Hill-Finklea Detention Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

Most charges get their bond from one of the county's magistrates. The county's magistrates hold bond hearings, run preliminary hearings and sign warrants. Bond hearings take place by video, a setup the Sheriff's court security unit began using in 2019.

The law's deadline for that hearing is 24 hours from the arrest (S.C. Code 22-5-510). When a town officer made the arrest, the town's municipal judge may set and take the bond instead (S.C. Code 14-25-115).

A few charges go past the magistrate entirely. Murder, and any other crime with a possible death or life sentence, needs a circuit judge to set bond, so the wait is often longer. For the time of any hearing, call the Magistrate Courts at 843-719-4050 or the jail at 843-719-4546.

For most charges, the starting point is the least strict release. Someone facing a charge that is not a capital crime goes free on a signed promise unless the judge decides that won't bring them back to court or keep people safe (S.C. Code 17-15-10). Every bond, of any kind, carries built-in terms: show up at each court date, remain inside the state and behave well (S.C. Code 17-15-20).

• Personal recognizance. No money is due today. A signature is the promise, though a no-show can still make the full sum owed.
• Cash bond. The full figure is paid up front. That cash, paid to the court that set bond, can take the place of a signed pledge (S.C. Code 22-5-530).
• Surety bond. This goes through a licensed bondsman, who guarantees every dollar of it. What you pay the bondsman stays with them.
• 10 percent cash deposit. With the judge's okay, you pay the Clerk of Court, in cash, a sum up to one tenth of the bond (S.C. Code 17-15-15). Violent charges rule it out, as does a new gun felony charge that came during an earlier release on bond.
• Electronic monitoring. An ankle monitor can replace bond or be added on top of it, at the judge's choice (S.C. Code 17-15-35).

The judge can also add rules, like no contact with the alleged victim.

No chart sets the number. At the hearing, the magistrate settles on a figure once the person's history and circumstances are reviewed. South Carolina law spells out what counts (S.C. Code 17-15-30):

• What the person is charged with, and any past convictions
• Ties to family, plus work and finances
• Character, mental condition and how many years they have called the area home
• A history of skipping court or running
• Open cases elsewhere, or a bond they are already out on
• Whether they appear in the state gang database, or are in the U.S. unlawfully and likely to flee

Police must get the person's criminal history to the judge no later than the hearing itself (S.C. Code 22-5-510(E)). The charge's top penalty gives a sense of the stakes. A conviction for third-degree assault and battery can mean a $500 fine and 30 days (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2)). Shoplifting of $2,000 or less carries up to $1,000 and 30 days, while a larger theft from a store is a felony (S.C. Code 16-13-110(B)).

For the actual number, the jail at 843-719-4546 can look it up by name and birth date.

The jail sits at 300 California Avenue, Moncks Corner, SC 29461. Staff answer its main line day and night. Take these steps:

1. Dial 843-719-4546. Share the legal name, spelled letter by letter, plus a birthday, so staff pull the right file.
2. Write down the bond amount, its type and the charges it covers.
3. Ask where this particular bond gets paid, what forms of money that window takes, and who should be named on a money order.
4. Find out if any outside agency has placed a hold.
5. Have your own ID and the complete payment in hand. Keep each receipt in a safe spot.

Once all the papers reach the jail, the Sheriff's Office says release can take one to four hours. State law sets four hours as the limit after the bond is delivered (S.C. Code 22-5-510(B)). For questions during the workweek, the jail's business line is 843-719-3998, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

South Carolina law lets a person put cash with the magistrate or municipal judge who set the bond (S.C. Code 22-5-530). Where a judge allows the 10 percent option, that cash is handled by the Clerk of Court (S.C. Code 17-15-15). Call the office before you go and ask if it can take your payment that day.

• Magistrate Courts, Live Oak Complex: 223 North Live Oak Drive, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-719-4050. The central criminal and traffic court and preliminary hearings are here.
• Goose Creek Magistrate: the office moved to Red Bank Road in Goose Creek in 2025. Call 843-553-7080 for the street number and hours.
• St. Stephen Magistrate: the office moved for a time to Hood Street in St. Stephen, inside the town police building. Call 843-567-7400 to learn where it sits today.
• Clerk of Court: Berkeley County Courthouse, 300-B California Avenue, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-719-4400. Open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If a town judge set the bond, ask the jail which town court has the paperwork.

