Phones and desktop browsers both open it. For the best results:

1. Go to the Sheriff's jail lookup.
2. Enter just the surname, since partial spellings return a wider list.
3. Match the first name and age before opening a record.
4. Copy down the inmate ID. Letters and online deposits ask for it.
5. For an arrest made this morning, try again in a few hours.

Questions the record doesn't answer can go to Booking at the Detention Center, 864-898-2940.

Blank results tend to trace back to one of these:

• Still being processed. Fingerprinting and intake paperwork must finish before a listing appears.
• Name variations. Try a maiden name, either part of a double surname, or initials.
• Released. People bonded at a morning or afternoon session may already be home.
• Another agency has them. An out-of-county warrant, a federal case or a transfer to state prison moves the record elsewhere.
• A minor. Under-18 arrests are handled by the juvenile system.

The quickest answer comes from detention staff at 864-898-2940. If a state prison sentence has begun, use the SCDC inmate search.

The main adult lockup is the Detention Center at 701 S. Catherine Street, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-2940. The Sheriff's Detention and Judicial Services Division manages it. Bookings come from deputies and from the Central, Clemson, Clemson University, Easley and Liberty departments and the Pickens city police. Troopers, SLED agents, state natural resources officers and the State Grand Jury bring their local arrests here too.

Easley has a holding area too, at the Easley Law Enforcement Center, 220 North West Main Street, Easley, SC 29640, 864-859-4025. The Easley Police Department runs it. People its officers arrest are booked there and wait to face a city judge. After that hearing they either go home on bond or may be taken to the county jail. When Easley police made the arrest, call the department to learn where the person is now.

A youth who must be detained goes to Greenville Youth Services. Our Greenville juvenile detention page has details.

Arrests close to the Anderson, Greenville or Oconee lines can land in that county's jail instead:

• Anderson County Detention Center, 305 Camson Road, Anderson, SC 29625, 864-260-4400
• Greenville County Detention Center, 20 McGee Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-467-2309
• Oconee County Detention Center, jail line 864-638-4228. The Oconee Sheriff's Office runs it from 300 South Church Street, Walhalla, SC 29691, 864-638-4111.

Open a record on the jail lookup to see which fields it carries. Copies of booking photos and other jail records come from the Sheriff's Office, 216 C David Stone Road, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-5500.

• A jail's inmate lists from the last three months are open records (S.C. Code 30-4-30(D)(3)). Agencies get ten working days to respond (S.C. Code 30-4-30(C)).
• Was a mugshot posted online for a charge later dropped, expunged or won at trial? Send the site a certified-mail request. The site then has 30 days to remove it, free of charge (S.C. Code 17-1-60).
• Immigration booking photos are sought through the ICE records request form.
• The Marshals Service seldom hands out federal booking photos, though it may share one while hunting a fugitive.

Yes. VINE, free in English or Spanish, tells you whether someone is in custody and at which facility. Once you register, a call, text or email reaches you when their status shifts. Enroll at VINELink for South Carolina or by dialing 866-727-2846. Nothing arrives until you enroll.

Victims can reach the Sheriff's victim rights unit, 216 C David Stone Road, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-5536. For a quick look on your own, check the jail lookup soon after the 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. bond sessions.

State law gives a judge 24 hours from arrest to hold the bond hearing (S.C. Code 22-5-510). Magistrates set bond on county charges at 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. every day. Town cases run on their own clocks at the jail: 11:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. for the city of Pickens, and 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for Central. Easley holds bond court daily at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

• Cash bonds on county charges are paid in cash at the Clerk of Court's General Sessions window, 222 McDaniel Avenue, Pickens, SC 29671 (office B-2), 864-898-5651. Collect the bond paperwork at the jail before you go.
• South Carolina caps a bondsman's fee at 15 percent of the bond amount.
• The jail has four hours to let someone go once the bond is posted.

Bond types, refunds and holds are covered on our release and bond page.

Booking staff at 864-898-2940 can read each charge and name the filing agency. Other places to look:

• Once a case is filed, the county Public Index shows it with its charges.
• Reports describing the offense and its location are open records (S.C. Code 30-4-50(A)(8)). Request one from the arresting department.
• Magistrate warrants: Central Magistrate Court, 310 W. Main Street, Liberty, SC 29657, 864-898-5551.
• The 13th Circuit Solicitor, 214 East Main Street, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-5905, decides which felony counts go forward, so they may shift after arrest.

