Woman settles lawsuit in death of son at prison in Ridgeville 11/28/2009 12:36 AM Associated Press SUMMERVILLE -- A woman has settled a lawsuit after her son was stabbed to death in a South Carolina prison four years ago and hopes officials look more closely at where prisoners are assigned.
Sandra Carter was upset that her son Justin Bregenzer, a 22-year-old nonviolent offender, was housed near an inmate already convicted of killing two people, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Friday.
Bregenzer was stabbed at the Lieber Correctional Institution near Ridgeville in 2005. Kenneth Henry Justus, 42, has been sentenced to death for killing Bregenzer.
Carter reached an out-of-court settlement of $47,500 last month with the Corrections Department, which did not admit wrongdoing in Bregenzer's death nor did the agency promise to change the way it assigns inmates to prisons.
She said she wants prison administrators to look beyond their regulations and consider the potential dangers of housing violent criminals near the nonviolent.
"It's not a big settlement," she said. "But they know they screwed up."
Bregenzer had broken into cars in Mount Pleasant and failed to complete a shock incarceration program. He was ordered to finish his sentence as a youthful offender in the prison system.
Bregenzer and another inmate also ran away from trash duty in the prison system and stole a car, adding more time to his sentence.
Justus was serving two life prison sentences for killing two people in northwestern South Carolina when Bregenzer was stabbed. Justus said last year that he would plead guilty and wanted the death penalty. Prosecutors agreed, and he was sentenced to die.
Attorney Chris Murphy represented the Corrections Department in Carter's lawsuit and said the men had been friendly for months and there was no way to have predicted the attack. No explanation was ever given for the stabbing.
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