A 42-Year-Old Inmate Dies in South Carolina’s Colleton County Jail
In South Carolina news, a 42-year-old man who was in the custody of the Colleton County Detention Center died on August 2, 2025. The Colleton County Sheriff’s Department first learned of his death on August 5, 2025.
The man, whose name has not been released publicly, was arrested by Walterboro police and booked into Colleton County Detention Center on July 23, 2025. Tragically, the next day, the man was discovered unresponsive in his single-occupancy cell. He was hanging from the top bunk. Aid was rendered initially by emergency medical personnel with Colleton County Fire-Rescue. The man was then taken by airlift to a trauma center nearby.
The Walterboro jail inmate was admitted to the hospital. A spokesperson for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department said that he was released on bond at that time, and was “therefore not in custody at the time of his death.”*
*Note: In Texas, when incarcerated individuals are transferred to a hospital for a higher level of care, jails at times release them on bond. If the inmate dies, jails at times do not file a custodial death report (CDR) because of the inmate’s release from custody. This is a problematic practice.
The address of Colleton County Detention Center is 22 Klein St, Walterboro, SC 29488. The jail’s inmate capacity is 284.
The address of the Walterboro Police Department is 242 Hampton St, Walterboro, SC 29488.
A Charleston County Inmate Taken Off Suicide Watch Dies by Suicide
Jordan Bell was booked into Charleston County Jail, also known as the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, on June 14, 2024. Mr. Bell, only 33 years old, died nine days later. Mr. Bell’s manner of death was suicide, according to Bobbi Jo O’Neal, the Charleston County Coroner.
In a report released by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Mr. Bell had been taken off suicide watch on June 20, though he attempted suicide in the North Charleston jail the day before. When, on June 19, he showed a deputy that his effort failed, he also made suicidal statements.
After the deputy received the information from Mr. Bell about his making a long piece of mattress cover into a rope and trying to kill himself with it, she did not fill out an observation form to convey details of the interaction. She said that normally, in similar cases, she had filled out the form. The deputy said she did not follow her normal procedure, although she didn’t know why.
The medical professional who removed Mr. Bell from suicide watch stated on the day after his death that she did not know anything about his making a rope. She also said that if she had known that information before she met with Mr. Bell, he would have remained on suicide watch.
There was another red flag when Mr. Bell used a correctional officer’s phone. Turns out, a major allowed a deputy lieutenant to make phone calls for the inmates using her phone. According to the correctional officer, during the call that Mr. Bell made, he said that he was going to kill himself. But in the reporting of the call, he allegedly failed to mention the suicidal statement, so that his report was dismissed as inconsequential. The same medical professional who removed Mr. Bell from suicide watch stated that she had no knowledge of that phone call.
It is imperative that ongoing suicide prevention training is provided to all jail staff. No one other than a correctional officer may hear inmates say something or see them do something that would suggest they are contemplating or planning a suicide. If they do not report it, a domino effect could occur that potentially results in a preventable suicide.
Charleston County Jail is located at 3841 Leeds Avenue, North Charleston, SC 29405. The South Carolina jail has a bed capacity of 2,033.
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