Lee Correctional Institution News

Inmate visits at the state's 28 correctional institutions have been canceled until further notice due to concerns about swine flu, according to the state Department of Corrections.

A review of the S.C. Department of Corrections by national prison experts "vindicates this agency with regard to reckless and baseless allegations," Corrections director Jon Ozmint said Monday.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is referring an inmate's death investigation to the United States Attorney's Office for review of a possible civil rights violation.

A Lee County community is mourning the loss of its pastor. Friends say 63-year-old Wilbert Wilks' service did not stop at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.

Authorities are investigating the death of a 29-year-old inmate at a maximum security prison east of Columbia.

Authorities are investigating the death of a 29-year-old inmate at a maximum security S.C. prison earlier today.

Monday's hostage situation at Lee Correctional Institution is the third publicized incident of inmate subordination there in the past year.

Monday, December 29, 2008 at 3:31 p.m. Police in Lee County have confirmed for NewsChannel 15 that a hostage situation that started at Lee Correctional in Bishopville this afternoon has ended peacefully.

An employee at a maximum-security prison in South Carolina appeared physically unharmed after being held hostage by an inmate for two hours.