Spartanburg County Detention Center Inmate Bail & Bonds

In most cases a magistrate sets it, in the Bond Court office built into the Detention Center, 950 California Avenue, Spartanburg, SC 29303, 864-596-3424. Hearings happen seven days a week, holidays too, at 11:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and midnight. More are added as the load demands, and the magistrate may slot some in between midnight and 7:30 a.m.

Booking has to wrap up a full hour before a hearing. A person still being processed rolls over to the next session. The jail warns that its times are tentative.

State law sets a 24-hour clock from the arrest, and the bond hearing must happen before it runs out (S.C. Code 22-5-510). A town's own judge may also set and accept bonds (S.C. Code 14-25-115). Murder is different. For murder, or any other crime that can carry death or life imprisonment, a magistrate cannot set bond at all. Only a circuit judge can, and families often wait longer for that hearing (S.C. Code 22-5-510(A)).

State law has the judge start from release on a signed promise for any charge that isn't capital (S.C. Code 17-15-10). A cash amount or added conditions are used only if the judge believes that promise won't get the person back to court, or that someone could be in danger. Locally, bonds are written on two forms:

• Personal recognizance, Bond Form I. Your person signs. No money changes hands at the start.
• Surety bond, Bond Form II. Three ways to meet it: the whole amount in cash with the court, up to a tenth of it in cash when the judge agrees, or a surety (a bondsman, for example) who signs next to the defendant.
• The ten percent option. Not allowed when the charge is violent, or when someone already on bond is accused of a new gun felony (S.C. Code 17-15-15).
• Real estate. A house or land may secure the bond. What to bring is listed two answers down.
• GPS. A judge may use electronic monitoring instead of a bond, or add it as one more condition (S.C. Code 17-15-35).

Home detention is another route the Sheriff's Office runs. A judge may order it for a defendant waiting for trial. Rules: a home in this county (or elsewhere in South Carolina if the court allows), steady work, a working phone, a yes from everyone in the household, and payment of the program and monitor fees.

No price list exists. Each amount is the magistrate's call, shaped by these points (S.C. Code 17-15-30):

• what the person is accused of, and how bad it is
• relatives nearby, work, finances and years spent living locally
• past convictions, plus any record of missed court dates
• charges still open, plus any current bond from another case
• a gang database listing, or unlawful presence in the U.S. combined with a real risk of fleeing

Police must give the magistrate the person's record and incident reports by the time of the hearing (S.C. Code 22-5-510(E)). The most a charge can carry also matters:

• Third-degree assault and battery: up to $500 and 30 days (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2))
• Shoplifting: $2,000 or less, up to $1,000 and 30 days; above $2,000 and below $10,000, up to five years; $10,000 and up, up to ten years (S.C. Code 16-13-110(B))
• Felony classes: Class F tops out at 5 years and Class A at 30 (S.C. Code 16-1-20)
• Murder: 30 years minimum, up to life, or a death sentence (S.C. Code 16-3-20(A))

The front desk can read you the figure once the hearing ends: 864-596-2607.

Bond business happens in the magistrate's office at the Detention Center, 950 California Avenue, Spartanburg, SC 29303. Go in this order:

1. Ring 864-596-2607 and confirm the hearing really happened.
2. Jot down each charge with its bond type and dollar figure.
3. Phone Bond Court at 864-596-3424. Ask what forms of payment are good today and how the payee line should read.
4. Head to the magistrate's window at the jail with your photo ID and the bond money in hand.
5. Hold on to each receipt and signed copy.

Pledging property? Carry a photo ID, the land's street address, what is still owed on it in liens or judgments, and a list of bail bonds you have already signed for. Clerks look the parcel up in county assessor records. If the land is in a different county, bring papers proving its value and your ownership.

After the bond goes through, the person may sit in booking until shift change, often 1 1/2 to 2 hours past the hearing. State law caps that wait at four hours from delivery of the bond (S.C. Code 22-5-510(B)).

Nearly every bond is settled at the jail. A few later steps run through court counters, so phone first and ask whether that office accepts bond money for a jailed person.

• Magistrate Court Central Office: 180 Magnolia Street, 1st Floor, Suite 1119, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2564. Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Criminal desk: 864-596-2566.
• City of Spartanburg cases: Municipal Court in Courtroom 1E, 180 Magnolia Street, Suite 1134, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2038. Hours 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the payment window shuts at 4:30 p.m.
• Duncan cases: Duncan Municipal Court, Town Hall, 153 West Main Street, Duncan, SC 29334, 864-249-8013.
• Felonies: the Court of General Sessions line, 864-596-2591, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Circuit judges there may take a fresh look at a magistrate's bond (S.C. Code 17-15-55).

