Aiken County, South Carolina — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Aiken County Detention Center

Operated bySheriff's Office
Jail address435 Wire Road, Aiken
Average daily population407
OpenedJune 2002
HousingSix housing units
HoldsPeople awaiting trial or serving sentences under 90 days
Jail AdministratorMajor Nick Gallam (named in SC Sheriffs' Association directory)

Source: Aiken County Sheriff's Office — Aiken County Detention Center · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗Who is in custody — not published
✓Beds and daily population
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Aiken County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-29. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtOpened June 2002
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsNot found (average daily population 407)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Marty Sawyer

CurrentNamed in the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's site describes the detention center as run by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office Detention Division

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: South Carolina Sheriffs' Association directory · 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 Aiken County

Circuit Court: South Carolina's Second Judicial Circuit, which also serves Bamberg and Barnwell. 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 Aiken County magistrates. For most charges a magistrate sets bond soon after arrest.

Still needed

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).
NoteCounty council page not opened
The boardAiken County Council
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

Sheriff's detention page (aikencountysheriff.net/acdc) opened: names the Aiken County Detention Center, 435 Wire Road, run by the Sheriff's Office Detention Division, average daily population 407, opened June 2002.
Sheriff's name not shown on the sheriff pages read; a 2024 related-article item on https://aikencountysheriff.net/?p=342 names a different, earlier sheriff, so the association directory name is recorded.
https://aikencountysheriff.net/?p=342 mentions an Inmate Search service but no link to it was visible to our reader; roster left as no.
What was tried: https://www.aikencountysheriff.net, http://www.aikencountysheriff.net and https://www.aikencountysheriff.net/165/EmploymentRecruitment were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED). Opened: /acdc, /?p=342, /?p=898 (job posting), /169.
No bond, fee, PREA, budget, inspection, death or contract material found on the pages that opened; county government site not reached.
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 Aiken 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