Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation Center receives, assesses, classifies and assigns all male offenders age 17 and above sentenced to 91 days or more. Additionally, all female offenders age 17 and above are processed through Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution that houses women and are often assisted in the process by Kirkland staff. (Above picture is an illustration and is not from either facility) Life can change on a dime. One minute you’re hanging with your pals and talking about how to spend the day and the next you’re riding in a stolen car and speeding away from a convenience store your buddy just robbed at gunpoint.

From there it’s a police chase, an arrest, jail time while awaiting court and a myriad of other events, but sooner or later, every convicted criminal in South Carolina comes to Columbia to the Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation (R & E) Center on Broad River Road.

A yellow jumpsuit indicates the inmate has done something wrong and is in a lock–up, meaning he is confined to his cell as punishment. A pink jumpsuit indicates sexual misconduct after arriving at the prison, and a Kelly green one says the man was sentenced to death. Kirkland receives, assesses, classifies and assigns all male offenders age 17 and above sentenced to 91 days or more. Additionally, all female offenders age 17 and above are processed through Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution that houses women and are often assisted in the process by Kirkland staff. Including Camille Griffin Graham Institute, there are three institutions in the state where women serve out their time once their processing is completed. Combined, the R&E process receives approximately 15,000 offenders each year according to the man who runs the show, Warden Bernard McKie.

“Our goal is to assess the inmates and get them placed into the facility where they will be serving their sentences within 30 days,” he said. “That, of course can’t always happen, but we try to make it the norm as opposed to the exception of the rule.”

Vehicles from other counties wait to drop off prisoners at Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation (R & E) Center on Broad River Road. The inmates go through a long process before officials can determine where they will ultimately end up, McKie said.

Placement

“The nature of their crime, if it was violent or non–violent, the number of offenses, and the number of years they are sentenced are some of the criteria considered in the prisoner’s placement,” he said. “But they are also checked out physically and mentally as well as being academically tested and surveyed for addictions and gang relations.”

Jumpsuits for the inmates at Kirkland R & E Center When a person is initially arrested, they go to the jail in the county of the accused crime. They typically stay there until they go to trial and during the trial. If they are convicted, when they are sentenced, they are taken to Kirkland. Exceptions to that are high profile cases or controversial cases of notoriety such as child killers or violent serial murderers.

“In a situation such as that, it might endanger the inmate to be among regular jail population,” he said. Special offenders

The department’s statewide protective custody unit is located at Kirkland, housing those offenders with special security concerns in a controlled environment. Additionally, Kirkland is the site for the Maximum Security Unit that serves the state. This specialized housing unit is also where the most dangerous and violent offenders are housed.

Assoc. Warden Smith (l) and Asst. Director Staley ( r) show a trainee where prisoners enter Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation Center Columbia houses al l offenders

From the county jails statewide, the inmates are all brought to Columbia, said Nena Staley, assistant division director of the institution.

Preparing inmates

“They come in chained up together on buses from all over the state,” she said. “They are lined up and the guards check their mouths and hair for contraband or drugs they might be trying to smuggle in, then they turn in all of their belongings for a search and get a hair cut.”

All male prisoners must have a buzz cut, much like the army, Staley said. While the women don’t have to have their heads shaved, they do have to undergo inspections for lice in the hair.

“And some of them really don’t like that,” she added.

White uniforms for the inmates at Kirkland R & E Center On the day of this reporter’s visit, one man with dreadlocks down past his shoulders was trying to argue with the guards about having his hair cut at all. He was detained in a single cell to think it over.

“It’s a mandated policy we have to follow,” director Staley said. “It ultimately works out best for everyone, but it’s a little hard to convince some, especially the first time inmates, of that.”

Associate Warden Tessie A. Smith said the policy was not meant as a punishment for the inmates.

“We implement the policy for identification, medical, and security reasons,” she said.

