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

The Detention Center

Not found

Operated byNot stated on the pages read
Detention center phone(843) 832-0215

Source: Dorchester County Sheriff's Office page · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

Not scored. Dorchester County's and its sheriff's own websites could not be reached or read in the session that produced this record, so their disclosures were never examined. This is a gap in the research, not a finding about the county.

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 Sam Richardson

CurrentNamed in the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
County pageThe county's sheriff page at dorchestercountysc.gov/DCSO still carries a message from 'Sheriff L.C. Knight'; not treated as current

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 Dorchester County

Circuit Court: South Carolina's First Judicial Circuit, which also serves Calhoun and Orangeburg. 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 Dorchester 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).
NoteCouncil page not opened.
The boardDorchester County Council
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

What was tried: the prompt's sheriff page https://www.dorchestercountysc.gov/government/public-safety/sheriff-s-office was refused by our reader (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), also when followed from the association page.
One web search found https://dorchestercountysc.gov/DCSO, which opened: it confirms Dorchester County, SC and lists only a detention center phone, (843) 832-0215, and the main office (843) 832-0300.
That page's text quotes 'Sheriff L.C. Knight'; the association directory lists Sam Richardson. The association name is recorded; the county page appears out of date.
Our reader found no links on the DCSO page, so no detention sub-pages could be opened. Checks are 'no' only for what that one page shows.
Association page https://www.sheriffsc.org/county_map/county/2334 opened: sheriff Sam Richardson; detention center 843-832-0215.
Not scored: the county's sheriff and detention pages refused our reader; only a contact page opened. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked.
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 Dorchester 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