Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been moved to a protective custody unit inside a maximum security South Carolina prison.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections issued a statement Friday confirming the news. The agency said the decision came after their Protective Custody Review Board met Thursday and made the recommendation. That board includes security, mental health, and classification experts.
The corrections agency adds the reception and evaluation for Murdaugh is now complete. The corrections department said inmates in this protective unit have validated protective concerns and are put there to separate them from the general population. Their location is not disclosed for safety reasons.
A total of 28 South Carolina inmates are in this protective custody.
Murdaugh will be in a single eight by ten foot cell that contains a bed, toilet and sink. They have all the same privileges that the general population has in their cells.
Murdaugh killed his wife Maggie and adult son Paul on June 7, 2021 at the family's large estate in Colleton County. A jury convicted Murdaugh on March 2 of both murders after just three hours of deliberation. A day later, Judge Clifton Newman sentenced him to consecutive life sentences.
Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence over six weeks, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.
In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called “Little Detective” for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.
Testimony culminated in Murdaugh’s appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Murdaugh’s wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near their home.
Murdaugh is appealing his conviction.