Prison guards let mentally ill teenagers drink bleach

Prison officials allowed a teenager with a history of suicide attempts to drink bleach and locked him in solitary confinement for several days, according to a new federal lawsuit detailing a litany of abuse.

Amaury Baker, 18, is suing South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and several employees for abuses he accused them of or committed over a two-year period, according to a complaint filed Jan. 9. Baker was held at the Midlands Evaluation Center and Broad River Road Complex in Columbia. The complaint shows that only one DJJ employee was disciplined.

The agency did not immediately receive a response to a request for comment.

One day in April 2024, Baker accused Broad River prison staff of handcuffing him while he was using the bathroom, then taking him back to his room and leaving him in handcuffs for 30 minutes. Later, unidentified personnel dragged Baker to his room, placed a knee on his head and shocked him with a stun gun until he passed out and, according to the complaint, urinated on himself. According to the complaint, thirty minutes passed before he was taken to the hospital.

Attorneys Daniel Boles and Aleksandra Chauhan filed the lawsuit, arguing that the department violated Baker’s civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The complaint says Baker suffered from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are classified as disabilities under federal law.

Boles said Baker and several other juvenile inmates represent hope that the lawsuits and making their names public will attract attention and change.

The agency has been struggling with problems for a long time. The department’s latest audit found that deplorable conditions have persisted for years following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The December 5 audit found that just over half of the 101 total recommendations issued to the agency in 2021 by national regulators had been implemented, The case was previously reported by the Post and Courier..

Some security measures were not implemented, the audit found, and gang-related violence remained a problem, as did meeting basic internal staffing requirements and compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Government officials stepped up provide de-escalation training and improve correctional officer pay, but turnover has only worsened, The Post and Courier previously reported.

The audit also found that the agency still lacks a mental health training program for staff.

Boles said prison staff should use temporary solitary confinement to defuse the situation. Instead, according to the complaint, prison staff placed Baker in solitary confinement several times from April to June 2024 for criminal and medical reasons. The complaint says Baker’s isolation lasted four to five days.

The complaint says he spent 23 hours a day alone and was denied access to sunlight, outdoors or a shower by two prison staff.

“It’s almost like they’ve been sentenced to solitary confinement,” Boles said.

Baker suffered several serious injuries in prison, including a traumatic brain injury when DJJ employee Jenna Muhammad pushed the teenager off a table and he hit his head, the lawsuit alleges. The complaint says he later developed symptoms of a concussion and began vomiting.

In other cases, corrections staff failed to intervene or enable other inmates to beat Baker, such as when a corrections officer allowed 10 other inmates into his cell while Baker was sleeping so they could beat him, according to the complaint.

The complaint says Baker once reported to an employee named “Timmons” that a group of teenagers were planning to attack him. A week later, he claimed that “Timmons” opened the door and allowed the teenagers to jump over him. The complaint says they beat him with rocks in his socks.

Baker accused another employee, possibly named “Bates,” of pepper-spraying him while another youth beat him.

In October 2023, Baker was hospitalized for two days after a school riot during which several children hit him with a zipper. The complaint says he suffered a broken nose and other injuries to his face and eyes.

After he returned from the hospital, a corrections officer identified as “Bennett” beat him and then drove him into the ground using a riot shield. The complaint says “Bennett” was fired.

Boles and Chauhan also represent other teenagers suing the department and its employees in federal court for sexual harassment and assault. Boles said one of the officers, 30-year-old Kadijah Holloman, is accused of entering a minor’s room and performing sexual acts to which the minors did not and could not consent. Holloman worked in the department for five years until she resigned in March 2024. She was charged in August 2024 with office misconduct and sexual harassment, The Post and Courier previously reported.

Hollomon has denied some of the allegations and invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in other accusations, according to her lawyers’ letters. Hollomon is named alongside Department of Juvenile Justice employees who have not yet been named.