2 deaths in 2 days — investigations underway after drug overdoses at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Two deaths have occurred in just the past two days inside the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Just before noon on Monday, Richland County deputies say they responded to a call regarding an unresponsive detainee at the detention center.

Upon arrival, Sheriff Leon Lott says 25-year-old Marty J. Brown of Columbia was found dead of an overdose — with the toxicology report revealing positive traces of pentazocine, which is considered as powerful a drug as fentanyl.

And on Tuesday around 1:30 in the afternoon, staff at Alvin S. Glenn discovered another unresponsive detainee in one of the facility’s open housing units.

Richland County deputies were again called, and at just before 2 p.m., Lott says 54-year-old Lamont Powell of Columbia was found dead — also from an overdose — this time the toxicology report revealed traces of fentanyl.

“Fentanyl is probably one of the most dangerous drugs that we’ve got. It’s impacting not only those outside of the community, but also now we’re seeing it in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center,” says Lott.

Tuesday night, deputies conducted a search at the center, but did not find any further drugs. After deputies left, however, Lott says a third overdose occurred.

“That inmate did not die, he was brought back. So we have not determined at this point what drug he used,” he says.

The department is conducting a criminal investigation to determine how the drugs were brought in to Alvin S. Glenn while the center is conducting an internal investigation of its own.

“I guess the message is to those inmates at Alvin S. Glenn that the drugs you’re taking there can kill you just as they can on the street. I can’t stand here and say there’s not more fentanyl or this other synthetic drug at the jail, there probably is, and so if somebody uses it they’ll probably end up like Brown and Powell that both died of drug overdoses,” he says.

The detention center’s on-site medical team reports that they began immediate life-saving measures on both Brown and Powell.

This is the 4th death of an inmate at Alvin S. Glenn detention center in 2024.