One list covers all three jail buildings. Work through it this way:

1. Go to the inmate lookup page.
2. Read the county's notice and press Accept. The notice says records change quickly and that being arrested is not the same as being convicted.
3. Enter the surname. If too many rows come back, narrow it with a given name.
4. Click the matching record to see every charge and the bond tied to it.
5. Jot down any case, ticket or warrant numbers. Quoting them on the phone speeds things up.

A charge marked "temporary bond" is waiting on a judge, so no amount has been set. Look again after the next Bond Court session.

An empty search can happen for several reasons, and only some mean the person went home:

• Booking is still underway. Building One staff may not have finished intake.
• Released. Somebody paid the bond, or the court let them out on a promise.
• Transferred. Another county, SCDC or a federal agency may now have custody.
• A minor. Kids under 18 are booked into juvenile detention.
• A name mix-up. Search a full legal name, a second surname or an older last name.

The jail can settle it at 864-467-2309. Staff will say if the person is in custody. The exact building and housing unit are given out only over the phone or in person.

The county Detention Center is one jail split across three buildings, rated for 1,277 people. It belongs to county government's Public Safety department rather than the Sheriff's Office. One main line, 864-467-2309, serves all three.

• Building One, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. The 1994 "new jail," rated for 318. It holds intake and release, the medical unit, the kitchen, laundry, offices, and housing for people with medical or mental health needs.
• Building Two, public lobby at 4 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. The "old jail," rated for 511, now used mostly for housing, including a dorm for inmate workers.
• Building Four, part of the same McGee Street complex, built in 2007 and rated for 448. It has housing, support services and the Special Housing Unit for discipline. Its visitors sign in at the Building Two lobby.

Greer also runs a small jail of its own, the Greer Police Department Detention Facility, 864-848-5358. The Greer Police Department uses it only for men, and only for up to 48 hours while they wait to see a Greer city judge. A man still held after that is sent on to the McGee Street jail or to the Spartanburg County jail listed below. If Greer officers made the arrest, call that number first and ask if they are still being held there.

Ask staff which building holds your person, including where women are housed. Youth go to the county's juvenile detention facility. Someone picked up close to the county edge might be in one of these:

• Pickens County Detention Center, 701 South Catherine Street, Pickens, SC 29671, Sheriff's Office 864-898-5500
• Anderson County Detention Center, 305 Camson Road, Anderson, SC 29625, 864-260-4400
• Spartanburg County Detention Center, 950 California Avenue, Spartanburg, SC 29303, 864-596-2607
• Laurens County Detention Center, 154 Templeton Road, Laurens, SC 29360, 864-683-4055

Booking photo questions go to the Detention Center at 864-467-2309. Jail records may also be sought through the county's detention records request form, which the records office handles weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Under state law, lists of people held in a jail are public records (S.C. Code 30-4-30(D)(3)).

• Sites that post mugshots must pull one down at no charge. After a dismissal, expungement or acquittal, the person sends a certified-mail request, and the site has 30 days (S.C. Code 17-1-60, from 2016 Act No. 132).
• A picture snapped by immigration officers is requested from ICE online, using its FOIA form.
• Federal booking pictures are normally withheld. The one usual exception is the U.S. Marshals Service putting out a fugitive's photo.

Yes. SC VINE is free. It reports custody status and the holding place. A call, text or email goes out to you when that changes. Enroll on VINELink South Carolina or by calling 866-727-2846, in English or Spanish. Each person must be signed up for separately.

VINE updates are not instant. If you think a release is happening today, ring the Detention Center at 864-467-2309. Crime victims may ask the jail to let them know about a release (S.C. Code 16-3-1530).

A magistrate at Bond Court sets most bonds within 24 hours of the arrest (S.C. Code 22-5-510). The court sits in the Law Enforcement Center, Room 116-A, 4 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-467-2402. Greer and Mauldin also set bonds in their own city courts.

• For most charges the starting point is a signed promise to return. The judge can require cash, a bondsman or a land pledge instead (S.C. Code 17-15-10).
• Murder and other charges that can bring life in prison need a circuit judge for bond.
• Payment by itself does not open the door. The judge's release must reach the jail, and staff then try to finish within four hours.

Our bail page covers costs, bondsmen, payment and holds in full.

Each charge appears on the inmate lookup. When you phone 864-467-2309, staff can also share warrant, ticket or case numbers, who made the arrest and for which agency, and the magistrate or city judge assigned.

After filing, the full charge is in the court record, which you can find by name on the county Public Index. On felonies, the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office settles the final charges. Its office is in the County Courthouse, 305 E. North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-467-8647.

