Ex-Midlands resident dies after being attacked by inmates at SC prison, officials say

An inmate at a South Carolina correctional institution died after being attacked other prisoners, the state Department of Corrections said.

Eric Lamont Washington, 45, was attacked and stabbed Tuesday while he was in the entrance of a living area at at McCormick Correctional Institution, spokesperson Chrysti Shain said in a news release.

Washington was taken to a hospital where he died, according to the release.

Information on what led to the attack, and the number of inmates involved, was not included in the release.

The attack is being investigated by the Department of Corrections Office of Investigations and Intelligence in addition to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and charges are expected to be filed, Shain said.

Washington was serving a 25-year sentence after pleading guilty to an armed robbery charge in Newberry County, where he lived at the time of his 2001 arrest, court records show.

He was projected to be released from prison on Oct. 2, 2023, the Index-Journal reported.

Washington was also a registered sex offender, according to SLED. In 1995, Washington was convicted on a second-degree charge of criminal sexual conduct with minors between 11 and 14 years old, according to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.

In 1997, while he was an inmate at Perry Correctional Institution, Washington was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, but the charge was dismissed when the indictment ended, court records show.

This is not the first time an inmate at McCormick was allegedly killed by other prisoners.

In June 2021, Garrett Lemont Lyles Jr., 31, was stabbed multiple times and died at the prison, the Department of Corrections said.

In December 2020, two inmates at McCormick were charged with the murder of another prisoner. Jonathan Sentel Dominick, 35, and Darius Rasean Ransom, 31, were both charged for their roles in the death of Deshawn Livaughn Simmons, who was found in his cell with a single stab wound to his back, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

McCormick Correctional is a men’s-only, high-security institution that houses 640 inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. Like other Level 3 prisons in South Carolina, McCormick is “designed primarily to house violent offenders with longer sentences, and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems,” the Department of Corrections said.

It’s about 80 miles west of Columbia.