Hampton County Detention Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

Most bonds here come from a magistrate. The county's Magistrate Court sets bail, runs preliminary hearings and signs arrest and search warrants. South Carolina promises a bond hearing within 24 hours of any arrest (S.C. Code 22-5-510). On a town charge, the town's municipal judge can set and accept bonds as well (S.C. Code 14-25-115).

The county spells out the clock like this:

• Booked overnight: the judge sees them the following day.
• Booked during daylight hours: bond court sits from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Sunday, weekends included.

For the hearing time, ring the Varnville Magistrate Court, 411 Cemetery Road, Varnville, SC 29944, at 803-914-2230. Once bond reaches the jail, staff have four hours or less to open the door.

Unless the charge could bring a death sentence, release starts from the person's own word to come back. Money or extra rules get added only if the judge doubts that word or fears for someone's safety (S.C. Code 17-15-10). Here is the menu:

• Personal recognizance (PR) bond. Nothing is paid now. The person signs a pledge to appear.
• Cash bond. Every dollar of the amount gets paid. That money may go straight to the magistrate or town judge rather than a signed pledge (S.C. Code 22-5-530).
• Surety bond. In return for a fee, a licensed bondsman covers the full bond should the person fail to appear.
• Ten percent deposit. Some judges let a family pay one-tenth of the bond, in cash, to the clerk of court. Nobody facing a violent charge gets this choice, and neither does someone accused of a gun felony while already out on bond (S.C. Code 17-15-15).
• GPS monitoring. An ankle device may replace bond or ride along with it (S.C. Code 17-15-35).

Three rules ride with every bond: show up for court, don't leave South Carolina and behave (S.C. Code 17-15-20). Judges here often add a rule to stay away from the alleged victim, too.

No two bonds are priced alike. The judge looks at this person and this charge. State law lets the judge weigh family ties, work, money, character, years lived in the area, prior convictions and whether they ever missed court before (S.C. Code 17-15-30). Other open charges, any bond the person already has and gang database listings must be looked at too.

Before or at the hearing, the officers who made the arrest give the judge the person's record (S.C. Code 22-5-510). The weight of the charge moves the number:

• Third-degree assault and battery: 30 days and a $500 fine at most (S.C. Code 16-3-600). PR bonds or small amounts are common.
• Shoplifting worth $2,000 or less: 30 days and a $1,000 fine at most (S.C. Code 16-13-110).
• Felonies: the cap runs from 5 years (Class F) up to 30 years (Class A) (S.C. Code 16-1-20). Bigger risk usually means a bigger bond.
• Murder, and anything else punishable by life, waits for a circuit judge.

For the figure in your person's case, ring the jail at 803-914-2223 once the hearing is over.

The Detention Center sits at 409 Cemetery Road, Varnville, SC 29944. Go in this order:

1. Dial 803-914-2223. Spell the legal name, then share the date of birth.
2. Jot down the bond figure, what kind of bond it is, and the court behind it.
3. Find out where it gets paid. It may be the jail window, a magistrate office or the courthouse clerk.
4. Ask which payments the window takes today. Money orders often need a set payee, so ask how to make it out.
5. Ask if a second charge or a hold sits on the file.
6. Carry photo ID and the precise sum. Hang on to every receipt.

Rather than paying it all, you may hire a licensed bondsman to post a surety bond. After the bond is in, South Carolina allows the jail four hours, tops, to release the person (S.C. Code 22-5-510).

They can. Magistrates and town judges can take cash on deposit in place of a signed pledge (S.C. Code 22-5-530), and a ten percent deposit is paid to the clerk of court (S.C. Code 17-15-15). Bond money in this county moves through these offices:

• Varnville Magistrate Court: 411 Cemetery Road, Varnville, SC 29944, 803-914-2230. Mail: P.O. Box 1299, Varnville, SC 29944.
• Estill Magistrate Court: 803-625-3232. Mail: P.O. Box 969, Estill, SC 29918.
• Clerk of Court for circuit court cases: county courthouse, 1 Courthouse Square Elm Street, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-914-2250.

Phone ahead every time. Confirm the office hours, what payment the window accepts and how quickly it lets the jail know the bond is in.

Payment rules shift, so let the office taking the money tell you. Ring the jail at 803-914-2223 and ask about each form: cash, money order, cashier's check, debit or credit card.

