Abbeville County Prison

Under S.C. Code 22-5-510, the clock for a bond hearing is 24 hours from arrest. Locally, a magistrate holds it. Bond court runs twice daily, every day of the week, at 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The Magistrate Court office sits in the Law Enforcement Center, 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-446-6500.

City judges may also set and receive bonds in cases from their own towns (S.C. Code 14-25-115). Charges that carry death or life behind bars, murder among them, are off limits to a magistrate (S.C. Code 22-5-510(A)). Those wait for a circuit judge. When bond is finally posted, the jail gets four hours, no more, to open the door.

Unless the charge is capital, the law presumes release on the person's word. A magistrate adds money or conditions when that word alone seems unlikely to bring them to court, or when someone could be hurt (S.C. Code 17-15-10). Here is what the magistrate can pick from:

• Personal recognizance (PR). The person signs, and no money changes hands.
• Full cash. The family pays the entire figure. S.C. Code 22-5-530 lets it be deposited with the magistrate or city judge rather than signing a recognizance.
• Surety. The family hires a state-licensed bondsman, who vouches for the whole amount in exchange for a nonrefundable premium.
• Ten percent cash with the clerk. Only when the judge offers it. Violent charges are left out, and so is anyone accused of a gun felony while already free on bond (S.C. Code 17-15-15).
• Ankle monitor. GPS tracking may stand in for money or sit on top of it (S.C. Code 17-15-35).

Whatever the type, the person has to appear in person, stay inside South Carolina and behave (S.C. Code 17-15-20).

No two amounts are set alike. The magistrate sizes up the charge, the record, family, work, finances, years spent living here and any earlier no-shows (S.C. Code 17-15-30). Other open charges count too, plus whether a prior bond already has them on release. The surest way to learn a real number is a call to the Magistrate Court at 864-446-6500 once the hearing is over.

Roughly, charges sort into these bands:

• Small offenses worth a $500 fine or 30 days, like simple third-degree assault and battery (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2)): the starting point is a signature bond.
• Shoplifting at $2,000 or under: stays in summary court, and the fine can reach $1,000 (S.C. Code 16-13-110).
• Bigger shoplifting: a felony once the goods pass $2,000, with five years possible, or ten years past $10,000.
• Listed violent crimes short of a life sentence (S.C. Code 16-1-60): a magistrate may set an amount or refuse bond entirely.
• Murder or anything carrying life or death: a circuit judge alone decides.

Jail, Sheriff's Office and Magistrate Court all work under one roof at 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620. Go step by step:

1. Ring the Detention Center at 864-446-6200. Keep the spelling of their legal name and their birthday handy. Note the bond figure, the bond type and which charges it covers.
2. Find out which counter takes the money today (jail, magistrate's office or Clerk of Court) and what it accepts.
3. Going through a bondsman? Pick one with a South Carolina license, and ask for the fee on paper.
4. Carry a photo ID. Hang on to each slip of paper the staff give you.
5. Keep your phone charged. Release must come no later than four hours after posting (S.C. Code 22-5-510).

Weekday office hours at the magistrate's window run 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Late at night or on a Saturday, check with the jail before making the drive. The county prison camp on a 2019 SCDC list held sentenced state inmates, so bond is never handled there.

Sometimes. Each office has its own habits, so phone first.

• Magistrate Court, Law Enforcement Center, 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-446-6500, open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Mailed magistrate bonds go to P.O. Box 1156, Abbeville, SC 29620, made out to "Abbeville Magistrate Court." A bank certified check works, as do cashier's checks and money orders. Put the case number on it, or tuck a ticket copy inside, and mail it early enough to land by the court date.
• Clerk of Court, Abbeville County Courthouse, 102 Court Square, Room 103, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312 (ask for the Clerk of Court), weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bonds on General Sessions cases, the felonies and heavier misdemeanors, are received and held here. Ten percent deposits, when a judge permits them, are paid at this same counter.
• City court: city police cases are heard at 102 South Main Street, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-1790.

For anything mailed, the magistrate's office takes only three things: money orders, cashier's checks and bank certified checks. Cash and personal checks should never go in an envelope. Walking in with payment? Ask the jail at 864-446-6200, or the court office you are headed to, what it takes that day.

A state online payment site is linked from the Magistrate Court's page. Use it for fines on tickets you are not fighting. Bond for a person in custody can't be posted there.

Fees for a bondsman go to the bondsman alone. Ask for a signed receipt naming the fee and anything held as collateral.

