‘Get them to lock down everybody’: 911, radio calls shed light on Darlington County jail incident

DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — An incident Sept. 24 at W. Glenn Campbell Detention Center in Darlington County that resulted in four inmates being charged for damaging property and lighting fires lasted about 30 minutes, according to 911 calls and radio communication obtained by News13.

Sean James, Dontrelle Huff, Dabry James, and Cody Springs are accused of various crimes, including having contraband, damaging property at the jail and setting multiple fires, according to officials.

In a separate incident two days later, Dabry James is accused of punching a deputy in the face and being in possession of a peerless handcuff key and a lighter. He is also accused of setting a jail uniform and a blanket on fire and tossing them out of the port in his cell door on September 26.

At 7:05 p.m. on September 24, a call went out from the jail asking for deputies to come to the jail.

“We’ve got an inmate who’s popped his door,” the caller can be heard saying in the recording. “He’s stuck in a unit, with an officer alone, who’s swinging a mop stick, mop handle.”

At 7:17 p.m., someone asked for the jail to be placed on lockdown.

“Get them to lock down everybody that’s not in a cell. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been booked in or not. Everybody needs to be put up. I don’t need anybody else moving around freely.”

At 7:25 p.m., a call came in for a fire at the detention center’s address.

“Attention station three. Attention station three. I need you to respond to 2349 Rogers Road. 2349 Rogers Road. Detention center. Reference to a fire.”

At 7:35 p.m., the fire department said the fire was out and all units could be canceled.

Despite some inmates facing charges for inciting and participating in a riot, officials insist that there was no riot at the jail. When asked about the initial jail incident on Friday, Sheriff James Hudson initially told News13 that an inmate simply flooded his cell.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited to indicate that Dabry James is accused of punching a deputy and committing other crimes on September 26.