SC prison captain charged with selling confidential information

COLUMBIA — A former captain at a South Carolina prison is accused of selling inmates confidential information, creating a security risk, prosecutors said during a Thursday bond hearing.

Leon Morell faces up to 10 years in prison himself. Prosecutors say he received more than $300 from at least one inmate last year in exchange for surveillance footage and other sensitive information about how the state’s prisons operate.

Morell had access to that information, including specifics such as where members of certain gangs were housed, through his job as an administrative captain at MacDougall Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, said assistant attorney general Stephen Lunsford.

Before that, Morell was the lieutenant in charge of contraband at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, according to the department.

“A lot of that is confidential information,” Lunsford said during Morell’s bond hearing. “If that information is made, to the inmate, public, it could be highly detrimental not only to the officers but also the public.”

Morell maintains his innocence, said his attorney, Rep. Todd Rutherford. A University of South Carolina graduate with no criminal record, Morell was simply doing his job at the Department of Corrections and was incorrectly implicated in the charges, said Rutherford, D-Columbia.

“We ask that he not be punished for working at the Department of Corrections,” said the defense attorney.

In the past, inmates have used sensitive information to run drug rings and target people outside the razor wire, including corrections officers. Morell allegedly failed to report that inmates were using illegal cellphones, often a way of communicating with the outside, despite knowing about them, Lunsford said.

Morell was charged with ethics violations, computer crimes, money laundering, misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and public disclosure of confidential information.

Circuit Judge Heath Taylor set his bond at $50,000, according to the Department of Corrections.

The investigation continues. Officers are looking to find who Morell was allegedly communicating with and whether he provided them with information officials do not yet know about, Lunsford said.

“I can’t tell you what more is going to come, but I would imagine there are going to be more charges that follow these as we continue this investigation,” Lunsford said.