Marriage and Relationships During Incarceration in South Carolina

Schema: Article + FAQPage

Internal links (5): South Carolina inmate search, send money, visitation guide (SCDC), Staying Connected hub, South Carolina reentry resources

Voice: Formerly-incarcerated experience, not expert advice. Real. No fluff. Honest about doubt.

META BLOCK:

Relationships During Incarceration in South Carolina | InmateAid

South Carolina bans conjugal visits by statute. Not by policy, by law. South Carolina Code Section 24-3-81 states: "A prisoner who is incarcerated within the state prison system or who is being detained in a local jail, local detention facility, local correctional facility, or local prison camp, whether awaiting a trial or serving a sentence, is not permitted to have conjugal visits." The law was enacted in 1995 and amended in 2010. There is no administrative workaround. There is no program. The ban is in the South Carolina Code of Laws.

South Carolina also has an unusual visiting application process. The inmate initiates it. He is given Form 19-127, "Request for Visiting Privileges," and he sends it to the people he wants to visit him. Only inmates are authorized to provide the application. You cannot initiate the process yourself. If he does not send you the form, you cannot apply to visit. SCDC does not inform you when your application has been processed -- the inmate notifies you when you have been approved.

As of June 1, 2025, adults with a valid South Carolina driver's license can register for visitation online. Some visitors still must use paper applications. All visits must be scheduled through the GTL scheduling tool at least 15 hours in advance.

At nine of South Carolina's 21 facilities -- Broad River, Kershaw, Kirkland, Lee, Lieber, McCormick, Perry, Ridgeland, and Turbeville -- visits are non-contact. You sit in a booth separated from him by plexiglass.

There are no experts here. We have experience. You measure your situation against ours and decide what is true for you.

The Wife and the Girlfriend Are Not the Same Person

It happens in South Carolina visiting rooms the same way it happens everywhere else -- at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, at Lieber Correctional in Ridgeville near Charleston, at McCormick Correctional in the far western corner of the state near the Georgia border, at Turbeville Correctional in the rural Pee Dee region, at the 21 SCDC facilities spread across a state that ranges from the Blue Ridge foothills to the coastal plain.

Some of the men inside are running two tracks. There is the woman who knows the real situation and the woman who knows the version he performs. In South Carolina, the visiting application process gives him the first move. He sends Form 19-127. He decides who gets the form. Both tracks may have received it. The approved visitor list holds up to 15 people. He decided who was on it and who got the application to apply.

The one who knows the real situation is talking about the now. She is managing a South Carolina household -- in Columbia, in Charleston, in Greenville, in Myrtle Beach, in one of the smaller cities or the rural communities of the Pee Dee or the Lowcountry or the Upstate -- and she is doing it without another adult. South Carolina's economy has specific pressures. She has this week and what this week costs.

The other one is talking about the future. She is holding onto a version of the relationship that has not been tested by ordinary South Carolina life.

He treats them differently. With the one who knows everything he is more transactional, more likely to bring up what he needs before asking how she is. With the other one he is more careful, still performing.

Some women reading this are the one who knows everything. Some are the other one. Some are finding out right now which one they are.

If you are not sure: does he know what is actually happening in your week, or does he only know what he needs from it? Are you the person he calls when something is good, or only when something is needed? Have you ever met anyone in his life who knew about you?

The answers are not comfortable. But they are information.

The Commissary Conversation

The phone call in South Carolina goes through GTL/ConnectNetwork. No incoming calls are accepted -- he places outgoing calls to numbers he has added to his list. Prepaid accounts required for calls to cell phones. All calls monitored and recorded. No toll-free numbers permitted.

He is dependent. He cannot buy his own hygiene products or extra food without trust account funds. That dependency produces need that comes through the GTL call as asking and sometimes as pressure.

You are managing a South Carolina household. Columbia and Charleston have their own cost pressures. The Upstate around Greenville and Spartanburg has grown rapidly and become expensive. The smaller cities and rural communities of the Pee Dee and the Lowcountry have their own economic realities. Whatever the local reality, the bills do not pause.

