Report Slams South Carolina Jail for Violating State Rules
State inspectors with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) told officials in July 2025 that the Beaufort County Jail, located near Hilton Head Island, had accrued multiple violations. According to a report recently obtained by The Island Packet via a public records request, the violations included: pre-trial and sentenced women detainees being housed together (state law requires separate detainees by sentence status and other criteria), understaffing, and a failure to meet health requirements.
The Beaufort County Jail’s violations are emblematic of the conditions in jails across South Carolina. In 2023, the Charleston-based Post and Courier looked at every jail inspection report conducted by the DOC in the previous year (state law requires these inspections on an annual basis). What the newspaper found was that no jail in the entire state had met minimum operational standards.
While Beaufort County had one of the lower rates of violations in 2022, the jail recently made headlines following an incident in which a county councilmember was permitted to enter the jail with two cellphones. In September 2025, Councilmember Tom Reitz appeared at the jail to visit detainee Calvin “Skip” Hoagland. During his 40-minute visit, Reitz walked freely through low-security portions of the jail and, along with Hoagland, visited rooms that are reserved for detainees to meet with legal counsel.
Reitz also went into Hoagland’s cell, which was left unlocked most of the time, according to a 43-page police report that was compiled after a weeks-long investigation. Reitz, once inside the cell, took five photos on a cell phone, including a selfie with Hoagland. He is not currently facing criminal charges for the incident.
Sources: The Island Packet, The Post & Courier
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