The South Carolina Department of Corrections, SCDC, offers its inmate search behind a disclaimer page that says exactly what it holds: photographs and public information on inmates currently sentenced to and incarcerated in SCDC as of midnight the previous day, and nothing on offenders released from SCDC, sentenced to county detention facilities, or under parole, probation or other community supervision. Juvenile offenders housed with the agency are withheld under S.C. Code sections 20-7-8505 and 20-7-8515, and current fugitives from SCDC are excluded as well. The department also runs a toll free inmate information line, 1-866-727-2846, takes data errors at Ombudsman@doc.sc.gov, and lets law enforcement register on a result for custodian of evidence notification under section 17-28-330(A). A result's detail report carries the SCDC ID, the location and the dorm, room and bunk that the mailroom needs, and a separate released inmate search runs by release date range and county with a sex offender flag.
A person in a county detention center is the sheriff's record, found through the South Carolina county pages, and anyone on parole or probation belongs to the separate Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. The department's institutions page counts 21 institutions in four custody levels, close security for violent offenders with long sentences behind double fences, medium security with single fences and electronic surveillance, and minimum security for Minimum-In and Minimum-Out custody, the latter at community based pre-release and work centers open to work release within 36 months of release; the mailroom serves about 26,000 inmates. Headquarters is at 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, P.O. Box 21787, 803-896-8500.
- Search: the SCDC inmate search for people now incarcerated, as of midnight the day before, or SC VINE at 1-866-727-2846 by offender number, SID or name for location and projected release dates, in English or Spanish with live operators.
- Visits: Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in two hour blocks, booked on the ViaPath scheduler at least 15 hours ahead, after one online application with a driver's license or a long form birth certificate since February 12, 2026; one visit per weekend and four a month, four visitors at a time, a 15 name list, and non contact booths at the nine highest security institutions.
- Mail and calls: letters with the legal name, SCDC number, living unit and the institution's full name and address, 10 photos per envelope; calls through GTL at 5.5 cents a minute to a list of 20 numbers built from the numbers called, prepaid for cell phones.
- Money: since November 3, 2025 only approved visitors may deposit, into the Cooper Trust Fund account that the inmate's ID card draws on: ConnectNetwork online or in its app, by phone at (888) 428-1845, or a money order payable to TouchPay Holdings, LLC with the deposit slip, the sender's name as on the visitor list and the Visitor ID, to TouchPay Holdings SCDOC, PO Box 649535, Dallas, TX 75264-9535.
Written by SearchSystems.net from South Carolina's own systems: the South Carolina Department of Corrections inmate search disclaimer page, the SCDC Released Inmate Search, the department's Family page, the department's Institutions page, the Division of Victim Services page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The 21 institutions
The institutions page lists them by county: Allendale Correctional Institution in Fairfax, medium custody, opened in 1989, the department's first character based institution since 2015; Lieber, close custody, and MacDougall in Dorchester County; Ridgeland in Jasper; Turbeville in Clarendon; Kershaw in Lancaster; Lee, close and medium, in Lee County; Wateree River, minimum, in Sumter; Evans in Marlboro; the Palmer Pre-Release Center in Florence; in Richland County Broad River Correctional Institution and the Broad River Secure Facility, Camille Graham for women, Goodman for women at minimum custody, Kirkland, close custody, and the Manning Work Release Center; Trenton in Edgefield; Livesay with its A and B camps and Tyger River in Spartanburg; Perry in Greenville; Leath for women in Greenwood; and McCormick, close custody.
A points based classification system, in use since February 2020, weighs behavior to set each inmate's custody level and institution. Visits are non contact, in booths behind plexiglass, at Broad River, Kershaw, Kirkland, Lee, Lieber, McCormick, Perry, Ridgeland and Turbeville, and contact visits run at Allendale, Camille Graham, Evans, Goodman, Leath, Livesay, MacDougall, Manning, Palmer, Trenton, Tyger River and Wateree River.
Visiting: one application, the scheduler and the list of 15
Since February 12, 2026 a prospective visitor fills out one application, online in the visitation scheduling system, with a driver's license for an adult or a long form birth certificate for a minor uploaded, under policy OP-22.09; anyone already approved with a visitor identification number needs no new action, and the department answers at visitation@doc.sc.gov and on its inquiry line at 803-896-1838. Applications are denied for false information, a former inmate without an immediate family exception, a criminal record or pending charges, a threat to the institution, inappropriate dress or intoxication on arrival, or a refusal of security screening.
Every visit is scheduled on the ViaPath scheduler at least 15 hours ahead, and visitors must be on the inmate's approved list; visits run Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in two hour blocks, general population inmates get one visit per weekend and four a month, up to four visitors at a time with at least one adult, and children of any age may come, those 10 and older with a government photo ID and those nine and younger with a long form birth certificate.
Each inmate may have 15 approved visitors, gets a copy of the list in any week it changes, and may add minor children only if they are siblings, children, stepchildren, grandchildren or step grandchildren, with nieces and nephews only after three consecutive years inside; inmates in reception and evaluation have no visits unless held there beyond 30 days, and then only parents, grandparents, siblings, grandchildren, spouses and children.
Visitors use the restroom once during a two hour visit, the vending machines take debit and credit cards only since July 1, 2024, and virtual visits are available at every institution on any computer, tablet or phone, Apple devices included, for people on the list.
