The Detention Center
Union County Detention Center
- Operated byCounty (detention center department)
- Jail address1657 Jonesville Highway, Union, SC 29379 (county detention center page)
- Jail phone864-429-2818
- Staff and population32 officers supervise an average population of 100 county/city detainees, plus up to 20 State Inmate Workers (county page)
- Who is heldPretrial detainees; sentences of 90 days or less from Summary and General Sessions courts; Family Court sentences (county page)
- VisitationVideo visitation via CIDNET for county/pretrial detainees; State Inmate visitation Saturday 12pm-3pm
- CommissaryMcDaniel's Supply (jailpackstore.com); no rates published
- Jail AdministratorNiel McKeown, Director (county detention center page)
Source: Union County - Detention Center page · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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
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 (average daily population about 100 plus up to 20 State Inmate Workers, per county page)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jeff Bailey
- CurrentNamed as Sheriff on the county government's sheriff page (association directory lists Jeffrey D. Bailey)
- Runs the jailCounty (detention center department) — the Detention Center is listed among county departments with its own Director; the sheriff page does not mention the jail
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Union County - Sheriff 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 Union County
- Circuit Court: South Carolina's Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves York. 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 Union 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).
- NoteCouncil page lists six district members; minutes 2025-2026 posted. County Supervisor: Phillip Russell (county page).
- The boardUnion County Council →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Examined: county site gearupunionsc.com opened (detention center, sheriff, sheriff FAQ, departments, finance, council, agendas-minutes, county supervisor pages; FY2026-27 budget ordinance; FY2025 financial statements; 16 June 2026 minutes).
- Detention center page names the Union County Detention Center, 1657 Jonesville Highway, Union, with Director Niel McKeown (county email), and gives an average population of 100 county/city detainees plus up to 20 State Inmate Workers. Capacity mark is for published daily population; no rated bed count found.
- The Detention Center is listed as a county department; the association directory's address (200 East Main Street) differs from the county page (1657 Jonesville Highway).
- FY2026-27 budget ordinance lists Sheriff's Office $4,423,813 and Detention Center $3,668,726 (general fund appropriations $27,894,065).
- Detention page links a 'New Inmate Portal' at union-so-sc.zuercherportal.com; our reader was refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), so the roster could not be confirmed and is not scored.
- Commissary (McDaniel's Supply) and phone/video (CIDNET) vendors are named, but no fee rates are published.
- No PREA, bond guidance, inspection report, contract or death-in-custody material found on the county site.
- A search result for unioncountysheriffsoffice.com names a different sheriff, so it is not this county's office, and was not used.
- Search used: 1 (this county).
- 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 Union 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