Women ask about this on InmateAid's Ask the Inmate section more than almost any other relationship question. Whether he is using the GTL account to call other women. Whether the money she sends is going where he says. Whether the need is about love or about logistics.

Set a sustainable monthly number. Communicate it. Hold it. Consistency matters more than any single large deposit.

The Form He Sends -- Or Does Not Send

The South Carolina visiting process starts with him.

He is provided with Form 19-127, "Request for Visiting Privileges." He sends it to the people he wants to visit him. If he does not send you the form, you cannot apply. Only inmates are authorized to initiate the application. The Division of Visitation and Inmate Drug Testing processes the application; SCDC will not tell you your approval status. He notifies you when you are approved.

Mail completed applications to: Division of Visitation and Inmate Drug Testing, P.O. Box 212969, Columbia, South Carolina 29221. Agency Visitation Inquiry Line: 803-896-1838 (press 1 for application questions; press 2 for cancellations at specific facilities). Leave a message with your phone number; staff will return the call within 24-48 business hours.

Starting June 1, 2025, adults with a valid South Carolina driver's license may register for visitation online. Some categories of visitors still use the paper process.

What the form-sending means in practice: the list of who gets to visit is a list he controls from the beginning. If you have been together for years and he has not sent you the form, that is information. If he sent it to people you did not expect, that is also information. The process starts with his choice about who he wants in that room.

Common law spouses are recognized as immediate family in South Carolina's visiting policy.

The Plexiglass

At nine of South Carolina's 21 correctional facilities, visits are non-contact. Broad River, Kershaw, Kirkland, Lee, Lieber, McCormick, Perry, Ridgeland, and Turbeville all have visits in booths separated by plexiglass. No physical contact. No brief hug at the beginning or end. You sit on one side of a barrier and he sits on the other.

For a woman visiting her husband or partner at one of these facilities -- Lieber in Ridgeville (about 35 miles from Charleston), McCormick in McCormick County (near the Georgia border, about 90 miles from Columbia), Turbeville in Clarendon County (rural Pee Dee) -- the visit is conducted through glass.

The plexiglass is the reality of the visit at close security and higher-security medium facilities. It does not mean the visit is not worth making. But it changes what the visit is. There is no hand across a table. There is a phone receiver and glass and the person on the other side.

At lower-security facilities, contact visits are permitted. Know the security level of his facility before assuming what the visit will allow.

What She Is Carrying That He Cannot See

When he went in, she absorbed everything he used to do. Every decision. Every bill. Every school meeting and sick kid and broken air conditioning in a South Carolina August and form that needs a signature. Every night the house is quiet in a way that is not peace. South Carolina August heat is not a metaphor.

South Carolina's communities range from Columbia's mid-size urban landscape to Charleston's coastal culture to Greenville's growing tech-adjacent economy to the rural communities of the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry, and the Upstate. In each of these places, the social world changes when the news is bad. Some people disappear. Family members who had reservations feel confirmed. What is left is her, managing children who are watching her to understand how they are supposed to feel about all of this.

For families in Columbia, most SCDC facilities are within 2 hours. McCormick CI in the far western corner near the Georgia border is about 90 miles from Columbia on US-378 -- through rural Saluda and McCormick Counties, the kind of drive where the towns get smaller and the facilities feel like the only institution left in the region. Turbeville in Clarendon County is about 80 miles east of Columbia through flat Pee Dee farmland. Lee CI in Bishopville is about 60 miles northeast.

The person inside experiences deprivation. What he often cannot see is that she is deprived too -- not of freedom but of partnership, of another adult, of someone to hand the weight to at the end of the day. The resentment that grows from that gap is real. It is not a sign the relationship is wrong. It is a sign both of them are under a pressure most couples never face.

The Doubt Is Normal

At some point, most women in this situation think about leaving.

Maybe it was the GTL call that turned into a fight about commissary. Maybe it was driving to a non-contact facility and sitting across plexiglass for an hour and driving home alone. Maybe it was realizing she never received Form 19-127 and had to ask him why. Maybe it was a South Carolina summer when the heat index was 108 and the bills were where they were.

The thought is not betrayal. It is what happens when a person carries more than they were built to carry alone.