Remember that being charged proves nothing. The law treats the person as innocent unless they plead guilty or a court finds them guilty.

If paying an attorney is out of reach, the court names a public defender to the case (S.C. Code 17-3-10). The court needs a signed, sworn money statement and a $40 fee, which the clerk may reduce or waive (S.C. Code 17-3-30). Asking at the bond hearing saves time.

• Public Defender county office: 305 East North Street, Room 123, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-467-8522
• Statewide help: South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343

Hired lawyers book jail meetings through professional visitation at 864-467-2370, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. These meetings do not use up the family's two weekly visits.

Visiting runs every day of the week. An inmate may have two 30-minute visits each week, and in Buildings One and Two they go to whoever arrives first.

• Up to three adults can be on the approved list, and it may be updated once every 30 days.
• Each visit allows one grown-up plus as many as two kids.
• At check-in you trade a photo ID for a visitor badge.
• Building One visitors check in at 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. Building Two visitors use the lobby at 4 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601.
• For Building Four, every visit is on video, from the Video Visitation Office inside the Building Two lobby. It is open 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, and 5:30 p.m. is the last start time.
• Visits pause for meals and head counts. A person placed in the Special Housing Unit becomes eligible on the seventh day.
• Wear plain, modest clothing. Lock up phones, purses, bags, tobacco and lighters before going in.

Each housing unit keeps its own hours, so call 864-467-2330 for that unit's times. Our visitation page has general advice.

Money in an inmate's account buys store goods and pays for calls. Families can add funds three ways:

• Lobby kiosks, open 24 hours, at Building One, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601, and Building Two, 4 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. They take $1, $5, $10, $20 and $100 bills, plus debit or credit cards. Card deposits are limited to $100, once every 48 hours. A provider fee comes out of each deposit.
• Online, through the jail's commissary vendor, with its own fees and limits.
• By mail, using only money orders from the U.S. Postal Service or Western Union. Write the inmate's full name, care of the Greenville County Detention Center, as payee. Send it to Accounting Specialists, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601.

Mailed cash is not deposited. It is put with stored property. Balances are not shared over the phone. Store orders go in twice a week with a $100 cap per order. For more, see our deposit help page and commissary page.

General housing has phone access from 7:30 a.m. until midnight. Calls only go out; nobody can phone in, and staff will not deliver everyday messages. Calls are recorded, apart from private lines set up for attorneys.

• A call can be charged to the inmate's account, billed collect, or paid from a prepaid family account.
• Collect calls will not connect to a cell phone.
• Families set up prepaid accounts through the phone provider at 800-844-6591.

Don't discuss the case on these calls, since they are recorded. Ask the jail at 864-467-2309 about any messaging or tablet options. Read our jail calls page and our messaging page too.

Letters, cards and postcards are sent to an out-of-state scanning center, not to McGee Street. Write it exactly this way:

INMATE NAME-ID NUMBER
C/O Securus Digital Mail Center-Greenville
PO Box 21665, Tampa, FL 33622

• Inmates read scanned copies on kiosks in their housing units. Do not mail photos.
• Legal mail and money orders go to the Detention Center, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. Legal mail is opened while the inmate watches.
• Starting August 1, 2026, the jail returns packages shipped by Amazon or any other store.
• Families may donate paperbacks and magazines at the Reception Control window in the public lobby, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week.

Staff at 864-467-2309 can give you the ID number. Our inmate mail page explains the usual dos and don'ts.

Items taken from a person during Building One intake stay in jail storage. Releases happen in the intake and release section of Building One, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601, and that is where they get their things back.

If you need to collect items for someone still held, phone 864-467-2309 before you go. Ask if the inmate needs to sign off first, and what ID the McGee Street desk wants. Store orders left unclaimed for three business days are forfeited, so remind the person to pick theirs up.

Copies of jail records can be requested through the county's detention records request page.

Nurses and other Health Services staff are on site 24 hours a day. Nobody is refused care for lack of money, though each visit carries a $5 co-pay. Privacy law keeps staff from discussing health details with relatives.

• Leave a message about a health worry on the medical concern line, 864-467-2330.
• Complete the inmate medical and mental health information form. Fax it to 864-467-2386 or drop it in the main lobby at 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601.
• Name each medicine, its dose, and the prescribing doctor with a phone number.

Building One has housing for people with medical and mental health needs. For a life-threatening emergency anywhere else, dial 911.