Inmates’ property

Once shorn and given back what property they can keep, the inmates are then taken to records to begin an individual file on each one. They are given a choice of mailing home anything they aren’t allowed to keep in prison if they have the money, Staley said. Leftover clothing and shoes are cleaned and sized and donated to a group clothing bank that will be issued to inmates who have no street clothes to wear when they are released. Some are donated to various charities, Smith added.

The entirety of an inmate’s belongings while at Kirkland fits in this bag. “We try to make sure we don’t waste anything,” Staley said.

Due to lack of space and personnel, it would be impossible to keep all of the inmates’ clothing and belongings while they serve their sentences, she said. Record keeping

Associate Warden Smith said the record keeping department was an important part of the process.

“This is where we keep all the information on each prisoner,” she said. “The criminal history, all previous records and all of the medical, mental, and educational information are logged and filed here. This will follow the inmates throughout their stay in the institutions.”

The fingerprinting photo and ID room at Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation Center During the records process, the inmates are photographed, fingerprinted and issued a prison identification card which will ultimately act as a debit card for them, once they are settled, according to James Brown, program coordinator.

Money

“We don’t allow inmates to keep cash as that could cause a lot of problems so they have this card to use in the canteen, to buy stationary or stamps or toiletries once they are processed and assigned to a permanent institution.

“Their families and friends put money on their books, and it works just like a bank card with the money being subtracted from their balance.”

The fence around Kirkland R & E Center Gang affiliation

After receiving their identification, the prisoners then go to private sessions where it can be determined if they have gang affiliations, said Dujuan Council, a security threat group counselor at the institute.

“We interview them about gangs and see what they know or will admit,” Council said. “Then we take photos of any tattoos that are gang inspired and record it on their record. We don’t want to mix up rival gangs inside the prison.”

Substance abuse

The next step is drug and alcohol assessing where the inmates take a test to determine if they are addicts or have a problem, said James Green Sr., the coordinator of that department.

“I usually get them about their fourth day here,” he said. “If there’s a problem, it will begin to show around then. We give them a written questionnaire, and if it’s determined they are suffering from substance abuse, then we try to get them into our treatment program. Some come in with a court order to be housed in the abuse area, and some we discover after they get here. Our problem is we have limited bed space, but we still try to accommodate as many as we can.”

Prisoners get one cup during their stay. If they lose it, they must pay for another. There are approximately 256 treatment beds for adult men and 276 for juveniles, he said. At the women’s prisons there are 136 rehab beds available statewide.

“Time is a factor as well,” Green said. “The abuse program takes six to seven months so many of our inmates won’t be here long enough for that. In cases like that, we try to place them in a program where they will be serving their sentence.”

The holding cell at Kirkland Receiving and Evaluation (R & E) Center on Broad River Road. Bathing and clothing

After all the paperwork is finished and the files are started, then it’s time for bathing and clothing. The inmates are taken to the showers and issued their prison uniforms, which are color coded according to the crime, said Matthew Goebel, commissary manager for Kirkland.

“While they are here, most of them wear white jumpsuits until they are assigned to a regular facility unless they are a special case or they break a rule,” he said.

A yellow jumpsuit indicates the inmate has done something wrong and is in a lock–up, meaning he is confined to his cell as punishment. A pink jumpsuit indicates sexual misconduct after arriving at the prison, and a Kelly green one says the man was sentenced to death, Goebel said.

The Records Department where all information on the inmates is stored Associate Warden Smith said Death Row inmates are almost always taken to Leiber Institute in Charleston and are no longer received at Kirkland, but the uniforms are there in case they are needed.

“Prisoners convicted of sexual crimes don’t get the pink jumpsuits,” Goeble said. “They have to have done something once in the institution to be made to wear the pinks.”

Indecent exposure or blatant touching of one’s genitals would bring on the pink suit, he said.

“We issue each prisoner one plastic cup and spoon,” he said. “That’s the only one they get for the duration. If they lose it or destroy it, they have to buy a new one.”

Each man is given a bag containing a change of underwear, socks, bedding, towels, wash cloths and toiletries and all of it is stamped with the prisoner’s name or number. Their one jumpsuit is traded in after each shower. When they are assigned a permanent prison they will receive clothing for that institution.”

