PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

According to "11 inmates sue over jail conditions," "Eleven inmates have filed lawsuits against the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center in U.S. District Court over living conditions. Inmates claim they’ve suffered malfunctioning toilets and showers, don’t receive prescription medication in a timely manner and have no emergency call system in their cells, among other things." The article goes on to say:

Last July, the Regional Detention Center was cited for housing sentenced and pre-trial inmates together. Other violations cited were the lack of two-way emergency intercom systems in individual cells and failure to give inmates required outdoor exercise time due to staffing shortages.

The state fire marshal’s office also cited the detention center for potential fire hazard violations, including the storage of combustible materials in rooms with electrical equipment. S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation spokesman Jim Knight said Monday the fire marshal’s office is scheduled to re-inspect the facility.

Many of the inmates who sued in federal court are being held for non-payment of child support.

Child support inmates usually make up half or more of the total population, which averages about 400 inmates.

One complains he is in jail for child support, “and they got me lock down like a hard criminal for 18 hours a day. Do you think that’s fair to a person that don’t have no charge just in here for child support? Can’t go out to work because the jail charge you $5 dollars a day when you go out if you go out. Child support still running when you in jail it never stops ...

The way that things are headed, South Carolina could lock up half its population and still not reduce its child support arrearage. Maybe it is time to rethink the way the State is doing things and to revisit the question "Who is Benefiting from the Incarceration of 'Deadbeats'?"