• Every bondsman and runner (S.C. Code 38-53-80) needs a South Carolina Department of Insurance license. The department links a national license lookup where you can check one.
• The premium can't exceed 15 percent. Its minimum is whichever is higher, $100 or a tenth of the bond (S.C. Code 38-53-170(e)). So a $5,000 bond costs somewhere from $500 to $750.
• Paying over time? The plan needs $100 or more up front and must wrap up within 18 months.
• Even if the solicitor drops every charge, the premium stays paid.
• Soliciting business at a courthouse, a magistrate's office or a jail is banned. So is a bondsman pushing you toward a particular lawyer.
• Collateral, meaning property pledged to the bondsman, goes back within ten days after liability ends, provided the court hasn't issued a bench warrant.

File complaints with the Department of Insurance, 1201 Main Street, Suite 1000, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-6160.

Each bond frees a person on one charge only. Any of these can keep them there:

• Two separate cases. Each city ticket gets its own bond, and so does each county charge. A warrant from Greenwood or anywhere else needs one too.
• A bond wiped out by law. Under 2023 Act No. 83, a fresh violent or gun felony charge during release on bond for an earlier one cancels the earlier bond by operation of law (S.C. Code 17-15-55(C)). Within 30 days, the circuit court must take it up at a hearing.
• Supervision trouble. A probation or parole violation runs on its own track. The local probation office is at 903 W. Greenwood St., Suite 2700, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5323.
• Waiting on a circuit judge. Charges beyond a magistrate's bond power stay put until that hearing.
• Federal charges or an ICE detainer. State bond leaves both untouched.

Ask the jail, 864-446-6200, to check every hold before any money changes hands.

Under S.C. Const. art. I, § 15, most people are owed bail, and an excessive amount is banned. Even so, a judge who weighs the evidence may keep a person in jail on:

• a capital charge, one that can end in a death sentence;
• a charge that can end in life in prison;
• a violent offense from the legislature's list (S.C. Code 16-1-60).

For crimes on that violent list, the magistrate decides whether to set bond at all. Murder is another matter: with death or 30 years to life on the table (S.C. Code 16-3-20(A)), the decision belongs to a circuit judge, and the person sits at the jail until then. For first-degree burglary, a summary court may handle bond unless the solicitor objects (S.C. Code 17-15-10(B)).

Prosecution falls to the 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office. You'll find its courthouse office at 102 Court Square, Room 107, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312, and its headquarters at 222 Phoenix Street, 2nd Floor, Greenwood, SC 29648, 864-942-8800.

Asking is allowed. A circuit judge may reconsider a summary court's bond on any General Sessions offense (S.C. Code 17-15-55). The judge can also rewrite release conditions, though only after notice goes out and a hearing is held (S.C. Code 17-15-50).

1. Lean on the defense lawyer, who can put a written request for a new hearing before the court.
2. Bring paperwork showing roots here, such as pay stubs, a lease and the names of children who need them. Add the amount the family can really pay.
3. Propose something that calms the judge's concerns, an ankle monitor for example (S.C. Code 17-15-35).

Scheduling questions about a bond motion go to the Clerk of Court, Room 103, 102 Court Square, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312.

Can't afford a defense lawyer? The court will appoint one (S.C. Code 17-3-10). The accused fills out a sworn statement of income and debts. The clerk can reduce or waive the $40 application fee when paying it is out of reach (S.C. Code 17-3-30). With a minor, the parent or guardian signs and pays (S.C. Code 17-3-45).

• This county is served by the public defender's Greenwood office, 528 Monument Street, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-229-9505.
• Statewide oversight comes from the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

Raise the request at bond court, or ring the Greenwood office first thing on the next workday.

• Courthouse, home of the Clerk of Court, General Sessions and Family Court: 102 Court Square, Room 103, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Magistrate Court, for bond hearings, small charges and preliminary hearings: 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-446-6500, same weekday schedule.
• City municipal court: 102 South Main Street, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-1790.
• Calhoun Falls Municipal Court: P.O. Box 246, Calhoun Falls, SC 29628, 864-418-8512. Phone to learn where court is held.
• Due West Municipal Court: P.O. Box 278, Due West, SC 29639, 864-379-2385. The town hall is at 103 Main Street, Due West, SC 29639.
• Federal court: the G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624, with its clerk's office up in Greenville at 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-241-2700.

Whoever posted a cash bond gets it back after the final hearing, as long as the person never skipped court. To get it, that payer applies to the court (S.C. Code 17-15-220). A ten percent deposit is refunded once the bond terms are satisfied, minus restitution if the judge ordered any (S.C. Code 17-15-15). Bondsman fees stay with the bondsman.

