UNION COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were called to the Upstate Evaluation Center on Jonesville Highway in Union County on Friday for a riot at the facility.
The facility is a juvenile detention center run by the Department of Juvenile Justice. It houses roughly 70 young people from across the state.
According to Captain Scott Coffer with the Union County Sheriff’s Office, at around 8:30 p.m. Friday a call was made to Union County dispatch for assistance with a riot at the facility.
The Union County SWAT team was sent to secure the facility, Coffer said.
“We helped the staff here detain and separate some of the individuals and helped them secure everybody else,” he said.
While inside, members of the SWAT team reported seeing flooded rooms and several rooms which juveniles would normally live in had been damaged.
It is not known exactly how the riot got started. Coffer said calls for help were made after staff noticed people from several pods were fighting.
By 10 p.m., the fighting had been stopped and the facility was back under control. No injuries were reported.
Coffer said not every juvenile was involved in the minor riot. Five or six juveniles were detained.
He said this is not the first riot they have responded to at the facility.
This is a developing story. We will update it with more information as it becomes available.
