A supervisor at a South Carolina prison was recently indicted on 15 charges, including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering. Christine Mary Livingston, who worked for the South Carolina Department of Corrections for 16 years, allegedly accepted over $219,000 in bribes over three years and provided 173 contraband cellphones to inmates at the Broad River Correctional Institution. Working with an inmate named Jerell Reaves, Livingston would accept bribes ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 through the Cash App for the illegal phones. If convicted, both face up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and would be required to pay back the money earned illegally. Livingston was promoted to captain in 2016, putting her in charge of security at the medium-security Columbia prison.
Reaves, also known as Hell Rell, is serving a 15-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, and Livingston, known as Hell Rell’s Queen, have been implicated in a scheme to smuggle contraband cellphones into the prison system. This is a continuing issue within South Carolina prisons, with inmates using phones to conduct drug rings, fraud schemes, and even order killings from behind bars. The 2018 riot at Lee Correctional Institution, which resulted in seven inmate deaths, was fueled by contraband cellphones. Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has pushed for the ability to jam cellphone signals in prisons but has not received permission. Instead, a device has been used to identify all cellphones on prison grounds and allows employees to request mobile phone carriers to block unauthorized numbers.
The South Carolina prison system has issued over 2,000 violations for inmates possessing banned communication devices from July 2022 to June 2023. Since 2015, over 35,000 cellphones have been found in the prison system, which houses about 16,000 inmates. Stirling has been advocating for a bill in the General Assembly that would specify cellphones as illegal in prisons, allowing for an additional year to be added to an inmate’s sentence for a first offense and up to five years for a second offense. However, this bill has not yet made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The prison system has been working on implementing technology to combat the issue of contraband cellphones, such as identifying all phones on prison grounds and requesting that mobile carriers block unauthorized numbers.
Livingston’s case is an example of a breach of public trust within the South Carolina prison system, making the facilities less safe for inmates, staff, and the community as a whole. The state has been working on finding solutions to the problem of contraband cellphones, which have been a long-running issue within the prisons. Livingston’s indictment sheds light on the ongoing challenges faced by corrections officials in maintaining security and order within the prison system. The push for legislative changes and technological enhancements continues to be a priority for prison officials as they work to address the issue of contraband cellphones and improve overall safety within the facilities.
