South Carolina’s incarceration rate is high, compared to the national average. In 2007, South Carolina ranked ninth among the states, incarcerating 524 inmates per 100,000 residents. The national incarceration rate was 506 inmates per 100,000 residents. Incarceration numbers are increasing and, among the state’s criminal justice agencies, the Department of Corrections (SCDC) had the largest budget appropriation in 2009. When examined by national region, (Table 7), the south has a consistently higher number of inmates per population and S.C. has a higher number of inmates than the average for the southern region.

At year end 2006, federal and state correctional facilities held over 1,507,800 inmates, an increase of 2.8% since the previous year and the highest increase in five years. The vast majority of these inmates (87.7%) were held in state facilities. South Carolina’s inmate population increased 2.0% from 2005-2006 and 1.9% from 2006-2007. The average total cost per SCDC inmate for 2008 was $16,462, or $44.98 per day. Although the number of adult offenders admitted to the South Carolina Department of Corrections facilities has increased for four of the last five consecutive years, releases have decreased for the last two years (Figure 6).