Lockdown at Lieber ends after security issue investigated

Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville came off lockdown around 1 p.m. after officials investigated an unspecified security issue.

The lockdown at the maximum-security prison in Ridgeville began Friday, due to “a security related issue that can not be disclosed at this time,” S.C. Department of Corrections spokesman Clark Newsom said.

Newsom had said officials hoped to wrap up the investigation and lift the lockdown today.

The lockdown comes a few months after a January riot at Lieber. Inmates broke off metal desk legs and used them as pipes to assault two officers who were keeping watch over a dorm with 229 hard-core offenders.

The riot lasted five hours before a special response team shot tear gas into the building and later recaptured the inmates. The two guards assaulted in the takeover and two more who had hypothermia from wading in cold water were treated for their injuries and released, authorities said.

There have been no reports of a similar uprising at Lieber in recent days, but Newsom would not say just what sparked the lockdown, saying only that it was an internal matter.

Lieber Warden Wayne McCabe said recently that lockdowns are a necessary evil at the prison from time to time when rumors surface of possible threats inside the prison walls.

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or Twitter.com/glennsmith5.