Former prison guard posed as sister while trying to visit convicted killer

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A former prison guard who is named in documents detailing a convicted killer’s early release tried to visit him in prison after retiring, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections.

However, this request was denied.

Asia Love applied to see convicted killer Jeroid John Price in May of 2012, spokesperson Chrysti Shain confirmed.

Love worked as a prison guard for the Department of Corrections from March 2006 to October 2011. However, in Love’s application, her time at SCDC is not listed.

Instead, Love listed she was Price’s sister, which according to Shain, was also a lie. After seeing this, Love’s request was denied.

As questions about Price’s release linger, South Carolina Supreme Court unsealed documents related to Price’s release on Thursday.

Love is mentioned in additional supporting documents not made public.

Related: Docs: Convicted killer put correctional agency on ‘notice’ about escaped inmate

In 2019, Love wrote that Officer Sally Fowler told her she wanted Price to “receive an award” for “saving her life” after he tackled inmate Danny Thompson to the ground. Thompson had escaped from his cell and attempted to attack Fowler with a broomstick in 2010.

The documents also state Price helped the Department of Corrections by putting them on “notice” about a dangerous inmate who had escaped.

Jimmy Lee Causey escaped from the Lieber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville in July 2017 and was captured days later in Texas.

Causey was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of holding his defense attorney, Jack Swirling, and his family at gunpoint.

Shain says they were informed about Causey’s escape indirectly from Price.

Price told someone outside of the prison about the escape, who then told the agency about 18 hours after the initial escape.

At the time, Price was located in a New Mexico prison.

A jury convicted Jeroid John Price in the 2002 murder of Carl “Dash” Smalls Jr., a West Ashley native and former University of South and North Carolina football player.

The corrections department released Price on March 15; he served less than 20 years of his 35-year sentence.

The state attorney general is asking the South Carolina Supreme Court for a bench warrant to put Price back in prison.

Attorney General Alan Wilson claims “proper procedure” did not happen in Price’s release.

The order to release Price was signed by Judge Casey Manning. Manning is no longer listed on the active South Carolina Supreme Court circuit court roster.

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