Beaufort County jail running at full capacity
County jail running at full capacity
The Beaufort County Detention Center, which is another name for the county jail, has a rated capacity of 255 inmates. Pictured above, it is part of the county’s government center located along Ribaut Road, Beaufort. The county’s web site shows that it is almost always nearly full to capacity.
In an effort to inform the public of the operations of the center, we looked at available information on the persons jailed at the center on Friday. Ten persons were arrested and jailed that day, joining perhaps as many as 245 other inmates. For some of them, this was their first time in the county jail. Others had been in the jail many times in the past, one person returning on Friday for the 11th time.
The charges against the ten range from driving without a driver’s license to armed robbery and manufacturing crack cocaine. Many of them are charged with possession of marijuana. Their ages range from 18 to 48, and they are both men and women.
According to the web site, the Beaufort County Detention Center was opened in 1992 as a direct supervision operation, the second of its kind in South Carolina. Direct supervision means that inside each general population housing unit, there is a correctional officer on duty to supervise inmate behavior and prevent assaults, destruction of county property, and other inappropriate inmate behavior. The officer oversees the day to day activities of up to fifty-six persons by him or herself.
The principal task of the detention center is to hold pre-trial inmates: persons who have NOT been found guilty in a court of law and who have NOT lost their constitutional rights. In addition the center holds inmates who have been sentenced to periods of incarceration by various members of the judiciary.
Although normally inmates sentenced to commitments of more than ninety days are sent to the SC Department of Corrections (DOC), there are two exceptions:
1. Inmates sentenced by Family Court judges will not be sent to DOC, regardless of the length of commitment.
2. Inmates sentenced to DOC can be returned here as inmate workers, if they request to come to Beaufort, and the Director decides to permit it. His requirements for application include:
* Original sentence can be no longer than 10 years.
* Conviction for non-violent offenses.
* Criminal history is clear of violent offense convictions.
* History of incarceration is free of behavior violations.
* Clear medical and mental health history.
* Ties to the community.
Related posts:
- Jailhouse report for July 15, 2009: 27 incarcerations
- Former Clerk of Court Elizabeth Smith arrested, incarcerated at Beaufort County Detention Center, released on bond
- 250-pound high school student chokes 70-pound sixth grader on county school bus
- Inmate at county detention center commits suicide
- Crack cocaine arrests in southern Beaufort county spill over into Beaufort