Yes. Detention staff hand out the public defender application on request, and the Clerk of Court collects finished forms every week. Applicants owe $40, though the clerk may cut or cancel it on proof of hardship (S.C. Code 17-3-30). A judge has to find the person unable to hire counsel (S.C. Code 17-3-10).

Relatives can speed things up by gathering pay stubs, benefit letters and copies of the warrants. Screening questions go to the Clerk at 864-898-5560. The public defender's office answers at 864-467-8025.

Public visits happen by video, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with no slot booked after 3:40 p.m. An inmate gets at most two public visits per day.

1. Schedule a day ahead or more, online with the jail's video provider or at the lobby kiosk on a weekday.
2. Hang on to the PIN. The session won't start without it.
3. Carry photo ID. Staff may pat you down, and saying no cancels that day's visit.
4. Purses, bags, phones, cameras, sprays and weapons stay outside. Children must stay at your side.
5. Skip short shorts, miniskirts, swimwear, tank or halter tops and low necklines.

Remote visits from home cost a fee. Signing up takes a driver's license photo, a selfie, three security questions and confirming your email within 24 hours. Attorneys arrange professional visits at 864-898-2933, and problems go to the shift supervisor at 864-898-1434. Our visiting guide has general tips.

Families can fund the account by kiosk, by post or online:

• Lobby kiosk at 701 S. Catherine Street, Pickens, SC 29671, taking cash or credit cards. It asks for the MNI number, found in a binder next to the machine.
• By mail, as a USPS money order. Do not mail cash.
• Online through the store linked by the Sheriff's Office, facility code 5500, with the inmate's name and ID number at hand.

The online fee depends on the deposit: $3.95 for $10 to $25, $6.95 up to $100, $8.95 up to $200 and $10.95 up to $300. Commissary is run in-house and sells snacks, hygiene items and calling cards. More is on our deposits guide and commissary guide.

Outgoing calls are collect, through the jail's phone vendor, and commissary sells calling cards. A recording plays before you accept, so you can simply hang up to refuse. Assume every call is recorded and keep case details off the line.

Ask the Detention Center at 864-898-2940 whether prepaid accounts, electronic messages or tablets are offered right now. For background, see our guide to jail phone calls and our guide to inmate messaging.

The Sheriff's Office uses this layout, with name and ID on the first line and housing unit on the second:

Inmate full name and ID#
Housing unit (Unit A, B and so on)
701 S. Catherine St.
Pickens County Detention
Pickens, SC 29671

• Legal mail uses the same address.
• Periodicals are accepted only when sent by the publisher, a distributor or an authorized seller.
• Books, including Bibles, must come straight from the publisher. Anything with gang, drug, graphic sex or graphic violence content is rejected and placed in the inmate's stored property.

Mail rules changed on July 22, 2024, so call the Sheriff's Office at 864-898-5500 to confirm the address before you send a personal letter. Our letters guide has general advice.

No. Clothing, shoes, purses, phones and wallets taken at booking are logged and stored, not given to family. The owner gets them back on release or on transfer to another facility.

Outside items for inmates are turned away, except prescribed medicine. Any balance left on the account is settled on the way out, so the person should raise it at release. Contact the Detention Center, 701 S. Catherine Street, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-2940.

A private health contractor hired by the county treats people at the jail. State law requires the county to supply food, water, clothing and medical care to everyone held (S.C. Code 24-5-80).

Because of federal privacy law, staff won't discuss an inmate's health with relatives. You can still report a condition or a needed prescription by calling 864-898-2940 so it reaches the medical team. Prescribed medicine is the only thing the jail may accept from outside, so call first before dropping any off.

The Sheriff's Office, 216 C David Stone Road, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-5500, can say whether a warrant is active. Deputies handle warrant service in the county at large, and each town's officers cover their own streets. Filed cases are searchable on the Public Index. The state probation agency posts its most-wanted offenders with a tip line at 888-761-6175, and the Marshals Service keeps a national fugitive list. Before surrendering, the person should speak with a defense lawyer, who can arrange the surrender or seek a new date from whichever judge issued it. Magistrate warrants come from the Central Magistrate Court, 310 W. Main Street, Liberty, SC 29657, 864-898-5551. For bench warrants out of General Sessions, contact the Clerk, 222 McDaniel Avenue, Pickens, SC 29671 (office B-2), 864-898-5651.

