The Detention Center
Detention Center (no fuller name published on the county site)
- Operated byNot stated on the pages read
- Jail address21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville, SC 29620 (county directory)
- Jail phone(864) 446-6200
- Jail AdministratorCapt. William Crosby, Jail Administrator (county sheriff page)
Source: Abbeville County - Directory · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
0/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Ray Watson
- CurrentNamed as Sheriff on the county government's sheriff page
- Runs the jailNot stated on the pages read; the county's sheriff page lists the jail administrator and detention center phone
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Abbeville County - Sheriff's Office page · checked 2026-09-29
The Judges
South Carolina's circuit court judges are elected by the General Assembly and hear felony cases. For most charges a magistrate sets bond soon after arrest; for offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment only a circuit judge can.
Who sets bail in Abbeville County
- Circuit Court: South Carolina's Eighth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry. Circuit judges are elected by the General Assembly to six-year terms and hear felony cases; for offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment only a circuit judge can set bond.
- Magistrate Court: the Abbeville County magistrates. For most charges a magistrate sets bond soon after arrest.
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-29
The County Council
They pay for the jail. Depending on the county, the sheriff or a county detention department runs it.
- What they controlThe county budget that funds the detention center and the sheriff's office, and the jail building itself. In counties where the sheriff has handed the jail to the county, the council's administrator runs it.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations where the sheriff keeps the jail (S.C. Code 24-5-10). The state Department of Corrections inspects every detention center each year (S.C. Code 24-9-20).
- NoteAgendas & minutes page opened but its document list did not load in our reader.
- The boardAbbeville County Council →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Examined: county site abbevillecountysc.com opened (sheriff, directory, finance, departments, county council, agendas-minutes, history, detention officer job pages).
- The county site refers only to a generic 'Detention Center' (21 Old Calhoun Falls Road, Abbeville); no facility name, capacity, roster, visitation, bond, PREA or fee pages found.
- Sheriff's page names Sheriff Ray Watson and Capt. William Crosby, Jail Administrator; it does not say who operates the jail.
- Finance page has no budget documents; departments page lists no detention center department.
- Agendas & minutes page opened but its document list did not render in our reader, so council minutes and any budget ordinance could not be checked.
- What was tried: https://abbevillecountysc.com/sheriff, /job/detention-officer/, /finance/, /agendas-minutes/, /departments/, /history/, /county-council/, /directory/ all opened.
- State inspection/oversight: The South Carolina Department of Corrections must inspect every county detention center each year and send written reports to county officials (S.C. Code 24-9-20). A county earns the inspections mark here only if it posts such a report on its own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Abbeville County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff is elected. So are the county council members who pay for the jail.
Names verified 2026-09-29 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered