Lieber Correctional Institution Inmate Killed In Assault Inside Prison Amid Staff Shortage

An inmate at Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, South Carolina, died after being fatally assaulted Sunday.

Ronald Franks, 62, succumbed to his injuries at the Trident Medical Center on Monday morning after being rushed to the hospital early Sunday, according to Dorchester County coroner Paul Brouthers.

According to ABC News4, records showed that he was admitted in the facility in 1980 and projected to be up for parole in 2019. He was serving a life sentence for a murder in Horry County, and his record also included sentences for car theft, escape, and smuggling prison contraband.

The case is being investigated by the coroner’s office and the State Law Enforcement Division. The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) is yet to release a statement regarding the matter.

This is not the first time that such an incident has taken place inside the facility. Sources at the institution told Fits News that another inmate was stabbed on Wednesday inside the prison. The inmate in question was seriously injured and as a result had to be transported to a nearby medical facility.

At the time SCDC launched an investigation into the incident. However, given the lack of cooperation from other inmates at the facility, authorities were not sure if they would be able to find the person responsible for the attack.

Lieber Correctional Institution is a level three maximum security facility that made headlines in July when inmate Jimmy Causey escaped from it. Clausey, 46, was serving a life sentence for kidnapping Columbia attorney Jack Swerling, his wife and daughter in their Columbia home in 2002.

Although Clausey was captured in Texas and later transferred to the Kirkland Correctional facility in Columbia, the high profile escape caused the institution to hire a new, stricter warden,

Joel Anderson was tasked with tightening the reins of the facility and preventing further mishaps. Toward that end, even death row inmates were removed from the facility to make it safer.

Another recent report by the Post and Courier revealed that South Carolina prisons were facing shortage of staff. Among the facilities looking to hire officers and cadets was Lieber Correctional Institute.

The report mentioned that conditions had gotten so bad that SCDC were considering recruiting in Puerto Rico, still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

"We're looking everywhere — literally everywhere. We will look wherever we can to get people to come and work," SCDC Director Bryan Stirling said. "And we are always looking because of the vacancy issues."

Since January, the department stated, it had been steadily hiring correctional officers across its 21 facilities. Nevertheless, roughly 26 percent of the positions in the facilities remain unfilled, which means that they still need 655 recruits to fill the vacancies.

Lack of prison staff does not only mean less-than-optimal security for the prisons. It also means bad news for the inmates in those facilities. Not enough staff can send prisons into lockdown, and lead to cancellation of family visitation days for inmates.