COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two inmates died from drug overdoses in two days at a South Carolina jail, which has been under a federal civil rights investigation, authorities said.

The inmates at the jail in Richland County were killed by two different drugs, one on Monday and a second on Tuesday, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said.

Deputies are investigating how the drugs got into the jail. It’s smuggling, either through jail employees or inmates as they are booked, the sheriff said.

“There is no magician that pops them in there. Someone has to bring them physically in,” Lott said at a Wednesday news conference.

Drug sniffing dogs were sent to the jail Tuesday night, but didn’t find any illegal substances, Lott said.

Lamont Powell, 54, overdosed on fentanyl, while Marty Brown, 25, died after taking Pentazocine, a narcotic painkiller that has started to show up as an alternative to fentanyl, authorities said.

The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating whether Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center violated inmates’ civil rights. The agency launched the investigation after stabbings, rapes, escapes and a riot, all in the past few years, investigators said.

Federal officials cited a long list of issues, including an inmate who was beaten to death by five attackers locked in cells with unsecured doors and a man who died of dehydration while suffering from fresh rat bites. He’d reportedly lost 40 pounds (18 kilograms) during the two weeks he spent in a cell lacking running water.

A state investigation in late 2023 found the Richland County jail lacked written plans to evacuate inmates during a fire; left keys for cells and exits in an unlocked desk drawer in a juvenile wing; tasked prisoners with conducting head counts; and only gave prisoners clean clothes once a week.

Women were being held in a unit with urinals and a male inmate was able to drop into the female unit through the ceiling. The women weren’t regularly given toothbrushes, soap, tampons and pads, according to the investigation.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek reelection adds even more intrigue to an already closely followed election.

But hundreds of other races will also be on South Carolina ballots this November, many for seats in the state legislature.

For the last few weeks, since the presidential debate, some South Carolina Democrats privately said they were concerned about down-ballot races.

They worried if voters were not motivated by Biden to get to the polls, they likely would not go to cast a ballot for races at the State House, where Democrats can’t afford to lose many seats.

“If we lose one seat in the Senate, [Republicans] will have a supermajority,” Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine said. “We already have an uphill battle most of the time, and so I’m committed to make sure all of our Democratic senators come back. I hope we can add one or two.”

Devine said Democrats are reenergized in a way she hasn’t seen in a while with Vice President Kamala Harris now the party’s de facto nominee.

Devine, a Richland County Democrat, said she personally was not overly concerned about down-ballot races if Biden was still running but believes this switch could help Democrats running for the state legislature.

“It certainly was a concern for me that if people aren’t thinking about the election right now, it’s going to be hard for us to really get that momentum after Labor Day,” she said. “Now with this announcement, we’ve got people who are talking about elections. They’re excited about the election.”

Republicans are close to having a supermajority in the South Carolina Senate, and they already have one in the House of Representatives.

A University of South Carolina political science professor said he believes this could at least get Democratic enthusiasm back to where it was before the debate when panic started to set in for some members of the party.

“It was just like, people were getting disheartened, and people were recognizing this is an election where we just don’t have a chance. So it would have kind of discouraged turnout among Democrats,” USC professor Bob Oldendick said.

South Carolina Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick said this change does not make a difference in his party’s plans for State House and other down-ballot races.

“It’s really all about turnout on our side. If we do our jobs and turn out our voters in a state like South Carolina, we’re going to win and we’re going to win big, no matter who they have on their ticket,” McKissick said.

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