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South Carolina has an incarceration rate of 678 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in South Carolina and why.

32,000 people from South Carolina are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in South Carolina is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 89,000 different people are booked into local jails in South Carolina.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these South Carolina graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, South Carolina’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks in South Carolina prisons and jails.

South Carolina's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in South Carolina

Prisons and jails in South Carolina are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in South Carolina charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 83¢ for a 15-minute call.
• South Carolina suspended its $5 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — but should eliminate them completely.
• South Carolina prisons charge families up to a 20% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in South Carolina prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics like shoes if they have more than $6.42 in their account.
• People in South Carolina prisons earn nothing for their work inside prisons and as little as 35¢ an hour for industry jobs.
• New data: Low incomes — but high fees — for people on probation in South Carolina
• The hidden costs in South Carolina's "no-cost" prison tablet contract
• South Carolina charges up to 25¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about South Carolina

• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 13% of people in South Carolina prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• South Carolina makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• South Carolina has one of nation’s highest rates of HIV in prison and legally criminalizes people with HIV.
• South Carolina is one of 20 states that locks up some people convicted of sex offenses in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities, long after their sentences are over — and often indefinitely
• Bail companies in South Carolina have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• South Carolina prisons release about 6,208 people every year
• South Carolina hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records and some prior misdemeanors
• Cruel and unusual punishment: When South Carolina prisons don't provide air conditioning
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states — South Carolina gets an F
• Who's helping the 46,110 women released from South Carolina correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on South Carolina in our Research Library
• Fixing prison-based gerrymandering in South Carolina

Data on COVID-19 in South Carolina jails and prisons

We gave South Carolina a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• South Carolina released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019, and approved a smaller percent of parole applications.
• South Carolina is one of 13 states that did not implement any policies to accelerate releases, promote medical parole or compassionate release, prevent incarceration for technical violations of probation and parole, or hasten releases for people incarcerated on minor offenses.
• South Carolina is one of 15 prison systems that had not yet vaccinated more than 60% of the incarcerated population.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in South Carolina communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)