On the call, get the hours, the payments taken and any paperwork to carry.

Rules for bond money can shift. Before driving over, call Bond Court at 864-596-3424. Ask which it accepts today: cash, cards, money orders or cashier's checks. Ask about fees too. Do not mail cash.

For city court fines, the City of Spartanburg takes cash, certified checks, debit or credit cards and money orders at the counter. It won't take personal checks, and a card must match the payer's photo ID. Fines sent by mail must be paid by money order or cashier's check in the City's name. Ask the court at 864-596-2038 if bonds follow the same rules.

Two official pages accept court payments by card. They are built for tickets and fines, so check with Bond Court before trying one for a bond:

• City online payments, for most municipal court cases
• County court online payments on the state Judicial Branch site

A bondsman is paid a fee to back the full bond with the court. Per the Sheriff's Office, local professional bondsmen can charge as much as 15 percent, and they keep it even after a not-guilty verdict. People inside the jail are given a list of licensed bondsmen and their phone numbers.

• Licenses come from the SC Department of Insurance (Title 38, Chapter 53).
• The fee caps at 15 percent, with a floor of $100 or 10 percent, whichever is larger. Plans require at least $100 down and may stretch to 18 months (S.C. Code 38-53-170(e)).
• Soliciting at courthouses, magistrate offices or jails is against the law for them, and so is pushing a particular lawyer.
• Expect collateral back no later than ten days after the bond is released, unless a bench warrant is out.
• Missing a fee payment, by itself, isn't grounds to surrender the defendant.

Verify a license through the Department's bondsman page. File complaints with the SC Department of Insurance, 1201 Main Street, Suite 1000, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-6160.

One bond releases a person from one charge, nothing more. Watch for these:

• Separate bonds. A city ticket and a county charge are two cases, so two bonds.
• Outside warrants. Another county, or another state, may have papers on the person.
• Probation or parole. A supervision violation can bring its own hold. The county's state probation office: 160 Commerce Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2582.
• Repeat violent or gun charges. A fresh charge of this kind, while on bond for an earlier one, ends the earlier bond automatically. A circuit judge then holds a hearing inside 30 days (S.C. Code 17-15-55(C)).
• Immigration or federal holds. See the answers near the end.

Have the front desk at 864-596-2607 read you every hold and every charge before you hand over money.

South Carolina's Constitution grants bail to most people charged and outlaws excessive amounts. Bail may be denied for capital charges, for charges punishable by life, and for violent offenses the legislature lists, with due weight given to the evidence (S.C. Const. art. I, § 15). The list names murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, among others. It also covers burglary in the first two degrees and certain drug trafficking (S.C. Code 16-1-60). Murder needs a circuit judge, as noted above. On the other listed violent charges, a magistrate can either set bond or deny it.

Someone on bond in a violent case who commits a fresh violent crime faces an added felony, with as long as five years (S.C. Code 17-15-270).

Cases here and in Cherokee County are prosecuted by the 7th Circuit Solicitor. Its diversion office sits at 180 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2630.

Victims must be notified of the bond hearing and may address the judge. If their notice came late, the hearing gets pushed back (S.C. Code 16-3-1525). Relatives should leave the victim alone, including through go-betweens, since contact can breach the bond terms.

A bond is not set in stone. After notice and a hearing, the court holding the case may change its conditions (S.C. Code 17-15-50). For felony-level charges, a circuit judge may also revisit what a magistrate set (S.C. Code 17-15-55).

1. Ask the person's lawyer or public defender to file the request.
2. Pull together pay stubs, proof of where they live and names of local relatives. Those match the points the judge weighs.
3. Propose a fix for the judge's concern, like home detention or a GPS monitor.
4. Arrive early, dressed for court.

Scheduling for felony-level cases runs through the General Sessions line, 864-596-2591. Magistrate-level charges go through the central office, 864-596-2564.

The 7th Circuit Public Defender keeps its county office at 180 Magnolia Street, Suite 2137, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2561. Its lawyers cover General Sessions, juvenile cases in Family Court, Drug Court, and magistrate or city cases that could end in jail.

1. Visit the office in person and speak with staff.
2. They review household income and assets.
3. Applicants who qualify sit down with an investigator, and a lawyer is then assigned.

