EX-AGENT SAYS HE WAS TOLD TO DROP TWO DRUG CASES TIED TO S.C. PRISONS A legislative inquiry into sex between guards and inmates in South Carolina's prisons took a new turn yesterday when a former prisons investigator said he was told to back off several cases of drugs behind bars. That led the chairman of the Senate's prisons oversight committee to suggest that corruption pervades the highest levels of the Corrections Department. "What we're finding is a virtual conspiracy not to investigate cases," said Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, who has led the legislative inquiry as head of the Corrections and Penology Committee. The revelations about wrongdoing behind bars began when Susan Smith, serving life in prison for drowning her young sons, told investigators in August that she had sex with a guard. In the past 20 months, investigators have verified 11 cases of employee sexual misconduct. Four male employees and one female guard have been charged with having improper relations with prisoners. Former investigator Joseph Baker told the committee that Alan Waters, the internal-affairs director for prisons, asked investigators not to pursue certain cases. Waters "specifically told me to back off," Baker said. "He said the order came from his superiors." Waters reports to Corrections Director William "Doug" Catoe, who said he never ordered any investigations dropped. Catoe said that Baker's allegations were the first time he had heard that. "I have never curtailed an investigation and could never perceive a situation where I would," Catoe said. Waters did not return phone messages and would not answer questions, prisons spokesman John Barkley said. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating, and Attorney General Charlie Condon is trying to get the cases moved in front of the state grand jury. Condon said yesterday that the state investigation already has uncovered more than 80 incidents of criminal wrongdoing within the prisons. In a letter to SLED Chief Robert Stewart that was released by Condon's office, the attorney general asked Stewart to explain why the chief was resisting a move of the case to the state grand jury. Condon also asked for the results of SLED's preliminary investigation. Baker said that Waters ordered him to stop investigating in three cases, but he would not discuss details, citing the SLED investigation. Waters has worked for the department for 26 years, 14 of those as head of internal affairs. He denies having impeded an investigation, Barkley said. Baker said he was hired in 1998, under former Corrections Director Michael Moore. After Catoe was promoted to director last year, Baker said he tried to contact him about Waters' orders, but "I was denied access." Thomas said he wanted to determine if other internal-affairs investigators could confirm Baker's allegations. "There is no evidence that Mr. Catoe had evidence of this," Thomas said. Thomas said he would ask SLED to focus on whether there was any obstruction of justice. Hodges has hired former FBI agent Tommy Davis to review the department after SLED completes its investigation.
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