How South Carolina Prisons are Managing COVID-19 | A Conversation with SCDC Director Bryan Stirling

The Riley Institute’s Center for Critical Issues “brings the world to Furman University” by hosting a diverse roster of speakers on campus each year. While our events are on hold due to COVID-19, The Riley Institute’s Advance Team students are (virtually) bringing notable past speakers into their own homes for thoughtful conversations about the coronavirus’s impact on many facets of life.

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Managing a pandemic from inside a prison presents its fair share of complications. How do you manage communal spaces? What can be done about the educational and social programs crucial to the wellbeing of people who are incarcerated? How do you handle mass testing when results are slow to trickle in?

These are all questions that Bryan Stirling, Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, has given a lot of thought to since March. In early August, he sat down with Advance Team members Zack Bolzan ’22, Megan Litz ’22, and Ethan Johnson ’23 to share his perspective on the challenges that are currently mounting inside South Carolina's prisons.

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Conversation recorded August 3, 2020. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this recording are those of the individuals appearing in the video and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Riley Institute or Furman University.