South Carolina has an incarceration rate of 606 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 independent democratic country 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
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
South Carolina's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails
Reports and briefings about South Carolina's criminal legal system:
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Prisons in South Carolina have tablets, but they may be being used to restrict incarcerated people’s access to books and sap them of the little money they have.
People on parole in South Carolina can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone who has a felony or misdemeanor conviction — even loved ones who are trying to support them
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
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.
October 11-13, 2024: Prison Policy Initiative’s Advocacy Department (Sarah Staudt and Emmett Sanders) will be at the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People, and Families Movement (FICPFM) conference in Detroit, Michigan from Friday, October 11th to Sunday, October 13. If you’re going to be there, contact us if you’d like to meet up and talk about how Prison Policy Initiative might be able to support your state and local activism to change the criminal legal system!
Not near you? Invite us to your city, college or organization.