Which office posts the date depends on the court:

• Felonies: notices are mailed by the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office. Check the General Sessions rosters or call the clerk at 864-898-5651.
• Magistrate cases: the Central Magistrate Court in Liberty looks up dates by case number or name at 864-898-5551.
• Town cases: Easley 864-855-7915, the city of Pickens 864-898-8162, Central 864-639-6381.

Filed cases also appear on the Public Index. Our local court walkthrough explains each hearing in turn.

Federal cases from this part of the Upstate are heard in the Anderson Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624. The clerk's Greenville office answers calls at 864-241-2700.

• That first federal court date doubles as the detention hearing, and the magistrate judge rules then on pretrial freedom (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Before trial, the U.S. Marshals choose the housing, often a contract county jail. Their Greenville office is at 300 East Washington Street, Room 232, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-232-1566.
• After sentencing, look them up on the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, searchable by name or register number.

When immigration agents want someone kept at the jail, the usual sequence is:

1. Form I-247A, the federal detainer, reaches the jail from immigration officers.
2. That paper lets the jail keep them up to 48 more hours past their normal release (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE picks the person up and chooses the detention site.
4. Find them through the ICE Online Detainee Locator, with the A-number when known, or else try the person's name with their birth nation.

Under S.C. Code 23-3-1100, the jail has three days to confirm whether every new arrestee is in the country lawfully, and it must report anyone who is not to federal authorities. At the bond hearing, the judge also considers that status and any risk of flight (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)). The regional ICE office is at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.

Sentences over three months are served with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (S.C. Code 24-3-20). Shorter ones usually stay in the county jail.

• The SCDC inmate search takes a name or SCDC number, and its records are refreshed each night.
• Each new arrival begins in reception and evaluation, and in-person visiting stays closed until intake ends or 30 days pass, whichever is first.
• Prison visiting runs Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., in two-hour slots reserved online.
• Money can be sent only by people on the inmate's approved visiting list.
• SCDC headquarters: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500.

After release to probation or parole, use the state's offender search. Each prison is covered on our South Carolina prisons page.

Teens under 18 normally aren't held with adults. South Carolina limits a child's stay in an adult jail to six hours and forbids jailing any child age ten or younger (S.C. Code 63-19-820). Youths who must stay in custody go to Greenville Youth Services, which serves the 13th Circuit. See our Greenville youth detention page.

• A detention hearing before a Family Court judge must follow within 48 hours, and weekends and holidays don't run that clock (S.C. Code 63-19-830).
• Family Court: 214 East Main Street, Pickens, SC 29671 (office A100), 864-898-5598.
• The local Department of Juvenile Justice office, 208 Garvin Street, Suite A, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-878-7560, knows where a detained youth is housed and when Family Court will hear the case.

Certain grave felonies send a 17-year-old straight to adult court, where they can be held in the adult jail (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)).

Every agency below books its arrests into the Detention Center. Deputies patrol the unincorporated areas.

• Sheriff's Office, 216 C David Stone Road, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-898-5500. It also answers police calls for the town of Six Mile.
• Central Police Department, 1067 West Main Street, Central, SC 29630, 864-639-4020
• Clemson Police Department, 1198 Tiger Boulevard, Clemson, SC 29631, 864-624-2000
• Clemson University Police Department, 124 Ravenel Center Place, Seneca, SC 29678, 864-656-2222
• Easley Police Department, 220 North West Main Street, Easley, SC 29640, 864-859-4025
• Liberty Police Department, 147 Kay Holcombe Road, Liberty, SC 29657, 864-843-3956
• Pickens Police Department, 302 Johnson Street, Pickens, SC 29671, 864-777-9500
• Town of Six Mile, Town Hall, 106 South Main Street, Six Mile, SC 29682, 864-868-2653. Police calls go to the Sheriff's Office.
• South Carolina Highway Patrol, Troop 3, 33 Villa Road, Suite 200, Greenville, SC 29615, 864-552-5000
• SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division), 4400 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-737-9000

Norris residents should ask the Sheriff's Office which department answers calls there.