Some women leave. Some should. The sentence can reveal things about the relationship that were already true. Leaving is not failure.

Some women stay and build something. Not the relationship they had before. Something different. Something tested in a way most couples never are. The ones who build something stopped pretending and had the real conversations.

We are not going to tell you to stay or go. We will tell you that the doubt is not proof the relationship is wrong. It is proof that you are paying attention.

The Social Isolation Nobody Warns You About

South Carolina's communities vary from the urban centers of Columbia and Charleston to the tight-knit smaller cities and rural communities of the interior. When the news is bad, the social world adjusts. Some people disappear. Some say things. What you need -- one person who can sit with you in the reality of what this is without making it about themselves -- is harder to find than it should be.

South Carolina has legal aid and reentry support organizations, concentrated in Columbia and Charleston. SC Thrive provides benefit navigation statewide. The SCDC website at doc.sc.gov has family-facing information. If you can find one person who can hold your reality without judgment, find them and let them in.

Visiting in South Carolina: He Sends the Form, 15 Hours Advance, Know Your Facility

South Carolina does not have conjugal visits. The prohibition is in state law: SC Code Section 24-3-81. It is not a departmental policy that can be changed by SCDC. It is a statute.

**The application process:**

- He sends you Form 19-127 "Request for Visiting Privileges." Only the inmate can initiate this.

- Complete the form fully and mail to: Division of Visitation and Inmate Drug Testing, P.O. Box 212969, Columbia, SC 29221.

- As of June 1, 2025: adults with a valid SC driver's license can register online. Check doc.sc.gov/family for current online registration instructions.

- SCDC will not tell you your application status. He notifies you when approved.

- Agency Visitation Inquiry Line: 803-896-1838. Press 1 for application questions; press 2 for cancellation information. Leave a message; 24-48 business hour callback.

- Persons with prior convictions may visit if they are immediate family, are not a co-defendant, and disclose full conviction history on Form 19-127.

**Visitor list:** Up to 15 approved visitors per inmate. Up to 4 visitors per visit (at least 1 must be an adult). Up to 4 in-person visits per month; generally 1 per weekend.

**Scheduling:** All visits scheduled through GTL scheduler at least 15 hours in advance. Cancellations posted on SCDC website (doc.sc.gov) and X account @SCDCNews.

**Contact vs. non-contact:**

- NON-CONTACT (plexiglass booths): Broad River, Kershaw, Kirkland, Lee, Lieber, McCormick, Perry, Ridgeland, Turbeville

- CONTACT visits: lower-security facilities (medium/minimum)

- Know the security level of his facility before the visit.

**Children:** Minor children on the approved visitation list must be accompanied by an adult and may only visit if they are the inmate's brothers/sisters, natural or adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren, or step-grandchildren. Bring child's ID documentation.

**Immediate family (per SCDC policy):** Mother, father, adopted children, sister, brother, grandparents, great-grandparents, step-grandparents, wife, husband, common-law spouse, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, stepbrothers, stepsisters, stepparents, foster parents, stepchildren, step-grandchildren, half-brothers, half-sisters.

**SCDC HQ:** 4444 Broad River Rd, PO Box 21787, Columbia, SC 29210; 803-896-8500; doc.sc.gov.

The Practical Layer: What Needs to Happen

When a partner is incarcerated in South Carolina, the practical tasks land on the person outside.

**Power of attorney.** Any legal or financial matter requiring his signature needs power of attorney. SCDC facilities have notary services. LawDepot offers templates. Do this early.

**South Carolina marital property.** South Carolina is an equitable distribution state, not community property. Marital assets divided fairly but not necessarily equally. Understand what you are jointly responsible for.

**Joint finances.** Address shared accounts now. Joint debts continue.

**Benefits.** SNAP, South Carolina Medicaid (Healthy Connections), childcare assistance through CCCAP, energy assistance through LIHEAP. SC Thrive (scthrive.org) provides statewide benefit navigation. Use what exists.

**GTL/ConnectNetwork account.** Set up at connectnetwork.com for prepaid phone calls. FCC rate caps apply. Cell phone calls must be prepaid by family member -- inmate cannot call cell phones collect.

