The Detention Center
Oconee County Detention Center
- Operated bySheriff's Office
- Jail address300 S Church St, Walhalla SC 29691
- Detention phone (sheriff contact page)864-638-4228
- VisitationOnsite visits 30 minutes, twice a week; remote visits also offered
- CommissaryDelivered once a week on Fridays
Source: Oconee County Sheriff's Office - Jail page · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
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 Mike Crenshaw
- Runs the jailYes - the detention center page sits on the Sheriff's Office site
- Office address300 South Church St, Walhalla, SC 29691
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Oconee County Sheriff's Office - Command Staff · 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 Oconee County
- Circuit Court: South Carolina's Tenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Anderson. 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 Oconee 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).
- The boardOconee County Council
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff site home page https://www.oconeelaw.com/ refused; https://oconeelaw.com/contactus, /commandstaff and /jail opened.
- Jail page says kiosk deposits and phone accounts carry fees ('Fees apply with each transaction') but states no amounts, so fees scored no.
- Inmate search page https://www.oconeelaw.com/inmatesearch is linked from the jail page but was refused twice; roster scored no because it could not be seen - re-check.
- Annual report (/annualreport) and administration pages refused; capacity, budget and PREA not verified there.
- County government site not found without a search; council minutes not recorded.
- Not scored: the sheriff's inmate search, annual report and administration pages refused our reader. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked. Found published on the pages that did open: named.
- 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 Oconee 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