The Sheriff's Warrant Services Division keeps the original warrants and sends deputies to serve them. Its Warrants Office takes calls at 864-467-5241 during the workday, and you may leave a message. After hours, phone the non-emergency line, 864-271-5210, and request warrants. The Sheriff also runs a warrant tip page. State and federal fugitive lists: PPP Most Wanted Offenders and the Marshals Service 15 Most Wanted. The Public Index shows filed cases. A person who learns of a warrant should get legal advice first, then surrender to the issuing judge's court. The Clerk of Court is at 305 E. North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-467-8551.

Jail staff do not keep the calendar. Each court sets its own dates:

• Felonies. The 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office schedules General Sessions and mails each notice. Ask at 864-467-8647 or look through the General Sessions dockets.
• Bond and magistrate cases. See the magistrate dockets, or call Bond Court at 864-467-2402.
• City cases. Call the municipal court of the city that issued the ticket.

Hearing details also appear on the county Public Index. Our criminal court guide covers what each hearing means.

This county's federal cases go to the Greenville Division, which sits in the federal courthouse at 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601. Call the clerk's office at 864-241-2700.

1. On day one in federal court, lawyers argue over pretrial release, and the judge rules under 18 U.S.C. 3142.
2. Federal defendants are boarded by the U.S. Marshals Service, often in county jails under contract. To learn the jail, phone the Greenville office, 300 East Washington Street, Room 232, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-232-1566.
3. After a prison sentence, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator with a name or register number.

For a Greenville detainee, the ICE process tends to run in this order:

1. ICE faxes or sends a Form I-247A to McGee Street.
2. Staff may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. State law has every jail run an immigration check within 72 hours on each person booked for a crime. Anyone found unlawfully present is reported to Homeland Security (S.C. Code 23-3-1100).
4. Bond judges must weigh unlawful presence and the risk of flight (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).
5. ICE's Atlanta Field Office handles South Carolina. Its office in the state is at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.
6. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Enter the alien registration number, or else the full name and country of birth.

A sentence over three months hands the person to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (S.C. Code 24-3-20). Shorter terms are mostly served locally (S.C. Code 24-3-30).

• The first stop for new state prisoners is reception and evaluation. Face-to-face visits are not allowed until it ends, unless it lasts more than 30 days.
• Look the person up on the SCDC inmate search. It reflects state custody as of midnight the night before and leaves out county inmates.
• SCDC: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500. The SC VINE custody line is 866-727-2846.
• Read our South Carolina state prisons guide for each prison.

Local youth are detained at the county's juvenile detention facility, which mainly takes 13th Circuit youth, from Greenville and Pickens, under a state contract. State law lets an adult jail hold a youth for six hours at the most (S.C. Code 63-19-820). Within 48 hours, skipping weekends and holidays, a judge decides whether detention continues (S.C. Code 63-19-830).

• Family Court, 350 Halton Road, Greenville, SC 29607, 864-467-5800, hears the case.
• The Department of Juvenile Justice county office, 350 Halton Road, Suite 307, Greenville, SC 29607, 864-467-5875, can tell parents where the youth is.

The jail record names the arresting agency. Greenville County has about 583,125 residents (Census estimate, July 1, 2025). Here is every police agency working in it:

• Greenville County Sheriff's Office, Law Enforcement Center, 4 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601. Front desk 864-467-5300, non-emergency 864-271-5210. Deputies patrol every area outside city limits. Annexes: Southern, 5 Chapel Road, Greenville, SC 29605, 864-422-2020; Central, 1200 Pendleton Street, Greenville, SC 29611, 864-467-8145.
• Greer Police Department, non-emergency 864-848-2160. Greer City Hall: 301 E. Poinsett Street, Greer, SC 29651.
• Mauldin Police Department, 5 E. Butler Road, Mauldin, SC 29662, 864-289-8900
• Simpsonville Police Department, non-emergency 864-967-9536
• Fountain Inn Police Department, 300 N. Main Street, Fountain Inn, SC 29644, 864-531-0644
• Travelers Rest Police Department, 125 Trailblazer Drive, Travelers Rest, SC 29690, non-emergency 864-834-9029
• Gantt Fire, Sewer and Police Department, a special purpose district, 864-277-0421
• City of Greenville police: for the department's contact details, call the Sheriff's non-emergency number in the first item.
• South Carolina Highway Patrol, Troop 3, 33 Villa Road, Suite 200, Greenville, SC 29615, 864-552-5000

Arrests on a college campus are booked into the same county jail. The Sheriff's non-emergency line can point you to the right campus office.