The number of serious attacks on employees in South Carolina correction facilities has steadily increased each year since at least 2011.
Last year, there were 46 reported serious attacks on employees by inmates.
Sergeant Seabrook Phillips, the Detention Officer supervisor at the Myrtle Beach Police Department said officers put their safety on the line each day for the sake of keeping inmates safe.
The jail at the Myrtle Beach Police Department different from long term detention facilities in the area because those arrested and brought to the jail, only spend about 24 to 48 hours there before they are transferred.
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Corrections officers are responsible for booking, fingerprinting, collecting DNA and getting an inmate prepared to see a judge before they are transferred to a long-term detention facility.
“We may sit down for thirty minutes, but then we have an arrestee at the back door and you’ve got to jump up and take care of it, you know we transport to the hospital, to other detention facilities and pick up other inmates who have charges for us, so we are constantly on the go all the time,” Sergeant Phillips said.
Officials with MBPD also told News13, the department takes inmates in from Surfside Beach and SC Highway Patrol.
According to MBPD, the department has processed a higher number of inmates so far this year than in years past.
“We’ve processed over ten-thousand inmates,” Phillips said. “So you know we go through a lot of inmates, and we are responsible for like I said, for taking care of them, making sure they are housed, and responsible for the safety and security.”
