York County SC inmate sentenced to prison after having fentanyl in jail
A South Carolina inmate caught with fentanyl in the York County jail after other inmates had overdosed in 2022 has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Terrell Ellis Jackson, 36, of Rock Hill, pleaded guilty Tuesday in an Alford plea to distribution of drugs and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, according to prosecutors and court records.
Jackson was one of several inmates charged with drug crimes in September 2022 after drugs were found at the jail, said prosecutor Austin Smith, 16th Circuit Assistant Solicitor.
Jackson had more than 120 illegal fentanyl pills when searched during the jail drug investigation, Smith said.
Jackson has previous drug convictions, and was in jail at the time in 2022 after an arrest for distribution of more than 1,000 fentanyl pills, records show.
Guilty plea before trial started
Jackson pleaded guilty in a negotiated agreement with prosecutors to charges from both the 1000-plus pills and the jail drugs, Smith said.
Prosecutors had planned to start a trial this week where Jackson could have been sentenced to life without parole if convicted.
In an Alford plea, a defendant does not have to admit guilt but accepts that if the case went to trial he would likely be found guilty, according to prosecutors. For sentencing, an Alford plea is treated the same as a guilty plea, South Carolina law shows.
Jail probe in 2022
The York County Sheriff’s Office operates the county jail, located at the Moss Justice Center in York.
Inmates who overdosed in 2022 received medical treatment but none died, sheriff officials said.
It remains unclear how the drugs were brought into the jail.
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said after the investigation began that all 500-plus inmates at the jail were searched.
Jackson is the first to be convicted among the inmates charged with drugs in the jail.
Cases against other inmates charged with drug crimes after the investigation remain pending, according to prosecutors and court records.
Fentanyl dangers
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Centers for Disease Control said an estimated 107,622 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and poisonings in 2021, with 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
York County officials said in a public service video released in August that in 2021 there were 109 opioid deaths in York County, with 81 of those involving fentanyl.
