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Prisons in South Carolina

South Carolina held 16,453 people under its correctional authority, an imprisonment rate of 299 per 100,000 residents, at the end of 2023, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

That is rank 26 of 50.

2023

16,453
Prisoners
299
Imprisonment rate
Per 100,000 residents of all ages, as the Bureau computed it.
380
Rate among adults
Per 100,000 residents aged 18 or older.
15,233
Men
1,220
Women
4,612
Admissions
Sentenced prisoners admitted during the year.

2012 to 2023

12 years, from the 11 editions the Bureau publishes as a machine-readable bundle. Each edition carries its own year and the one before, so every year but the first and last is published twice. Where the two disagree, the later edition is shown, because the Bureau revises rather than restates.

Admissions and releases are blank before 2019. The Bureau published them in one table with two blocks until then, each with a column called “Total”, and this pipeline cannot yet tell one from the other. A blank is the honest answer.

South Carolina's prison population is 26.5% below its 2012 peak; 16,453 in 2023

People under South Carolina's jurisdiction at year end, 2012 to 2023. Jurisdiction rather than custody: the state holds jurisdiction over a prisoner it houses elsewhere, which is the count the Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes by state.

Source: The Bureau of Justice Statistics

About this chart

The figures

South Carolina's prison population is 26.5% below its 2012 peak; 16,453 in 2023. People under South Carolina's jurisdiction at year end, 2012 to 2023. Jurisdiction rather than custody: the state holds jurisdiction over a prisoner it houses elsewhere, which is the count the Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes by state.
YearPrisoners
201222,388
201322,060
201421,401
201520,929
201620,858
201719,906
201819,033
201918,608
202016,157
202115,759
202216,318
202316,453

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2 more columns on a wider screen

Prisoners under South Carolina's jurisdiction, 2012 to 2023
YearPrisonersRate per 100,000
201222,388458
201322,060446
201421,401428
201520,929414
201620,858408
201719,906387
201819,033366
201918,608352
202016,157310
202115,759297
202216,318302
202316,453299

Race and Hispanic origin · 2023

The Bureau’s own categories, under its own labels. This is the composition of the prison population, not a rate: it is not divided by the population of each group, and it should not be read as one. Percentages are of the people whose race the state reported.

Prisoners under South Carolina's jurisdiction by race and Hispanic origin, 2023
CategoryPrisonersShare
black9,54758.0%
white6,26838.1%
hispanic4822.9%
other990.6%
american indian alaska native350.2%
asian200.1%
native hawaiian other pacific islander2< 0.1%
did not report00.0%
unknown00.0%

Sources

Compiled automatically from Bureau of Justice Statistics — Prisoners by a checked SQL query · Editor: Kian O'Connor · How this site is built

Data retrieved

South Carolina elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crime Crime and justice

    Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.

  • Most dangerous cities in South Carolina Crime and justice

    What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

  • Arrests by race, sex and age Crime and justice

    Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

  • Hate crime Crime and justice

    Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

  • Federal obligations Federal spending

    What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

  • Registered nonprofits Nonprofits

    How many organizations the IRS lists in the state, what they report as revenue, and which kinds of work they do.

  • Payments to doctors Health

    What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

  • Farm program payments Farm subsidies

    What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

  • Paycheck Protection Program loans PPP loans

    The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

  • Population, age, income and origin Demographics

    The Census Bureau's population estimates year by year, with births, deaths and migration, and age, income, poverty, housing and origin from the American Community Survey, each with its margin of error.

  • Public schools Schools

    Pupils, schools and teachers, the largest districts, what districts spend per pupil and where the money comes from, and the colleges that take federal student aid.

  • Banks and credit unions Banks and credit unions

    The FDIC-insured banks headquartered in the state and their offices, and the credit unions based there and their sites, each per resident and against every other state.

  • Housing Housing

    The homes under HUD’s rental assistance programs in the state, by program and county, and its tax-credit housing, each per resident and against every other state.

  • Mortgage lending Mortgage lending

    The mortgage applications, loans and denials lenders reported in the state under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and its largest lenders and counties.

  • Cost of living Cost of living

    BEA’s price level for the state against the nation, for goods, rents, utilities and other services, and its metro areas beside it.

  • County health County health

    CDC’s model-based estimates of adult health, risk behaviors and prevention for every county in the state, each with its 95% interval.

  • College athletics Sports

    Every college in the state that reported to the Equity in Athletics survey, ranked by its athletics revenue, with its expenses, athletes and athletic aid.

  • Federal civilian workforce Federal salaries

    Federal civilian employees stationed in the state by agency and occupation, with the pay OPM publishes and the share it withholds.

  • The South Carolina Factbook entry Across the Factbook

    Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.