Miss a court date and trouble follows fast. A bench warrant can issue. On a bondsman's bond, if the person isn't surrendered, forfeiture hits 90 days after the warrant issues (S.C. Code 38-53-70). Skipping court on purpose is a crime of its own, punished by as much as five years and $5,000 on a felony, or a year and $1,000 when the misdemeanor itself can bring a year or more (S.C. Code 17-15-90).

Refund questions on magistrate bonds go to 864-446-6500. On General Sessions bonds, phone the Clerk of Court at 864-366-5312.

Sort this out before release from the Detention Center, 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620. Phone 864-446-6200 and ask for Booking. Two questions matter: how the leftover jail account balance gets paid out, and when the property bag can be claimed. A photo ID is a must. Collecting for someone else? Ask whether a written okay, signed by the person, has to come along. Jail deposits and refunds are laid out in our inmate money guide.

Abbeville-area federal cases belong to the Greenwood Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, with hearings in Anderson, Greenville or Spartanburg. Closest is the G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624. Because that building lacks a clerk's office, phone the Greenville clerk: 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-241-2700.

• Release or detention gets decided at the very first federal appearance. The defense may request a delay of five days at most, the prosecution three (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Before trial, federal defendants are U.S. Marshals Service prisoners. Its Anderson office shares that federal building at 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624, 864-232-1566. Its staff know which jail is housing the person.
• After sentencing, try the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Money posted on state charges has no effect on the federal side.

Yes, it can. A state bond does nothing to an immigration detainer. Typically:

1. A detainer (ICE Form I-247A) reaches the jail from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
2. That paper lets the jail hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Agents collect the person at the jail within that span.
4. To trace them, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Have ready an A-number, which ICE assigns, or else their name together with their birth nation.
5. South Carolina's ICE office is at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.

Two South Carolina rules sit on top of that. Once a person lands in jail on a criminal charge, staff get 72 hours (S.C. Code 23-3-1100) to check immigration status, and any unlawful presence they find is passed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In bond court, that status is weighed alongside any risk of running (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).

Three months or less usually means time in the county jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Anything beyond that hands the person to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), which picks the location, at times a county jail under an agreement (S.C. Code 24-3-20).

• SCDC starts newcomers in reception and evaluation. In-person visiting waits until that intake ends, except when it runs past 30 days.
• SCDC then picks a permanent prison.
• The SCDC inmate search is refreshed as of midnight each night and covers state prisoners only, not those doing county time.
• SCDC's main office: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500.
• Our South Carolina prisons directory profiles each facility.

Family Court handles anyone younger than 18, with one carve-out: a 17-year-old facing Class A-D felony charges (or any felony whose top sentence reaches 15 years) is tried as an adult (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)). Adult jails may hold a minor six hours at the longest, and a child of ten or younger never sees a cell (S.C. Code 63-19-820). The detention hearing must happen inside 48 hours (S.C. Code 63-19-830); weekends and holidays are skipped when counting.

• Teens kept in secure custody are sent to the state's Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visitation line).
• The Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) county office: 102 Court Square, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312.

Family Court files are handled by the Clerk of Court in that same courthouse.

Small charges stay local. Magistrates and city judges, together called summary courts, can try any offense punished by no more than a $500 fine, 30 days in jail, or both (S.C. Code 22-3-550; S.C. Code 14-25-65). Shoplifting of $2,000 or less also stays with them, with a fine as high as $1,000 (S.C. Code 16-13-110). These judges handle bond hearings and preliminary hearings, too.

Felonies and higher misdemeanors climb to the Court of General Sessions, the criminal arm of the circuit court, which meets at 102 Court Square, Abbeville, SC 29620. Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry join this county in the 8th Judicial Circuit (S.C. Code 14-5-610). Venue follows the crime, so a trial is held in the county where things happened.

• Clerk of Court for General Sessions, Family Court and civil filings: Abbeville County Courthouse, 102 Court Square, Room 103, Abbeville, SC 29620. Call 864-366-5312 and ask for the Clerk of Court. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. Letters go to P.O. Box 99, Abbeville, SC 29620.
• Magistrate Court, the single magistrate office for the county: Law Enforcement Center, 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-446-6500. Weekday hours match the clerk's. Bond court sits every day at 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Mail goes to P.O. Box 1156, Abbeville, SC 29620.
• Municipal Court for the city: 102 South Main Street, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-1790.
• Federal cases: G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624. Its paperwork runs through the Greenville clerk at 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-241-2700.
• Town courts: Calhoun Falls, P.O. Box 246, Calhoun Falls, SC 29628, 864-418-8512; Due West, P.O. Box 278, Due West, SC 29639, 864-379-2385.