• Exact cash or a money order tends to go smoothest. Making change can be a problem.
• List the payer as the person who expects the refund. The Clerk of Court sends refunds only to whoever paid in the first place, and that person needs proper ID.
• Never mail cash. If a stranger calls asking you to wire bond money, hang up.

The county's online payment page exists for magistrate traffic tickets that carry a ticket number. Bond for someone sitting in the jail goes through the phone line above, and staff will say where to pay.

A bondsman puts their name behind the full bond, and the family pays a fee instead. Every bondsman needs a license from the South Carolina Department of Insurance (S.C. Code 38-53-80). Read these points before you sign anything:

• By law the bondsman's charge, the premium, can't go past 15 percent of the bond. No premium may be under $100, or under 10 percent if that number is bigger (S.C. Code 38-53-170).
• Payment plans start with at least $100 down and run 18 months at most.
• That premium pays the bondsman for the risk. It never comes back to you.
• Collateral, like a truck title, is due back within 10 days after the bond wraps up, unless a bench warrant went out.
• Bondsmen can't hunt for clients at a courthouse, a magistrate office or the jail, and can't push a particular lawyer on you.
• Falling behind on premium payments is not, by itself, a legal reason to hand the person back to jail (S.C. Code 38-53-50).

Complaints go to the Department of Insurance, 1201 Main Street, Suite 1000, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-6160.

Yes. One bond settles one case, and these can still block the door:

• Another case. A town charge, a county charge and an out-of-county warrant each need their own bond or court date.
• A charge that can mean life in prison. A magistrate's bond can't reach it. A circuit judge decides.
• A second violent or gun felony arrest while on bond. The older bond is revoked on the spot by law, and a circuit judge holds a hearing inside 30 days (S.C. Code 17-15-55).
• Probation or parole. A fresh arrest may open a separate matter with state probation, 1 Courthouse Square Elm Street, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-398-0001.
• Federal or immigration custody. State bond leaves both in place.

Pay nothing until you call the jail at 803-914-2223 and hear the full list of holds.

South Carolina's constitution guarantees most people bail and forbids excessive amounts. A judge may refuse it, after weighing the evidence, when the charge is a capital crime, one that carries possible life in prison, or a violent crime on the legislature's list (S.C. Const. art. I, § 15). Among the listed violent crimes are kidnapping, armed robbery, murder and first-degree burglary (S.C. Code 16-1-60).

• When death or life is a possible sentence, the magistrate is out of the picture. Only a circuit judge can set bond (S.C. Code 22-5-510).
• With other crimes on the violent list, a magistrate in Varnville or Estill may set bond or refuse it.
• The alleged victim must be told about the hearing and may address the judge (S.C. Code 16-3-1525).

The prosecutor pushing for a steep bond, or no bond, is the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office. Its local branch is at 1 Elm Street West, Hampton, SC 29924, 843-779-8689, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Yes. The court that has the case may change a release order, but only after giving notice and holding a hearing (S.C. Code 17-15-50). Bonds from a magistrate or town court can also go to a circuit judge for a second look (S.C. Code 17-15-55).

1. Have the defense lawyer or public defender ask the court, in writing, to review the bond.
2. Collect proof: pay stubs, a lease or deed nearby, letters from relatives, plus the most the family could honestly raise.
3. Put forward conditions that calm the judge's safety fears, for example GPS tracking under S.C. Code 17-15-35.
4. Show up for the hearing. The prosecutor and the alleged victim are allowed to speak.

Circuit court motions are filed with the Clerk of Court, 1 Courthouse Square Elm Street, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-914-2250.

Someone without money for a lawyer has the right to a court-appointed one (S.C. Code 17-3-10). To qualify, the person signs an affidavit, a sworn paper, about income and bills (S.C. Code 17-3-45). The application fee is $40, though the clerk can reduce or excuse it when the person truly can't pay (S.C. Code 17-3-30).

• Nearby office: 14th Circuit Public Defender, Annex Building, 1 Elm Street West, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-914-2242.
• Circuit headquarters line: 843-255-5000.
• State oversight: South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

Families may still hire their own lawyer whenever they choose.

Varnville and the town of Hampton host most criminal hearings. Hours differ, so phone first.

