criminal justice system every year. Sold to the public in the name of public safety,  these laws do not make us safe and ruin lives.South Carolina has the second highest arrest rate for marijuana possession in the United States. Every 15 minutes somebody is arrested for possessing marijuana in South Carolina - a substance that is legal or decriminalized for personal use in 26 states and the District of Columbia.South Carolina’s current marijuana laws are a monumental waste of tax dollars. For each of the 34,229 marijuana arrests in 2018, our tax dollars had to pay for a judge, a clerk, law enforcement officers, solicitors, and others to process the case. According to an economic analysis published in 2013, the 16,669 marijuana possession arrests in 2010 cost South Carolina taxpayers nearly $50 million. Between 2010 and 2018 the number of marijuana possession arrests more than doubled, meaning South Carolina taxpayers may be paying closer to $100 million each year to enforce outdated and harmful marijuana possession laws.South Carolina’s marijuana policy is another example of its two-tiered justice system. Two people can be arrested for possessing the same amount of marijuana and face vastly differing punishments based on nothing more than their wealth. This is because access to diversion programs, which can mean the difference between having a criminal conviction and a clean record, often require fees to participate. As a result, those with wealth can pay their way to a clean record, while those without wealth are stuck with a criminal record and all of its collateral harms.And, South Carolina’s marijuana laws, like all aspects of its criminal justice system, are enforced with a staggering racial bias. In 2018 Black people were 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession when compared with whites, despite both groups using marijuana at roughly the same rate. And, this disparity is on the rise, up from 1.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2001  to 2.8 times more likely to be arrested in 2010. The discriminatory enforcement of South Carolina’s marijuana laws means that Black people are more likely to face the immediate harms of a marijuana possession conviction, including potential incarceration, criminal records, the loss of jobs, housing, financial aid eligibility, and child custody.The discriminatory enforcement also compounds the harms that already exist because of the racial wealth divide - a divide born from slavery and maintained though racist policies including regressive taxation, lending and pay discrimination, and unequal education, to name a few. White families in the United States have a median household wealth of $171,000 while Black families median household wealth is just $17,600. Because of this vast economic inequality, the reduced ability to participate in a diversion program and the collateral harms of a marijuana conviction, including its associated fines and fees, disproportionately push Black people into cycles of never ending debt, poverty, and further contact with the criminal justice system.It’s time for our communities to define and advance our vision for what a just, equitable, and safe South Carolina should look like. And, part of this vision must be the legalization of marijuana with racial equity at the foundation of such reform.