Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center

The Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center (ASGDC) is the main jail for Richland County, South Carolina, at 201 John Mark Dial Drive in Columbia. Operated by Richland County (not by the Sheriff's Office — Richland is one of the counties where the jail is under county-administration rather than sheriff control), ASGDC has been at the center of national attention over the past several years for a series of in-custody deaths, staffing shortages, and reform efforts. In 2023 and 2024, the US Department of Justice launched a federal civil-rights investigation into conditions at the jail, examining whether ASGDC failed to protect incarcerated people from violence and subjected them to dangerous living conditions. Following extended leadership turnover, Crayman Harvey — who served eleven months as interim director — was promoted to permanent agency director. For families with a loved one at ASGDC, this guide covers current visitation and deposit procedures, mail rules, phone service, the county-court process, and the important context of the ongoing federal investigation and reform effort.

About ASGDC and the recent context families should know

The Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center opened in the 1990s and has served as Richland County's main pretrial and county-sentence facility for decades. It holds a mostly pretrial population — people awaiting court on state and county charges in Richland County — along with people serving short county sentences and various state and federal holds. Unlike most South Carolina counties where the sheriff runs the jail, Richland County operates ASGDC as a separate county agency, which shapes both the governance model and the reform politics that have surrounded the facility in recent years.

The past several years have been extraordinarily difficult at ASGDC. Multiple in-custody deaths in 2023 and 2024 — including inmates who died from drug overdoses inside the jail, a young woman found unresponsive in her cell in March 2024, and a 56-year-old Columbia resident named Robert Levan Moore who died in July 2024 — drew intense scrutiny from local media, county council, and civil-rights advocates. The US Department of Justice opened a civil-rights investigation examining whether the jail failed to protect incarcerated people from violence and subjected them to dangerous conditions. Just one day after the federal investigation was announced, two inmates were stabbed at the facility, underscoring the ongoing safety concerns.

Richland County Administrator Leonardo Brown has publicly committed to reforms including increased staffing funding, facility upgrades, kitchen and medical-unit improvements, and housing changes. The county held a jail-staff job fair on October 25, 2024. Staffing turnover has remained a challenge, and after eleven months as interim director, Crayman Harvey was promoted to permanent agency director overseeing the reform effort. Families should read this context into how concerns are raised: document carefully, escalate in writing, and know that both the county leadership and the DOJ investigation team are attentive to specific incident reports.

Visitation at ASGDC

ASGDC's visitation policy places significant weight on the rehabilitative value of family contact, but specific visitation days, hours, and formats have shifted with staffing and operational changes at the jail. Confirm the current visitation model — whether video-only, mixed on-site and remote, or in-person — on jail.richlandonline.com before you travel. Most likely you will need to register on the jail's approved visitor system and complete a background check before scheduling anything. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID, dress within the jail's rules (no revealing clothing, no gang colors, no clothing resembling the inmate uniform), and expect a search on arrival for on-site visits.

Because ASGDC's operations have been in flux, always confirm the current schedule and format by phone at (803) 576-3200 the day before a planned visit and check for any lockdown notices.

How to send money to an ASGDC inmate

ASGDC handles inmate deposits through McDaniel Supply Company for electronic deposits and accepts money orders directly at the front lobby. For online deposits, visit the McDaniel Supply Company inmate-deposit portal and follow the instructions using the inmate's full name and booking number. For money orders, you can drop them off at the ASGDC front lobby between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., seven days a week, or you can mail money orders to the detention center — the front-lobby drop-off is typically faster because it removes USPS delivery time.

Important commissary deadline: Deposits must be received before 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday of that week for the inmate to place a commissary order for that week. Deposits arriving after noon Wednesday roll over to the following week's commissary cycle, so families supporting a loved one at ASGDC should build a deposit rhythm around that Wednesday cutoff. Standard McDaniel Supply per-transaction fees apply to electronic deposits. Our overview of how to send money to an inmate compares options.

Mail to an ASGDC inmate

Personal mail for ASGDC inmates goes to Inmate Full Name and Booking Number, Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, 201 John Mark Dial Drive, Columbia, SC 29209. Include your full return address; envelopes without one are typically rejected. Follow standard prohibited-items rules: no cash, personal checks, stamps, stickers, glitter, glue, tape, staples, paperclips, Polaroids, hardcover books, musical or embellished cards, or anything with electronics. Legal mail from an attorney or court, clearly marked as legal correspondence, is opened only in the inmate's presence.

Because jail operations have been changing, verify the current mail policy on the county website before sending — some Richland County communications have discussed moving toward a scanning-based mail model, though the traditional letter-to-facility address has remained in effect at various points. Our how to send mail to an inmate covers the general format and common rejection triggers.

Phone calls and court process

Inmate phone service at ASGDC runs through the jail's contracted vendor (typically Securus or a comparable provider — confirm current vendor on the jail's website). Set up a prepaid family account and register the phone numbers your loved one will call. Standard per-minute rates apply. Our guide to calling an inmate covers setup and cost-management tips.

Richland County criminal cases are handled through the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of South Carolina (general sessions for felonies) and Richland County magistrate courts (misdemeanors and preliminary matters). Case records are searchable through the South Carolina Judicial Department's Public Index at publicindex.sccourts.org. Bond decisions in South Carolina can be handled through commercial surety with a licensed South Carolina bail bondsman (typically for a 10-15 percent non-refundable premium), through cash bond, or, in some cases, on personal recognizance.