• Court of General Sessions and Family Court (felonies, serious misdemeanors, youth): Clerk of Court, 1 Courthouse Square Elm Street, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-914-2250.
• Varnville Magistrate Court: 411 Cemetery Road, Varnville, SC 29944, 803-914-2230.
• Estill Magistrate Court: P.O. Box 969, Estill, SC 29918, 803-625-3232.
• Town of Hampton Municipal Court: Town Hall, 608 First Street West, Hampton, SC 29924, 803-943-9364.
• Estill Municipal Court: P.O. Box 415, Estill, SC 29918, 803-625-3243.
• Gifford Municipal Court: Post Office Drawer 189, Gifford, SC 29923, 803-625-2712.
• Brunson Municipal Court: 803-632-3633.
• Federal cases: J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, 83 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-579-1401.

Got a ticket or charge from Varnville, Yemassee or a smaller town? The Varnville magistrate office can tell you which court holds it.

Once a case ends, by plea, dismissal or some other way, the Clerk of Court releases a cash bond. The check goes only to the original payer, who brings proper ID. State law returns cash after it has done its job (S.C. Code 17-15-220). The ten percent deposit comes back after every bond condition is kept, minus any restitution the judge ordered (S.C. Code 17-15-15).

• Premiums paid to a bondsman are his or her pay, win or lose.
• Missing a hearing date sends a bench warrant out. If the person still hasn't been surrendered 90 days after the warrant, the surety bond is forfeited (S.C. Code 38-53-70).
• Willful failure to appear is a new crime. After a felony release, the penalty can reach $5,000 and five years (S.C. Code 17-15-90).

Ask the Clerk of Court about a refund at 803-914-2250.

Settle the money and the personal items before the person leaves the Detention Center, 409 Cemetery Road, Varnville, SC 29944. Phone 803-914-2223 to ask how the jail pays out what remains in the person's account, and when their things can be picked up.

Carry photo ID. Collecting for someone else? Find out whether staff need a signed release from that person first. Our inmate money guide walks through jail accounts and refunds in general.

On federal charges, the county sits in the Beaufort Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, and its cases are heard in Charleston. The building is the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center, 83 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-579-1401, with the clerk open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• A federal judge settles home-or-jail at the very first appearance (18 U.S.C. 3142). The defense may ask for a pause of five days at most, the government three, and the person waits in custody.
• Federal custody before trial runs through the U.S. Marshals Service, 85 Broad Street, Room 260, Charleston, SC 29401, 843-727-4255. It often pays county jails to house them. Its staff can say which one.
• After sentencing, check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

It can. Clearing the state bond leaves any ICE hold untouched. How it unfolds:

1. Immigration officers send the Varnville jail Form I-247A, a detainer.
2. Through it, ICE asks Cemetery Road staff to keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE officers come for the person. ICE's Charleston-area office for the state sits at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.
4. Look the person up on the ICE Online Detainee Locator with the A-number. Without one, search a name along with the birth country.

South Carolina also gives the Varnville jail a 72-hour deadline. Within it, staff run an immigration check on every new criminal booking and tell Homeland Security about any unlawful presence (S.C. Code 23-3-1100). Bond judges must factor that status, and any flight risk, into their decision (S.C. Code 22-5-510).

Short sentences, three months or under, usually stay in the county jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Anything longer hands the person to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), and SCDC chooses the place (S.C. Code 24-3-20).

• Every new SCDC prisoner starts with reception and evaluation. That intake stage has no in-person visiting, unless it stretches beyond 30 days.
• Afterward they move to whichever prison SCDC assigns.
• The SCDC inmate search covers state prisoners, current as of the last midnight.
• SCDC headquarters: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500.
• Our directory of SCDC prisons lists visiting rules, mail and addresses for each site.

In South Carolina, youth under 18 are handled in Family Court (S.C. Code 63-19-20). Seventeen-year-olds lose that protection when charged with a Class A through D felony, or with a felony that carries 15 years or longer. Adult court takes those.

• Six hours is the outer limit for a child in an adult lockup. No child aged ten or younger is ever jailed (S.C. Code 63-19-820).
• The judge holds a detention hearing within 48 business hours, not counting weekends or holidays (S.C. Code 63-19-830).
• When a young person has to be held, the usual place is DJJ's Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440.
• At 14, 15 or 16, a youth facing a grave felony may end up in adult court, but only after a judge's hearing (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).

The Department of Juvenile Justice keeps a county office at 1 Courthouse Square Elm St., Hampton, SC 29924, 803-943-4296.