Yes. Three local governments keep a municipal court for town ordinance cases and minor state charges written by their officers.

• City municipal court, 102 South Main Street, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-1790.
• Calhoun Falls Municipal Court, P.O. Box 246, Calhoun Falls, SC 29628, 864-418-8512. Phone to learn which building court meets in.
• Due West Municipal Court, P.O. Box 278, Due West, SC 29639, 864-379-2385. Town Hall sits at 103 Main Street, Due West, SC 29639, open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For a ticket from Donalds, Lowndesville or an unincorporated road, ask the Magistrate Court at 864-446-6500 where the case will be heard.

Within 24 hours of arrest, every person sees a judge about bond (S.C. Code 22-5-510). Locally that is the magistrate's bond court, held daily at 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Here is what goes on:

• Before or during the hearing, officers must hand over the rap sheet, open charges and any existing bonds (S.C. Code 22-5-510(E)).
• Victims are entitled to advance notice, and the floor is theirs if they want to talk (S.C. Code 16-3-1525).
• The judge picks the bond type, any amount and the release rules. A charge that can carry death or life gets passed to a circuit judge.

Charges too big for magistrate court can also get a preliminary hearing, where a magistrate tests if the state has enough proof to keep going. A court rule sets 10 days from bond court as the deadline to ask (Rule 2(a), SCRCrimP), and the local Magistrate Court wants its form back by then, so move fast. Pick up the form by calling 864-446-6500.

Most minor cases begin and end in the Magistrate Court or a town court. Pleading guilty and taking the case to trial are both options. When a magistrate case goes to a jury, six people decide (S.C. Code 22-3-545).

• Simple assault and battery, third degree: up to $500, 30 days, or both (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2)).
• Shoplifting at $2,000 or under: up to $1,000, 30 days, or both, in summary court (S.C. Code 16-13-110).
• Classed misdemeanors are heavier. Class A tops out at three years, Class B at two and Class C at one (S.C. Code 16-1-20). Those climb to General Sessions.

Some people can earn a dismissal through the Solicitor. Young people from 17 up to their 21st birthday, with a clean alcohol record, may fit the Alcohol Education Program, which costs $250 (S.C. Code 17-22-520 and 17-22-550). Certain traffic tickets fit the Traffic Education Program. The Solicitor's diversion staff answer at 864-942-8800.

1. Booking at the Detention Center, 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620.
2. A bond hearing inside 24 hours, before a magistrate or, for the gravest charges, a circuit judge.
3. A preliminary hearing in magistrate court, if the defense asks for one.
4. Transfer to General Sessions, where the 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office builds every docket for this courthouse.
5. An ending: dismissal, diversion, a guilty plea or a trial.

Class A felonies cap at 30 years, and the ceiling drops by five years with each later letter, down to 5 years for Class F (S.C. Code 16-1-20). Larger shoplifting is a felony too, up to five years past $2,000 and up to ten years at $10,000 or more.

A first arrest on a nonviolent charge may open the door to Pretrial Intervention (PTI); ask the Solicitor's Office. It costs a $100 application fee and a $250 participation fee, $350 total, with waivers for people who are indigent (S.C. Code 17-22-110). Completing PTI ends in a noncriminal disposition (S.C. Code 17-22-150), after which an expungement request is possible. The 8th Circuit also runs a Drug Court and a Veterans Court.

South Carolina keeps a list of violent crimes in S.C. Code 16-1-60, among them attempted murder, voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, carjacking and first- or second-degree arson and burglary. Landing on that list matters in four ways:

• Bond. The magistrate has discretion to set it or withhold it. Murder, and any other charge exposing someone to life or execution, goes to a circuit judge for bond.
• Diversion. PTI is closed to anyone accused of a crime on the violent list (S.C. Code 17-22-50).
• Second arrests. Rearrested on another violent or firearm felony while out on an earlier bond? The first bond is cancelled automatically (S.C. Code 17-15-55(C)). Committing the violent crime during that release adds a stand-alone felony count worth up to five years (S.C. Code 17-15-270).
• Penalties. For murder, the punishment is death or 30 years up to life (S.C. Code 16-3-20(A)).

Youths 14 through 16 accused of serious felonies may also face transfer to adult court (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).

• 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office, which prosecutes General Sessions cases: courthouse office at 102 Court Square, Room 107, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312. Headquarters are at 222 Phoenix Street, 2nd Floor, Greenwood, SC 29648, 864-942-8800. Website: scsolicitor8.gov.
• Public defender for this county, run out of the Greenwood office: 528 Monument Street, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-229-9505.
• South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, the statewide agency: 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

To qualify for a free lawyer, the person signs a sworn money statement (S.C. Code 17-3-45). A $40 application fee is due, though the clerk may shrink or erase it for someone without the means (S.C. Code 17-3-30).

