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

The Detention Center

Lexington County Detention Center

Operated bySheriff's Office
Mailing addressP.O. Box 2019, Lexington, SC 29071
Directory jail line803-785-2740 (association directory)
Medical careProvided by a company that contracts with Lexington County (contractor not named)
Inmate depositsLimited to $140 per day (JPay, kiosk, money order)
Rated capacityNot found
Jail AdministratorMajor Robert Singleton, Detention Bureau Commander

Source: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Detention Bureau · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗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
✗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 Lexington 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 builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Jay Koon

Runs the jailYes. The sheriff's site lists a Detention Bureau operating the Lexington County Detention Center
Also listed asBryan 'Jay' Koon in the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association directory
Naming pageSheriff's department news item dated April 21, 2021

Still needed

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

Source: Lexington County Sheriff's Department · 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 Lexington County

Circuit Court: South Carolina's Eleventh Judicial Circuit, which also serves McCormick, Saluda and Edgefield. 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 Lexington 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 portal link found on the county directory page but not opened.
The boardLexington County Council
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

The Sheriff's Department runs the jail through its Detention Bureau; Major Robert Singleton is named as commander.
Detention Bureau and Jail FAQ pages link an 8-19-2023 PREA Final Audit Report; the PDF refused our reader.
The Inmate Search link goes to a vendor portal (lexingtonsheriffsc.policetocitizen.com) that refused our reader, so roster is not credited.
County Bond Court page (lex-co.sc.gov) gives location (521 Gibson Road), session times and phone, but not how to post bond or payment methods.
Jail FAQ names JPay for deposits and IC Solutions for video visitation, with no rates; a 2021 visitation item names Securus. No fee amounts found.
Sheriff's name comes from a 2021 news item on the sheriff's site; the Meet the Sheriff page refused our reader. The association directory also lists him.
What was tried: the Meet the Sheriff page, the 2020 Jail Report PDF, the 2025 Annual Report PDF, the PREA audit PDF and the inmate search portal were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED).
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 Lexington 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