Emergencies, safety concerns, and DOJ investigation context

For urgent family emergencies such as a death, serious illness, or birth, call ASGDC at (803) 576-3200 with the inmate's name and booking number and ask for a chaplain or unit staff to relay the message. Given the well-documented safety concerns at ASGDC in recent years, families should not hesitate to raise medical, mental-health, or safety concerns promptly. Contact the jail directly, document everything in writing, and follow up if the initial response is inadequate. External resources include the ACLU of South Carolina, the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, and, for systemic constitutional concerns, the DOJ Civil Rights Division team currently investigating conditions at the jail. The Richland County Council and County Administrator's office are also appropriate escalation points for policy-level concerns.

Avoiding scams

Third-party sites sometimes claim to offer inmate locate services, cheaper phone calls, or expedited deposits for a fee. Richland County's official jail website, McDaniel Supply Company for deposits, and the phone-vendor account are the authoritative and only fully reliable channels. Paying an unfamiliar site for something Richland County or its named vendors provide directly is a common way families lose money.

Your first steps if a loved one is booked into ASGDC

If someone you love has just been booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, focus first on the essentials: confirm booking through the county inmate search and note the booking number, fund an initial deposit through McDaniel Supply Company (remembering the noon-Wednesday commissary deadline) or drop off a money order at the front lobby, register with the phone vendor for calls, and mail to 201 John Mark Dial Drive with legal mail clearly marked. Look up the case number on the SC Judicial Public Index and, if bond is set, contact a licensed South Carolina bail bondsman or a defense attorney. Given the current operational and safety context, document any medical or safety concerns from day one and know that both county leadership and external oversight bodies are attentive to specific incident reports.

What ASGDC's independent monitor and county council review means for families

Beyond the DOJ civil-rights investigation, the Richland County Council has held multiple public sessions on ASGDC conditions and reform in recent years, and county-level accountability channels remain open for families who want to raise systemic concerns. Public comment sessions at council meetings are one venue; the County Administrator's office is another. If your loved one is at ASGDC and you have specific documented concerns about medical care, safety, or conditions, those concerns are more likely to land with weight if you can point to specific incidents, dates, and staff you have already contacted — which is why keeping a written log from day one of custody is valuable rather than optional at this facility.

Richland County runs this, not the state

The Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center is Richland County's facility, operated by the county rather than by the South Carolina Department of Corrections — even though the department's own headquarters is in the same county, in Columbia. That proximity misleads people. Someone held here before trial, or serving a sentence of three months or less, is a county matter entirely, and will not appear in state department records.

The services provided here are pretrial detention for Richland County, short sentences served locally and holding before transfer to state custody after sentencing. That is a clinical remit rather than a custodial one — people are here because of a medical or behavioural health need, not because this is where they are held.

The system the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center belongs to

the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center is one institution inside a much larger system. As of February 15, 2026 the department held 17,529 people across all of its facilities, across the department's total jurisdiction.

Within its own institutions the department counted 15,630 men and 1,425 women. South Carolina's state system takes adults aged 17 and over sentenced to more than three months, so shorter sentences stay at county level — which is why a county detention centre and the state department hold quite different populations.

The department operates 21 institutions with roughly 4,500 employees. A county detention centre, by contrast, holds people awaiting trial and those serving short sentences, and is run by the county rather than the state.

System size is not trivia when you are trying to plan. A department this large moves people to wherever a suitable bed exists, which is why a transfer can be announced with little notice and can put hundreds of miles between a family and a visiting room. It is also why program and education waitlists are measured in months: the queue is set by system-wide demand, not by how helpful the staff at one institution are willing to be.

Why federal jail statistics do not cover this facility

If you go looking for federal jail statistics on Richland County, you will not find any. The Bureau of Justice Statistics Census of Jails for 2019 counted jails in 46 states — and Richland County is not among them. That is not a gap in the data. It is a direct consequence of the unified system: a jail census counts locally-run jails, and Richland County has none to count.

The practical effect is that the comparisons available in other states — this county jail against that one, rated capacity against peak population — simply do not apply here. There is one operator, and its own reporting is the only source. When you see a directory listing a "county jail" in Richland County, it is almost always mislabelling a state facility.

It also means the agency itself is the single point of contact for everything: locating someone, visiting, mail, deposits and complaints all run through the same department rather than being split between a sheriff and a state corrections office.

How the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center is inspected

South Carolina inspects its local jails through a Jail and Prison Inspection Division established under the Department of Corrections. The division inspects — alongside a representative of the State Fire Marshal — every facility in the state holding prisoners or pretrial detainees, whether it is run by a state agency, a county, a municipality or any other political subdivision. The requirement comes from Title 24, Chapter 9 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

• Inspections happen at least annually and cover all phases of operation, fire safety, and health and sanitation conditions.
• Standards are set by the South Carolina Association of Counties and adopted by the Department of Corrections, alongside the applicable fire and health codes.
• Three separate written reports are produced: one by the inspection division, one by the inspecting fire marshal, and one by the food service inspector from the state health department.

The enforcement route is worth knowing. If an inspection finds a local facility failing the minimum standards, the Director of the Department of Corrections notifies the governing body of the political subdivision responsible for it — the county council or city council, not the jail. That means an elected body receives the finding directly, which is a more useful pressure point than the facility itself.

This matters more than most oversight machinery, because an inspection report is a document you can ask for. If you have a concern about conditions that the jail itself will not address — sanitation, medical access, overcrowding, safety — asking whether the facility's most recent inspection raised it, and requesting that report, is a concrete step that carries more weight than a phone complaint. Reports are generally public records.

Advocacy resources specific to Richland County jail families

Local Columbia-area advocacy organizations have been active on ASGDC issues, and connecting with them can help families both stay informed and add voices to reform pressure. Beyond the ACLU of South Carolina and SC Appleseed, the NAACP Columbia branch has been engaged on jail-conditions questions, and local news outlets including WLTX and WIS-TV have followed ASGDC closely with detailed reporting on individual incidents and reform progress that families can use to understand context.