By Cynthia Roldán
The State
RIDGEVILLE, S.C. — State prison officials say a 34-year-old inmate strangled his cellmate during an fight over stolen food.
Michael Jerome Brice, 34, is facing murder charges for allegedly strangling Ryan Mansfield in July at Lieber Correctional Institution. According to the arrest warrant, Brice has “made a statement implicating himself in this crime.”
Mansfield, 24, died sometime after 1 a.m., on July 21 . He was serving time for grand larceny and burglary charges in Richland County, according to records of the S.C. Department of Corrections.
Brice has been in the agency’s custody since January for several drug charges and possession of a firearm in York County.
Lieber is a maximum security facility in Ridgeville in Dorchester County that houses more than 1,200 inmates. It’s also where the agency holds its death row inmates, though executions are carried out at the Broad River Capital Punishment Facility in Columbia.