Each applicant swears to a form listing their money situation and owes a $40 fee, which the clerk may reduce or excuse (S.C. Code 17-3-30, 17-3-45). Statewide oversight comes from the SC Commission on Indigent Defense, 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

Several courts share the courthouse at 180 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, so note the suite:

• Bond Court (first bond hearings), Detention Center, 950 California Avenue, Spartanburg, SC 29303, 864-596-3424.
• Magistrate Court Central Office (small criminal cases and preliminary hearings), 1st Floor, Suite 1119, 864-596-2564.
• Regional magistrate offices serve outlying towns. Their phones have been down, so reach them through the courthouse at 864-562-4021.
• Court of General Sessions (felonies and serious misdemeanors), 864-596-2591. Call ahead for the building and courtroom.
• Family Court (youth cases), second floor, 864-596-2588.
• City of Spartanburg Municipal Court, Suite 1134, Courtroom 1E, 864-596-2038.
• Duncan Municipal Court, 153 West Main Street, Duncan, SC 29334, 864-249-8013.
• Federal court, Donald S. Russell Federal Building, 201 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306. There is no clerk's office in that building; questions go to the Greenville clerk, 864-241-2700.

Cash posted with a court is repaid on request once it has served its purpose (S.C. Code 17-15-220). A ten percent deposit is repaid after all bond terms are kept, less restitution the judge orders (S.C. Code 17-15-15). A bondsman's fee is gone for good.

Missing a court date triggers these steps:

• A bench warrant comes first. Ninety days on, the bondsman loses the surety bond unless the person has been handed over (S.C. Code 38-53-70).
• When the miss was an honest error or truly unavoidable, the judge may excuse some or all of the loss (S.C. Code 17-15-180).
• Missing court on purpose is also a separate crime, worth up to $5,000 and five years on a felony (S.C. Code 17-15-90).

A refund comes from the court that collected the money: 864-596-2564 for magistrate bonds, 864-596-2591 for felony bonds.

Booking staff inventory every item and move any cash into the person's jail account. On release, both come back, less anything the person already signed out and any account charges.

A person still in custody may sign a release so a friend or relative can collect their things. That helper needs proper ID. Phone the front desk at 864-596-2607 first to learn when pickups are done. Our money guide explains jail accounts in general.

This county sits in the Spartanburg Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, with Cherokee and Union. Hearings may take place at the Donald S. Russell Federal Building, 201 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, or in Greenville. Clerk's office: 864-241-2700, Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. U.S. Courthouse, 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601. It is open weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• The release-or-detention question is settled by the judge at the person's first federal hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• The hearing can be pushed back. The defense may win up to five more days; the government, up to three. During that wait, the person remains in custody.
• Federal defendants stay under U.S. Marshals control from arrest through trial. The office covering this area is at 300 East Washington Street, Room 232, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-232-1566. Ask there which jail has your person.
• Once sentenced, look them up on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

No. ICE's hold survives a paid state bond. The steps:

1. Federal immigration officers (ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deliver a Form I-247A to the Detention Center. That paper is the detainer.
2. A detainer allows a hold of up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. A jail holding anyone on a criminal charge gets 72 hours to look into that person's immigration status. Federal immigration authorities at Homeland Security hear about any unlawful presence found (S.C. Code 23-3-1100).
4. Unlawful presence and flight risk are among the points a bond judge must weigh (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).
5. ICE agents then collect the person. South Carolina's ICE office: 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.
6. Find them through the ICE Online Detainee Locator, using full name plus country of birth.

A jail term of three months or shorter is normally served locally (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).

• SCDC first runs each newcomer through intake testing, called reception and evaluation. In-person family visits wait until it is done, unless the process drags past 30 days.
• After that, SCDC assigns a prison suited to the person.
• Use the SCDC inmate search to find state prisoners. Its records are current to the previous midnight.
• SCDC's main office: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500.
• Our South Carolina state prisons section profiles every SCDC prison.

Family Court takes almost every case involving a person under 18. The lone exception: a 17-year-old goes to adult court for any felony from Class A to Class D, or a felony whose maximum reaches 15 years (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)).

• Adult lockups can keep a child six hours at the very most. A child age 10 or under can't be jailed at all (S.C. Code 63-19-820).
• A detention hearing must happen within two days, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (S.C. Code 63-19-830).
• A judge may send a teen of 14 to 16 with a serious felony up to adult court, after looking into the case and holding a hearing (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).
• Before a hearing, most detained youth are sent to the state Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visitation line).

Family Court hears youth cases upstairs, on floor two of 180 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, 864-596-2588. The county's Department of Juvenile Justice office works from the same building and knows where each local youth is placed: 864-594-0004.