Ask first, then pay. The type of money taken can change by office and by kind of bond. A short call to the jail at 843-719-4546 saves a wasted trip.

• A ten percent deposit with the Clerk of Court is made in cash, as the law describes it (S.C. Code 17-15-15).
• For a cash bond, ask whether a cashier's check or money order works there, and whose name to write on it.
• For a surety bond, the bondsman deals with the court. You pay the bondsman's fee.

Keep in mind that the lobby kiosk at the Sheriff's Office only loads money onto a person's jail account. It does not pay a bond. Mailing cash is never safe. Ask for written proof of each payment you make.

A bondsman (the law also says surety) promises to pay the court the entire bond if the person skips town. That promise is what your premium buys. Chapter 53 of Title 38 sets the guardrails for bondsmen (S.C. Code 38-53-170):

• Premium ceiling: 15 percent of the face amount.
• Premium floor: $100, or 10 percent of the bond if that is bigger.
• Installment plans need a $100 minimum down payment and can run for a year and a half, no longer.
• Bondsmen can't drum up business inside courts, magistrate offices or jails.
• No steering a family toward a particular attorney.

Dropped charges don't earn back the premium. Any collateral you put up, a house deed or a vehicle title for example, has to be returned to you within ten days after the bond is over. The one exception is a case where a bench warrant has been issued. Falling behind on payments, by itself, does not let a bondsman surrender the person (S.C. Code 38-53-50(B)).

The South Carolina Department of Insurance licenses every bondsman. To check a license, call 803-737-0719. To report a problem, use the online complaint form or contact the office at 1201 Main Street, Suite 1000, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-6160.

Paying bond on one charge does not clear everything. These can hold a person longer:

• Paperwork from another agency. A different county, a town or another state may have its own warrant.
• A charge above the magistrate's power. Bond set by a magistrate covers only the counts that magistrate could bond. A murder count, for one, waits for a circuit judge.
• An earlier bond that the new arrest cancels. Say a person is free on a bond for a gun felony or a violent felony and then gets charged with another one. By law, the older bond is revoked at once. A circuit judge takes it up within 30 days (S.C. Code 17-15-55(C)).
• Probation or parole. An agent from the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services can ask for a hold.
• An immigration detainer from federal officers.
• A GPS order. Release can wait until the ankle monitor is put on.

To find out what holds show on the file, call Records at 843-719-4557.

The state constitution promises bail to most defendants and bars amounts that are excessive (S.C. Const. art. I, § 15). Refusal is still possible on charges carrying death or life behind bars, and on the violent crimes named in the code (S.C. Code 16-1-60). That list takes in carjacking, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, and burglary of the first or second degree. The judge must weigh the proof and the facts of the case before saying no.

For a violent crime on the state's list, the magistrate decides whether any bond is allowed at all. Charges that risk a death or life sentence need a circuit judge's bond ruling. A new violent crime committed during release on a violent-crime bond is a separate felony that can add up to five years (S.C. Code 17-15-270).

The prosecutor here is the Ninth Circuit Solicitor. The Berkeley office is at 300-B California Avenue, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-719-4529. The Solicitor can ask a circuit judge to change or cancel a bond, and that hearing must come within 48 hours (S.C. Code 17-15-55(B)).

On a General Sessions charge, a bond from a magistrate or town judge can be reviewed and reset by a circuit judge (S.C. Code 17-15-55). The court can also rewrite the bond's conditions, as long as both sides get notice and a hearing first (S.C. Code 17-15-50). A lawyer usually files the request.

Help the lawyer make a strong case. Pull together recent pay stubs, a lease, a power bill, letters from relatives who depend on the person, and any school or treatment records. Show that the person has always come to court. If you have no lawyer, call the public defender at 843-899-2777. The Clerk of Court has the forms and hearing dates at 843-719-4400.

Anyone who can't afford a lawyer has the right to one paid by the state (S.C. Code 17-3-10). The accused fills out and swears to a form listing income and bills, then pays a $40 application fee. The clerk may lower or waive that fee if the person can't pay (S.C. Code 17-3-30).

The county public defender's office is at 105 Gulledge Street, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-899-2777. It is part of the Ninth Circuit, which also serves Charleston County. Call soon after the bond hearing, since early help matters.

The South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense oversees public defenders across the state: 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343. To hire a private lawyer, the S.C. Lawyer Referral Service can help at 800-868-2284.

