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

The Detention Center

Pickens County Detention Center

Operated bySheriff's Office
Jail address701 South Catherine Street, Pickens, SC
Rated capacityDesigned to accommodate up to 363 inmates
Opened2019, under the direction of then-Sheriff Rick Clark
Jail AdministratorCaptain Kevin Durham (commands the detention center)

Source: Pickens County Sheriff's Office - Detention / Judicial Services Division · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✓Who is in custody
✓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 Pickens 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 2019
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsDesigned for up to 363 inmates

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Tommy Blankenship

Runs the jailYes - the detention center is the Sheriff's Office Detention / Judicial Services Division
Name as shownSheriff's home page says 'Sheriff Blankenship'; first name from the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association directory

Still needed

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

Source: Pickens County Sheriff's Office home 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 Pickens County

Circuit Court: South Carolina's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Greenville. 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 Pickens 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).
The boardPickens County Council
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

The detention division page says the facility opened in 2019 under Sheriff Rick Clark; the current home page names Sheriff Blankenship.
Roster: the sheriff's home page links 'Inmate Search' to the office's portal https://pickens-so-sc.zuercherportal.com/#/ (portal itself not opened).
FAQ, Contacting Inmates, and History sub-pages were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); bond_info and fees may be on those pages - re-check.
County government site not opened; budget and council minutes not recorded.
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 Pickens 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