Mail: the envelope, the photos and the six book vendors
Every envelope carries the inmate's legal name, SCDC number, living unit, and the full name, street address, city, state and ZIP of the institution, with a complete return address top left; the dorm, room and bunk come from the search detail report. Postal staff open and inspect all mail, open legal mail in the inmate's presence, and read it only when illegal activity or a rule violation is suspected. Cash, stamps, writing materials and anything to eat, drink or smoke are refused; 10 photos per envelope are allowed, with none for inmates in restricted housing or reception, and up to five pages of clippings or printouts.
Since October 1, 2025 books come only from six approved vendors, Hamilton Book, Books N Things Warehouse, Books2Inmates, SureShot Books, and Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million online only, paperback, prepaid, with an invoice on letterhead enclosed, and still subject to content review under policy PS-10.08; books from anyone else go to contraband without a refund, and magazines come prepaid from a verified online subscription source.
Mail to the roughly 26,000 inmates is processed daily and the department asks for two weeks before worrying. Electronic messages run through a GettingOut account with purchased stamps, answered from a kiosk in the housing unit, and the messaging system is permanently disabled for anyone in a restrictive housing unit, who keeps phone calls, mail and an FM radio app instead.
Calls: 5.5 cents a minute, 20 numbers, lights out at 11:30
Global Tel Link runs the inmate telephone system at a single rate of 5.5 cents a minute to anywhere in the United States, effective February 1, 2019. Since December 1, 2023 each inmate's Personal Allowed Number list holds up to 20 numbers, built automatically from the numbers called and closed once it reaches 20, then revisited once a year; the count of calls to each number is not limited. Since October 27, 2025 the phones for medium and close custody men run from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., with no change for minimum security or female inmates and exceptions through the warden's office.
An inmate receives a PIN within a week of admission, may not call toll free numbers, and reaches a cell phone only through an AdvancePay prepaid account at ConnectNetwork; a collect call needs a landline account in good standing with a carrier that has a billing agreement with the provider and a corded touch tone phone. Every call is recorded and monitored except calls to an attorney of record who has asked in writing, on letterhead with the inmate's number and bar membership number, through the Office of the General Counsel at PO Box 21787, Columbia, SC 29221-1787; a called party may refuse a call, block the inmate or block the whole department.
Money: the Cooper Trust Fund and the approved visitor rule
SCDC runs a cashless system: an inmate holding currency, a credit, debit or Green Dot card or a card number faces discipline, and every inmate instead has a Cooper Trust Fund Account that the magnetic strip on the ID card charges for purchases inside. Since November 3, 2025 deposits are restricted to people on the inmate's approved visitor list, a rule the department adopted against money laundering, illicit debt payments and coercion by outsiders, so anyone who sends money must go through the visitor application first.
ViaPath is the exclusive money transfer provider: online at ConnectNetwork with South Carolina Dept. of Corrections as the facility, in the app, by phone at (888) 428-1845 with a live agent at (877) 650-4249, or by money order, with no fee beyond the money order itself, payable to TouchPay Holdings, LLC and mailed with the deposit slip to TouchPay Holdings SCDOC, PO Box 649535, Dallas, TX 75264-9535, available within three business days; the sender's name must match the visitor list exactly and the money order must carry the Visitor ID shown in the scheduling system, or it comes back, and money orders sent to SCDC or a facility are returned.
The quarterly Access Securepak package program, at southcarolinapackages.com or 1-800-546-6283, took fourth quarter 2026 orders from September 4 to October 6 for delivery between October 23 and December 11, with a $250 limit on food and snacks, $50 in the step down unit and $100 for hospital patients, a $5.95 processing fee, and clothing offered only in the first and third quarters. A family may ask through the institutional chaplain for an inmate's transport to a parent's, child's, sibling's, spouse's, grandparent's or grandchild's funeral, graveside service or deathbed, paid 24 hours ahead through a third party vendor once approved, and not for anyone in restricted housing, with an escape history or with a disciplinary conviction in the past year.
Victim notification
The Division of Victim Services, at (803) 896-1733 or 1-800-835-0304 and P.O. Box 21787, Columbia, SC 29221, registers victims, their spouses, parents, children and representatives, and witnesses by a mailed form, since online registration is not yet offered, and files every Victim Impact Statement in the offender's record. SC VINE calls registered victims after a transfer between facilities, release notices come by letter, and an escape or recapture brings a personal call; the department notifies community labor crew and work program placements, transfers, Youthful Offender Act parole hearings, Sexually Violent Predator Act reviews, early release to the Supervised Furlough II program, completion of the sentence, court ordered releases, escapes and deaths, while parole hearings are the business of the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services at 1-888-551-4118.
A registered victim may ask the division to block a personal telephone number from inmate dialing and to stop unwanted mail, and three family representatives may witness an execution.
Reading a South Carolina result
A record in the inmate search is a person inside SCDC as of the previous midnight, with the institution, the dorm and bunk and the SCDC number; a miss means release, a county jail, supervision, a juvenile or a fugitive, and the released inmate search or SC VINE fills part of the gap. The institution decides contact or booth, the scheduler takes the visit, the envelope needs the living unit, and since November 3, 2025 no money moves from anyone off the visitor list.
Questions about finding an inmate in South Carolina
Related South Carolina records
The inmate search is one of the South Carolina records this site covers: the South Carolina arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the court records guide covers the clerks of court, the sex offender registry guide covers the SLED registry, and the South Carolina county pages list each sheriff and detention center.