Look Up Richland County Inmates

Richland County Jail Roster Overview

The Richland County detainee lookup is run through the county jail management system. It shows people held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the intake and detention center for the county. The Sheriff's Department under Sheriff Leon Lott makes many of the arrests, while the detention center handles custody. The public search returns people currently detained, and jail data can update faster than the court index right after an arrest.

The roster has limits. It does not show people held in state prison, which is the South Carolina Department of Corrections, or people in federal custody under the Bureau of Prisons. It also will not show juvenile, medical, or protected security details. If someone is not in the county lookup, they may have been released, transferred, or sent to a state or federal facility. For state and federal searches, see the released inmates page.

The county's Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center page describes intake, custody levels, and services. It is shown below.

The Detention Center page links the detainee lookup and lists visitation, deposit, and mail rules.

South Carolina law supports public access to recent jail information. The state Freedom of Information Act makes documents that identify people confined in a jail, detention center, or prison for the preceding three months available for public inspection, unless an exemption applies. That is why a recent booking is generally open to the public. It does not require the county to publish a separate released-inmates list, so once a person leaves custody, the public search may no longer show them.

How to Use the Richland County Inmate Roster

The public search lives at the Richland County detainee lookup. It is a name-based search with a CAPTCHA, which blocks automated scraping. The portal has Public Access for currently detained people and a separate Secure Access for credentialed users.

1. Open the detainee lookup and select Public Access.
2. Enter a last name, and add a first name to narrow the results.
3. Read the CAPTCHA image and type the characters; use the New characters button if it is hard to read.
4. Click Search Offenders, then open a result to view custody details.

The public detainee lookup search form is shown below.

If a person no longer appears, call the detention center at 803-576-3200 to confirm custody or release. The Secure Access side of the portal is not for the general public; the login page requires an issued username and password, plus a government email address and a landline office number for validation. Most people only need Public Access, which returns the same custody data for someone held now.

Roster Search Fields

The detainee lookup keeps the search simple. You search by name and clear a CAPTCHA; there is no booking-number field on the public form. The valid characters for the name fields are letters and spaces. The table below lists the fields on the public search.

What an Inmate Profile Shows

A profile page holds the custody facts for one person. Because the CAPTCHA blocks an automated sample, treat the fields below as the kind of data the profile holds and confirm exact fields by running the official lookup. A photo may appear while the person is still in custody. Charges shown are the charges at booking, which the court can later change, so read them as a starting point rather than a verdict.

Richland County Jail Facilities

The county's main facility is the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. The DOJ has reported a rated capacity of 1,120 as of December 2024, and county materials list a daily population of roughly 750 to 1,100. Bond Court shares the same address and handles bail decisions after arrest. The two contact cards below cover the facility and Bond Court.

The Alvin S. Glenn organization page describes intake, sentenced custody, and security levels. It is shown below.

The facility page notes minimum, medium, and maximum security housing based on each person's situation.

Booking Process in Richland County

People arrested in the county are brought to Alvin S. Glenn for intake. Some are held while waiting for a court date; others are sentenced and serving time for misdemeanors or felonies. At intake, staff classify each person into minimum, medium, or maximum security based on the individual situation, with equal care regardless of where they are in the process.

Bond Court is the next key step. It decides whether a person arrested can be released before trial and on what terms. Magistrates set bail, issue warrants, and hold preliminary hearings. The county also supports alternatives to jail when safe and appropriate, such as community service or electronic monitoring, especially for low-risk people, which can ease crowding.

Custody status drives a lot of what you see in the roster. Some people are unsentenced and held while their case moves through court; others are sentenced and serving time. A bond entry signals a pretrial hold, while a projected release tied to a sentence signals a sentenced stay. The facility works with law enforcement, attorneys, the courts, and community programs throughout the process. Because charges at booking can change in court, the roster is a snapshot of custody, not a final case outcome.

State Prison and Federal Inmate Searches

The county roster only covers the local jail. If a person has been sentenced to state prison, use the South Carolina Department of Corrections search. SCDC shows people currently sentenced to and incarcerated in SCDC as of midnight the previous day. It does not show people released from SCDC, those held in county jails, or people on parole, probation, or community supervision. The SCDC toll-free inmate information line is 1-866-727-2846, and the search displays a photo and public information for each sentenced state inmate.

Federal custody is separate again. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to the present. A status of Released or Not in BOP Custody means the person is no longer in federal custody, though they could be held by another system. For these state and federal tools, plus release notifications through VINELink, see the Richland County released inmates page.

Jail Population and Conditions

The Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center has drawn outside review. A U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division findings report, issued in January 2025, listed a rated capacity of 1,120 as of December 2024 and noted the current facility was built in five phases between 1994 and 2005. County materials list a daily population of roughly 750 to 1,100, and a July 2025 county detention packet showed an average daily population of 908.

To ease crowding, the county supports alternatives to jail when safe and appropriate, such as community service or electronic monitoring for low-risk people. For capacity figures, trends, and the data behind them, see the Richland County inmate population page.

Visitation Hours and Rules

Visits run on a set schedule and can pause during meals, shift changes, or lockdowns. Each person in custody can choose one one-hour visit per week. Only two visitors are allowed at a time, including children, and everyone must bring a photo ID. Dress appropriately, since staff decide on dress-code compliance. Online scheduling is available through the official visitation portal at richlandcountysc.gtlvisitme.com.

Attorney visits run Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., in private rooms; schedule by emailing ASGDCAdmin@richlandcountysc.gov or calling the Attorney Visit Planner at 803-576-3396.

How to Contact a Richland County Inmate

Mail to the jail follows strict rules, and the detention center rejects items that break them. Legal mail and legal documents are treated separately from personal mail. Photos must be 5x7 or smaller, with no Polaroids. Books and magazines must come straight from a publisher or bookstore, with no hardbacks. Address personal mail with the detainee's name, number, and housing unit at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, 201 John Mark Dial Drive, Columbia, SC 29209.

The facility lists many specific mail limits. Watch these common ones before you send anything:

• No stamps, envelopes, note pads, stationery, notebooks, or loose paper.
• No stickers, paste, magnets, or foreign objects on letters or envelopes.
• No laminated items and no greeting cards or boxes that are too large.
• No photos showing gang signs, alcohol, cash, or nude or obscene images.
• No soaked, stained, or foreign-substance items.
• Newspaper subscriptions must arrive by mail, not by carrier to the lobby.

Online visit scheduling and account services use approved vendors. Use the official online visitation link for video and visit scheduling, and follow the facility's posted instructions, since the jail does not accept counter payments.

Commissary and Inmate Funds

Commissary is ordered once per week. Deposits must be made by noon on Wednesdays for a detainee to order that week, so timing matters. A money order must include the detainee's full name, date of birth, and detainee number. No personal checks are accepted, and staff do not take payments at the counter.

There are several ways to add money to an account:

• Leave a U.S. Postal money order in the front lobby from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
• Use the lobby commissary kiosk, which takes cash and credit card deposits.
• Make an internet deposit through McDaniel Supply Company at jailpackstore.com.
• Mail a U.S. Postal money order with the detainee's name, number, and housing unit to the detention center.

The McDaniel Supply Company deposit and commissary page is shown below.

Use jailpackstore.com for online deposits, or mail a U.S. Postal money order to the detention center address.

Related Searches

For people recently released, see released inmates. For broader population data, see inmate population. For active warrants, see warrant records. For underlying cases, see arrest records.