• Berkeley County Courthouse (Clerk of Court, Court of General Sessions for felonies and serious misdemeanors): 300-B California Avenue, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-719-4400. Open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Family Court (same courthouse): 843-719-4500.
• Magistrate Courts, Live Oak Complex (central criminal and traffic court, preliminary hearings): 223 North Live Oak Drive, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-719-4050.
• Goose Creek Magistrate: Red Bank Road, Goose Creek, 843-553-7080. Call for the street number.
• St. Stephen Magistrate: Hood Street, St. Stephen, 843-567-7400. Ask where it meets now.
• Federal court: the U.S. courthouse known as the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, 83 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-579-1401.

Town police cases may go to a town's municipal court. To find which court holds a case, call the Clerk of Court and give the person's name.

When the job of a cash bond is finished, usually at the close of the case, the money can be returned (S.C. Code 17-15-220). Money from a 10 percent deposit returns to you after the person keeps all bond terms, minus any money the court orders paid to a victim (S.C. Code 17-15-15). The Clerk of Court keeps the county's bond records, so call 843-719-4400 to ask how to get a refund.

A bondsman's fee is gone for good. If the person misses court, the judge issues a bench warrant. If 90 days go by after that warrant with no return of the person, the surety bond is forfeited to the court (S.C. Code 38-53-70). Willfully missing a court date is also a crime on its own. A felony no-show risks a $5,000 fine and five years behind bars (S.C. Code 17-15-90).

Things the person brought to jail are released only with their okay. Pickups happen Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the jail at 300 California Avenue, Moncks Corner, SC 29461. Bring a photo ID.

Before you drive over, call the jail's business line at 843-719-3998. Ask if the person signed off on the property release, and how the leftover balance on the jail account gets returned.

Federal charges that start in this county go before the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division. Its courthouse is the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, 83 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-579-1401. A county magistrate has no say in federal bond.

Under 18 U.S.C. 3142, the detention hearing normally happens at the person's first appearance before a federal judge. Possible results: release on a signed promise or unsecured bond, release with conditions, or detention until trial. Any delay is brief. A defense request can add five days or fewer, a prosecution request three or fewer.

If the judge orders detention, deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service take charge of the person. Their Charleston office is at 85 Broad Street, Room 260, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-727-4255. After a sentence, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where the person is sent.

Not by itself. Paying bond only answers the state charge. Immigration questions run on a federal track of their own. Here is what can happen:

1. ICE may place a hold, called a detainer, by sending Form I-247A.
2. With it, ICE requests that Hill-Finklea keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)). That window lets agents arrive.
3. After a transfer, the ICE Online Detainee Locator can search for them. The fastest search uses the person's A-number. If you lack it, search by name and add the birth country.

South Carolina adds its own steps. Once someone is booked on a criminal charge, jail staff have 72 hours to check whether that person is unlawfully present, and report a match to the Department of Homeland Security (S.C. Code 23-3-1100). At the bond hearing, the magistrate has to consider unlawful presence along with any flight risk (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).

The ICE office that covers the state is at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.

A sentence of 90 days or fewer usually keeps the person at the local jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Anything longer hands the person to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, and SCDC chooses the facility (S.C. Code 24-3-20). Now and then that facility is a county jail under an agreement.

New state inmates first go through intake testing at SCDC. Visiting in person isn't allowed during intake, though that changes if intake lasts over 30 days. Then SCDC assigns a prison. Check the SCDC inmate search, which reflects state custody as it stood at the last midnight. The agency is at 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500. Our South Carolina state prisons page lists every prison with its address and rules.

For Family Court purposes, a child means anyone not yet 18. Seventeen-year-olds are handled differently if their felony sits in Classes A through D or can draw 15 years or longer. For them, the law drops the child label (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)). Six hours is the most time a young person can spend in an adult jail, and kids 10 or younger can't be jailed at all (S.C. Code 63-19-820).

Within 48 hours of being taken in, leaving out Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the child gets a detention hearing before a judge (S.C. Code 63-19-830). DJJ's Juvenile Detention Complex, which serves most South Carolina counties, is at 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visits line). Ages 14 through 16 accused of grave felonies may be moved to General Sessions after an investigation and a hearing (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).

DJJ keeps a local branch at 109 West Main Street, Moncks Corner, SC 29461, 843-761-8194. Ask a worker there which detention center took your teen and the date of the detention hearing.