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South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers
Loaded on May 1, 2025
published in Prison Legal News
May, 2025, page 19
A former jail guard in South Carolina’s Berkeley County was sentenced on March 18, 2025, to 10 years in state prison, after he admitted to sexually assaulting nine detainees and coworkers at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center in 2022. Avery Richard Smith, 24, pleaded guilty to 11 charges: four counts …
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More from this issue:
- $1.2 Million in Settlements Reached in Suit Over Sacramento Jail Murder, by Douglas Ankney
- Multitudes Caged for Failure to Pay Child Support, Driving Mass Incarceration, by Matthew Clarke
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Florida’s “Pay to Stay” Law: A Second Sentence for Former Prisoners
- Fifth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Louisiana Officials Who Forced Prisoner to Work with Broken Surgical Screws in Ankle, by Anthony Accurso
- Study Finds Just 1% of Prisoner’s Eighth Amendment Claims Succeed
- Incarcerated Students Caught in Crosshairs of Trump War on Education Department
- Disbarred Cincinnati Defense Attorney Who Defrauded Prisoner Clients Gets Three-Year Sentence
- Wisconsin Prisoner Inhaled His Own Teeth in Fatal Beatdown
- South Carolina Conducts First U.S. Execution by Firing Squad in 15 Years
- Eleventh Circuit Revives Volunteer Pastor’s First Amendment Claim at Georgia Jail, by Douglas Ankney
- Trump Guts BOP Guard Union
- Los Angeles County Jails Record Almost One Death Every Nine Days
- Florida Prisoner Returns to Custody After Overturned Conviction Reinstated
- South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers
- Maryland Targets Highest-in-Nation Racial Incarceration Gap
- Idaho Warden Bought Execution Drugs on Roadside
- Connecticut Court Denies Access to Video of Prisoner’s Fatal Beat-Down by Guards
- Florida Prisoner Released to Die Settles With Centurion Over Ignored Prostate Cancer
- Wellpath Sanctioned for Discovery Violation in Suit Over Kentucky Prisoner’s Death, by Douglas Ankney
- Cruelty Is Now the Point for BOP
- New York Lifts Hiring Ban on Fired Striking Prison Guards, Announces Early Prisoner Releases
- Former Prisoner Appointed President’s Pardon “Czar”
- Oregon DOC Replaces Top Medical Staffers Amid Turmoil
- Rikers Island Staffers, Contractor and Detainee Sentenced for Smuggling
- Washington DOC On Hot Seat Over “Unexpected Fatalities,” Missed Autopsies
- 20 Charged in Nevada Prison Brawl That Left Three Dead
- Second Circuit Revives Connecticut Prisoner’s Challenge To Conditions In Virginia Lockup Where He Was Transferred, by Douglas Ankney
- Pittsburgh Lockup Accounts for 43% of Pennsylvania Jail TASER Use, Suit Filed
- Rikers Island Detainees Wait in “Black Hole” for Competency Treatment
- Mass Incarceration Weakens All Workers, by Eric Seligman, Brian Nam-Sonenstein
- Plans to Hold Migrants at Gitmo Hit Snag
- Third Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Pennsylvania DOC in Prisoner’s Challenge to 26 Years of Solitary Confinement
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- Virginia Bribes Prisoners Not to Set Themselves On Fire
- $2.95 Million Settlement for Untreated Pneumonia Death in Washington Jail
- Medical Copays Blamed for Reducing Prisoner Access to Healthcare
- New York Guards Indicted for Prisoner’s Murder
- Missouri Repeals “Pay-to-Stay” Law
- New Jersey DOC Sued Twice for Turning “Blind Eye” to “Pervasive” Drug-Smuggling Blamed for Prisoner Deaths
- $18,000 for New York Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Planted Shank in Cell
- Kansas Supreme Court Denies Compensation to Former Prisoner Whose Conviction Was Overturned
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- Texas Prison Heat Declared Unconstitutional
- $3.4 Million Settlement for Minnesota Jail Death Called “Real-Life Nightmare”
- BOP Jettisons Transgender Offender Manual
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- News in Brief
More from these topics:
- Punished for Bleeding: How Periods in Prison Become a Trap, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Strip Searches, Hygiene Supplies, Discrimination (Transgender).
- Differing Judicial Outcomes for the New York Guards Who Killed Robert Brooks, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Pending Appeal/Sentencing.
- New York State Moves to Dismiss Hundreds of Prison Sexual Assault Lawsuits, Feb. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Authority and Jurisdiction, Access To Courts.
- The New York Prison System’s Culture of Cruelty and Impunity, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death).
- Amnesty International Report Claims Torture and Enforced Disappearances at “Alligator Alcatraz”, Jan. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Totality of Conditions, Detention - Generally, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Confinement in Segregated Housing.
- Sixth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Michigan Warden Whose Guards Gave Prisoner Plastic Bag Used in Suicide, Dec. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise, Suicides, Deliberate Indifference.
- Hawaii Prison Warden Reinstated After Being Fired in 2014 for Sexual Harassment, Dec. 1, 2025. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Supervisor-Staff Harassment, Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Employee Litigation.
- Prisoner Assaulted by BOP Guard and Left With Bleeding Rectum—Then the Cover-Up Began, Dec. 1, 2025. Staff-Prisoner Assault, DOC/BOP misconduct, Retaliatory Segregation, Malicious Prosecution, Restraints.
- One Guard Pleads Guilty, Another Receives Light Sentence in New York Prisoner’s Killing, Dec. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Obstruction of Justice, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.
- New Jersey Breaks Ground on New $330 Million Women’s Prison After Raid at Old Facility, Dec. 1, 2025. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Prison Rape Elimination Act.