**The form.** If he has not sent you Form 19-127, contact him by mail or GTL and ask. He initiates this. The process does not start until the form is sent.

**The schedule.** All visits through GTL scheduler. At least 15 hours in advance. Check @SCDCNews on X for cancellations before traveling.

None of this is the romantic part of the relationship. All of it is the relationship.

For the Partner Inside: What You Cannot See

This section is for him.

He sends the form. He controls who is on the list. Be honest about who he sends Form 19-127 to and why.

The GTL call goes through a prepaid account she has funded. Use it for connection. Ask about her week before asking about his books. The visit -- whether contact or non-contact -- is something she has organized her day around. Acknowledge it.

And at a non-contact facility: the plexiglass does not mean the relationship is on hold. Use the phone in the booth to have real conversations. The physical barrier does not have to be a relational one.

When He Gets Out: The Part Nobody Wants to Say

The girlfriend who held onto the idea of him -- who received Form 19-127 and came to the South Carolina visiting room and sat across plexiglass and filled the sessions with future-talk and hope -- is usually gone within the first month after release. The adjustment to ordinary South Carolina life, the job search with a record in a competitive labor market, the way he is different from what she remembered -- it is harder than the visits suggested. Most of those relationships do not survive contact with Tuesday.

The woman who managed the South Carolina household alone, who received the form and drove to McCormick or Turbeville or Lee County and came back and came back again, who told the truth about the money and stayed when staying was the hardest thing -- she already knows who he is under pressure. She has no illusions left. That absence of illusion is what makes rebuilding possible.

Reentry in South Carolina is hard. Employment for felony records is constrained. The rural facilities are in communities with limited economic opportunity. Parole supervision is a real constraint. SC Thrive and local legal aid organizations provide some support.

The girlfriend is hoping for the relationship she imagined. The woman who wrote through thick and thin is working with the one that actually exists.

FAQ

**Does South Carolina have conjugal visits?** No -- and this prohibition is in state law, not just departmental policy. SC Code Section 24-3-81 explicitly bans conjugal visits for any prisoner in the state prison system or a local jail. The law has been in effect since 1995.

**How does the visiting application work in South Carolina?** The inmate initiates the process. He receives Form 19-127 "Request for Visiting Privileges" and sends it to prospective visitors. Only inmates are authorized to provide the form. You complete it and mail to the Division of Visitation and Inmate Drug Testing, P.O. Box 212969, Columbia, SC 29221. SCDC does not notify you of your approval status -- he tells you when you are approved.

**Can I register online?** As of June 1, 2025, adults with a valid South Carolina driver's license can register for visitation online. Some visitor categories still require paper applications. Check doc.sc.gov/family for current instructions.

**Which facilities have non-contact (plexiglass) visits?** Broad River, Kershaw, Kirkland, Lee, Lieber, McCormick, Perry, Ridgeland, and Turbeville. Visits at these facilities are in booths separated by plexiglass. Lower-security facilities allow contact visits. Know your facility's security level before you visit.

**What is the visiting schedule in South Carolina?** Up to 4 in-person visits per month, generally 1 per weekend. Up to 4 visitors per visit (at least 1 adult). All visits scheduled through GTL scheduler at least 15 hours in advance. Cancellations posted at doc.sc.gov and @SCDCNews on X.

**Is it normal to think about leaving?** Yes. Almost every woman in this situation thinks about it at some point. Sitting across plexiglass in a South Carolina visiting room and driving home alone is a specific kind of weight. The thought does not mean the relationship is over. If the thought comes with relief rather than grief, that is worth taking seriously.

**What happens to the relationship when he gets out?** Reentry in South Carolina is hard. Employment for felony records is constrained. The rural communities where many SCDC facilities are located have limited pathways. Parole supervision is a real constraint. Relationships built on calls and glass-separated visits and future-talk often do not survive contact with ordinary life. The ones that have the best chance are built on honesty about who both people are under pressure.

