When a Death Occurs in Government Custody
Posted August 10, 2026 in Wrongful Death
Wrongful death cases move slowly when a government agency is the defendant. Records are harder to obtain, immunity defenses surface early, and damage limits written into state law can shape the outcome long before a jury hears anything. A settlement reached in Richland County shows how drawn out that process becomes.
A Four-Year Case Reaches Resolution
Richland County agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve a lawsuit brought over the 2022 death of a 27-year-old man held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He had been in custody for less than two weeks. The complaint alleged he was in the middle of a mental health crisis and was housed without running water or adequate care, and an autopsy attributed the death to dehydration.
County officials have since described renovations, additional bed space, and recruitment efforts, while an ACLU board member argued that staffing levels remain the core problem, according to WIS News 10 coverage of the settlement.
Four years passed between the death and the payment. That timeline is not unusual.
Who Actually Files the Claim
Families are often surprised by this part. Surviving relatives do not file a wrongful death action in their own names. South Carolina law requires the case be brought by or in the name of the executor or administrator of the estate, with the recovery held for a defined group of beneficiaries. The spouse and children come first. If there are none, the parents. After that, the heirs.
Settlements in these cases also require court approval before any money is distributed, a safeguard set out in Title 15, Chapter 51 of the state code.
Claims Against Counties and Agencies Follow Different Rules
Suing a public entity is not the same as suing a driver or a business. Several limits apply:
- The South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally caps recovery at $300,000 per person and $600,000 for a single occurrence
- Punitive damages are not recoverable under that statute
- Filing deadlines are shorter than the standard three-year period for most injury claims
- Federal civil rights claims can proceed on a separate track and are not bound by the state caps
- Much of the relevant evidence, including video and incident logs, is held by the entity being sued
Those caps appear in Chapter 78 of Title 15.
Choosing the correct legal theory at the outset matters enormously. A Sumter, SC wrongful death lawyer will evaluate both paths before filing anything.
Preservation Matters Early
Surveillance footage gets overwritten. Staff move on. Written policies change. Sending preservation demands quickly is one of the few things that can be done immediately after a death in custody, and it often determines what evidence still exists two years later.
If your family lost someone and questions remain about how it happened, the attorneys at Woron and Dhillon, LLC can review the circumstances and explain what a claim would involve. A Sumter wrongful death lawyer from our firm handles these matters on a contingency-fee basis.