South Carolina Inmates, Families Charge They’re Not Being Protected From COVID
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Mark Trammell hadn't been a free man since he was a teenager, but this year he hoped that was about to change.
Set for parole in February, Trammell was ready to go home to see his family. After more than 40 years for voluntary manslaughter and kidnapping in South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) facilities, he wanted his last moments to be outside prison walls. His stage 4 liver cancer, the result of untreated hepatitis, would make him particularly vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19. Not only would he be denied parole, but by June 6 he would die in a Columbia, South Carolina hospital from COVID-19. Though initially his death was erroneously reported to his family as related to his cancer, Trammell would be one of the first reported COVID-19 deaths at an SCDC facility.