[SPEC NOTE: Folder 16R8MTFxsOtqCIV4-WZb9Ys4mX8tc7YRR. Internal CTAs: South Carolina inmate search, send money, visitation guide SCDC, Staying Connected hub, South Carolina reentry resources. SOURCING: law.justia.com SC Code 24-3-81 (conjugal visits not permitted; prisoner state prison system local jail local detention local correctional local prison camp; 1995 Act No. 7 2010 Act No. 237 amended June 11 2010; statutory prohibition); doc.sc.gov/family (non-contact facilities plexiglass booths: Broad River Kershaw Kirkland Lee Lieber McCormick Perry Ridgeland Turbeville; all visits GTL scheduler at least 15 hours in advance; visiting list maximum 15 approved visitors; inmate provided copy of approved list weekly when changed; approved visitors notified by email; cancellations at doc.sc.gov and X @SCDCNews; Manning CI Sunday cancellation example); inmateaid.com SCDC Broad River (Form 19-127 Request for Visiting Privileges; only inmate provides application; Division of Visitation and Inmate Drug Testing PO Box 212969 Columbia SC 29221; Agency Visitation Inquiry Line 803-896-1838 press 1 application press 2 cancellations leave message 24-48 business hours; 15 maximum visitors; persons with prior convictions immediate family only not co-defendant disclose full conviction history; immediate family = mother father adopted children sister brother grandmothers grandfathers great-grandparents step-grandparents wife husband common-law spouse grandchildren great-grandchildren stepbrothers stepsisters stepparents foster parents stepchildren step-grandchildren half-brothers half-sisters); jailexchange.com SCDC (up to 4 in-person visits per month generally 1 per weekend; up to 4 visitors per visit at least 1 adult; GTL scheduler visits scheduled at least 15 hours advance; minor children accompanied adult if inmate's siblings/children/stepchildren/grandchildren/step-grandchildren; infant items max 5 diapers 3 bottles 3 jars sealed baby food clear plastic bag; one small clear wallet or change purse one set keys and ID allowed in); penmateapp.com SCDC (online registration effective June 1 2025 for adults with valid SC driver's license; some still paper; 15 visitors; 4 in-person per month; 1 per weekend; 4 visitors per visit 1 must adult; GTL scheduler 15 hours advance; SCDC publishes family resource sheet community services; vending machine debit/credit card changes July 2024 certain institutions); southcarolinaprisonroster.com (GTL for phone; no incoming calls; prepaid for cell calls; SCDC PO Box 21787 Columbia SC 29210 803-896-8500); inmateaid.com SCDC (GTL ConnectNetwork phone; SCDC HQ 4444 Broad River Rd PO Box 21787 Columbia SC 29210 803-896-8500; doc.sc.gov); doc.sc.gov/institutions (21 institutions; Lieber CI CL; Broad River CI CL/ME; Kirkland CI CL; McCormick CI CL; Lee CI CL/ME; Kershaw CI ME; Ridgeland CI ME; Turbeville CI ME; Perry CI CL/ME; Camille Graham CI women ME; Leath CI women ME; Goodman CI women MI); prisonpro.com (SCDC does not inform visitor of application status inmate notifies visitor when approved; video visits Broad River and Camille Graham through GTL 45 minutes); Wikipedia Broad River CI (4460 Broad River Road Columbia SC; opened 1988; execution chamber at Broad River); no conjugal visits statutory SC Code 24-3-81; South Carolina equitable distribution not community property; SCDC Director Bryan Stirling; doc.sc.gov. NOTE for Poorwa: verify conjugal visits banned per SC Code 24-3-81 still in effect; verify Form 19-127 still process; verify online registration June 2025 operational at doc.sc.gov/family; verify PO Box 212969 Columbia SC 29221 Division of Visitation current; verify 803-896-1838 Agency Visitation Inquiry Line current; verify 9 non-contact facilities list current (Broad River Kershaw Kirkland Lee Lieber McCormick Perry Ridgeland Turbeville); verify GTL still phone and scheduling provider; verify 15 visitors list maximum current; verify 4 visits per month 1 per weekend current; verify 15 hours advance scheduling current; verify SCDC HQ 803-896-8500 current; verify South Carolina equitable distribution; verify Bryan Stirling still Director; len/character check before publish.]