State Prisons in South Carolina

South Carolina Department of Corrections - Prisons & Inmate Search

South Carolina State Prisons and Juvenile Facilities

Adults sentenced to more than 90 days in South Carolina serve their time with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC). Before 1866, convicted felons stayed in county jails. That year the legislature took them over and funded a State Penitentiary in Columbia. Abuses in the prison system led Governor Fritz Hollings to create the Department of Corrections in 1960, and the old penitentiary, later called Central Correctional Institution, closed in 1994.

On August 12, 2026, SCDC held 17,288 people: 15,838 men and 1,450 women. The department runs 21 institutions grouped by security level, from minimum-security pre-release centers to close-custody prisons for men serving long sentences.

South Carolina prisons by security level

• Close security (men): Broad River and Broad River Secure Facility (Columbia), Kirkland (Columbia), Lee (Bishopville), Lieber (Ridgeville), McCormick and Perry (Pelzer)
• Medium security (men): Allendale, Evans (Bennettsville), Kershaw, MacDougall (Ridgeville), Ridgeland, Trenton, Turbeville and Tyger River (Enoree). Kershaw and Evans are among the largest, each holding about 1,300 men.
• Minimum security and reentry (men): Livesay (Spartanburg), Manning Reentry/Work Release Center (Columbia), Palmer Pre-Release Center (Florence) and Wateree River (Rembert)
• Women: Camille Griffin Graham and Goodman, both in Columbia, and Leath in Greenwood

Turbeville has about 900 beds set aside for young adults sentenced under South Carolina’s Youthful Offender Act.

Where do new prisoners go first?

Men 17 and older go first to the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center in Columbia, which processes about 8,000 people a year. There, staff complete medical and mental health screening and testing, then decide a security level and permanent prison. Women go to the Women’s Reception and Evaluation Center at Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution. Because a person’s location changes when they leave reception, families should check the inmate search before mailing anything or planning a visit.

How to find an inmate in South Carolina

SCDC’s Inmate Search lists everyone incarcerated as of midnight the previous day and shows each person’s current institution and SCDC number. You can also call the toll-free inmate information line at 1-866-727-2846.

Lee Correctional and prison violence

South Carolina’s prisons drew national attention in April 2018, when gang fights at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville left seven men dead, the deadliest U.S. prison riot in a quarter century. The state responded with new security fencing, cell phone jamming tests and higher officer pay. Staffing and contraband cell phones remain persistent problems across the system.

Death penalty in South Carolina

South Carolina has the death penalty and is one of the few states where the condemned may choose among three methods: the electric chair, the firing squad or lethal injection. If a person makes no choice, the electric chair is used. Executions take place at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

No one was executed from 2011 to 2024 because the state could not obtain lethal injection drugs. Lawmakers added the firing squad in 2021 and passed a shield law hiding drug suppliers’ identities in 2023. Executions resumed with Freddie Owens in September 2024, and six more followed over the next 14 months. In March 2025, Brad Sigmon became the first person executed by firing squad in South Carolina and the first in the country in 15 years. The most recent execution was Stephen Bryant, also by firing squad, on November 14, 2025. South Carolina has carried out 50 executions since 1976 and more than 680 since colonial times. About two dozen men, 23 at the end of 2025, remain on death row, and no women.

South Carolina juvenile facilities

Youth cases are handled by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ), a cabinet agency based on a 200-acre campus at 4900 Broad River Road in Columbia. In 2025 it renamed its secure facilities:

• Midlands Evaluation and Development Center (formerly the Broad River Road Complex), Columbia: boys committed for more than 180 days
• Upstate Evaluation and Development Center: evaluations and short commitments for boys
• Coastal Evaluation and Development Center: girls statewide
• Juvenile Detention Complex on Shivers Road, Columbia: youth awaiting court

The Broad River Road campus has a troubled history. A 2020 U.S. Justice Department investigation found excessive force and prolonged isolation there, and SCDJJ signed a settlement in April 2022 under an independent monitor. Raise the Age legislation and closures of county detention centers have pushed more youth into state custody, and the detention complex has run at nearly double its capacity. Juvenile records are confidential, so families should contact SCDJJ or the youth’s county office directly.

To search for an inmate or juvenile, or to learn how to visit, call, write or send money to someone in the South Carolina Department of Corrections or Department of Juvenile Justice, choose a facility from the list below.

Each prison you click on below will provide specific, detailed information about the facility's: 

• inmate search,
• location,
• contact information,
• directions,
• inmate visitation,
• mail,
• phone accounts,
• money accounts,
• commissary,
• texting and emailing where available, and
• inmate tablet rental where available.