The Clerk of Court links the state Judicial Branch court rosters for this county. To use them:

1. Accept the disclaimer on the first screen.
2. Choose a Court Agency, such as General Sessions or the Magistrate Court.
3. Choose a Roster Type, then a Begin Date, and read down the list for the name.

Rosters show court dates, not where someone is jailed. By phone, the Clerk of Court at 864-366-5312 handles General Sessions and Family Court, and the Magistrate Court at 864-446-6500 handles bond, ticket and summary cases. Bring a case number if you have one.

Sheriff's deputies, based at 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, handle warrant service across the county; call 864-446-6000 and ask for warrants. City police serve them inside city limits at 864-366-5017. For statewide fugitives, see the Most Wanted Offenders list (tips 888-761-6175) while federal fugitives are posted through the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted program. Clerks at either court will search a name if you call or stop by. Clearing a warrant means walking into the issuing court with your lawyer, or phoning it to request a fresh date: the Magistrate Court at 864-446-6500, or the Clerk of Court, 102 Court Square, Room 103, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312.

This county's federal crimes go to the Greenwood Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, which hears cases in Anderson, Greenville or Spartanburg. Its nearest courtroom: G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624. Filings and calls go to the clerk in Greenville, 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-241-2700.

• The detention hearing, where release gets argued, takes place at the first appearance (18 U.S.C. 3142). A defense request can postpone it by five days at most; a prosecution request, by three.
• Deputy U.S. Marshals hold defendants until trial. Their Greenville office is at 300 East Washington Street, Room 232, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-232-1566, and can say which jail has the person.
• Following a prison sentence, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where they serve it.

Yes. An ICE detainer can keep the person locked up even as the state case moves along. In order:

1. ICE's detainer, written on Form I-247A, asks the Old Calhoun Falls Road jail to keep the person.
2. Once state charges would let the person go, the jail may hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Within that window, ICE officers pick the person up.
4. Family can then look for them in the ICE Online Detainee Locator.
5. ICE's South Carolina office: 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.

On the state side, within 72 hours of a criminal booking (S.C. Code 23-3-1100), the jail verifies immigration status and reports any unlawful presence to Homeland Security. That status is also part of the bond decision, since judges look at unlawful presence and the chance of flight (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)). Mention immigration status to the defense lawyer early, well ahead of any plea deal.

Short terms, three months or less, are usually spent in the county jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Longer terms go to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), which decides the place. Now and then that is a county jail by agreement (S.C. Code 24-3-20). In 2019, SCDC's own list named the county prison camp as one such site, for state inmates on local public works; call the Detention Center at 864-446-6200 to ask whether it is still in use.

• Intake comes first: reception and evaluation, with no in-person visiting until it ends, unless it lasts longer than 30 days.
• Next, SCDC sends the person to an assigned prison.
• Find them on the SCDC inmate search, current as of the prior midnight.
• SCDC is based at 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500. For free custody alerts, use the SC VINE line at 866-727-2846.
• For the full list of facilities, open our South Carolina state prisons guide.

Family Court hears cases against children under 18. Not covered: 17-year-olds accused of Class A-D felonies, or of any felony capped at 15 years or more, whose cases start in adult court (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)). Between ages 14 and 16, serious felony cases can be bound over, after a hearing, to General Sessions (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).

• A Department of Juvenile Justice worker must answer within an hour to say whether detention is needed (S.C. Code 63-19-810).
• Youth held in secure detention go to the state Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visitation line).
• The county's DJJ office: 102 Court Square, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-366-5312.

Parents sign the public defender form for a child and owe its fee (S.C. Code 17-3-45).

The state constitution gives victims a voice (S.C. Const. art. I, § 24). They are owed timely notice of the arrest, plus the bond hearing, so they can attend and speak. A judge has to put off a bond hearing when the notice came too late (S.C. Code 16-3-1525).

• The Sheriff's Office victim advocate works at 21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620, 864-446-6061.
• Sign up for SC VINE custody alerts at no charge, in Spanish or English, on VINELink South Carolina, or dial 866-727-2846 to register.
• For state-level support, contact the Attorney General's Victim Advocacy Division, 1000 Assembly Street, Room 519, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-3739.

Anyone on the defendant's side must keep clear of the victim, and nobody should relay notes or messages. Contact like that can break bond conditions.