An officer goes through a new batch of a prisoner’s belongings Once clean and dressed, the inmates are taken for medical tests, associate warden Smith said.

Medical checkup

“It all takes approximately 30 days to process these inmates and one thing a prisoner needs is patience,” she said. “A lot of times we have to keep them here until bed space becomes available in the institutions they are errantly assigned to.”

In the infirmary, each inmate is checked out and tested for tuberculosis, HIV, and syphilis. Blood work and dental and mental evaluations are also done as well as a check for pre–existing conditions that require medication such as diabetes or high blood pressure, said Joan Guy, Kirkland’s R & E health care authority.

“Sometimes the people don’t even know they have a disease until they get here,” she said. “I’ve had to tell people they are HIV–positive just as they begin serving their sentence. That’s just never a good day for anyone.”

The medical diagnosis has a large impact on prisoner placement, Guy said.

“Certain facilities have the means to deal with certain illnesses and some don’t,” she said. “Some jails can take a wheelchair bound person and some can’t. Some are set up with HIV wards and some are not.”

The evaluation from the infirmary is important so that any communicable diseases can be contained within the individual institution, she said.

“We discover the problem, diagnose it and take care of it right here,” she said. “We can’t send out a contagious person into regular population.”

Guy said that any illness a person can get outside usually reaches the prisons.

“Everything on the streets ends up in here,” she said. “A lot of times the disease is worse when we get the people because they have been living on the street and never had any meds or any sort of doctors’ care until they get in here.”

For prisoners requiring daily medication, she said there were three pill lines a day, and the pills had to be taken in front of an officer.

Handicapped inmates

Assistant Prison Director Staley said handicaps don’t prevent people from breaking the law.

“We’ve had paraplegics in here convicted of theft, shoplifting, or writing bad checks,” she said. “If they can pick up a pen, they can certainly write a forged check.”

Crimes

Staley said that all sorts of people end up at Kirkland for all sorts of reasons.

“Recently we had an 80–year–old man in here on driving offenses,” she said. “Apparently he kept repeating the same infractions over and over until he was sentenced to more than 90 days and ended up here.”

Intake procedures

Public Information director for the SC Department of Corrections, Josh Gelinas, said while the intake procedures were long and often tedious for the inmates, they were thorough and in the best interest of the prisoners.

“Once they are classified and ready to serve their time, the inmates are assured they will be in the right place to do that,” he said.

After sentence is served

After the sentence is served, the inmates begin the move back into the real world according to Gelinas.

Inmates sent to maximum and medium security institutions are given opportunities to better their lot and move to less invasive prisons, he said.

“When they get to the facility that they will serve the sentence, unless it’s a violent crime or otherwise stipulated, then they can work their way back up the ladder to minimum security.”

Levels and incentives

Currently the SC Department of Corrections has 28 institutions and they are categorized into four distinct security levels: high security (Level 3), medium security (Level 2), minimum security (Level 1B) and community–based prerelease/ work centers (Level 1A). The architectural design of the institution, type of housing, operational procedures, and the level of security staffing determine an institution’s security level. Inmates are assigned to institutions to meet their specific security, programming, medical, educational, and work requirements, according to the department’s website.

Level 3 facilities are high–security institutions designed primarily to house violent offenders with longer sentences and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems. Housing consists of single and double cells, and all perimeters are double–fenced with extensive electronic surveillance. Inmates at Level 3 facilities are closely supervised, and their activities and movement within the institution are highly restricted.

Level 2 facilities are medium–security institutions. Housing is primarily double bunk, cell type with some institutions having double– bunk cubicles. With single fenced perimeters and electronic surveillance, Level 2 institutions provide a higher level of security than Level 1 facilities.

Level 1–B institutions are minimum– security facilities that house inmates with relatively short sentences or time to serve. Housing is mainly double bunk cubicles with unfenced perimeters. Operational procedures at Level 1–B facilities are less intense than Levels 2 and three but not as free as Level 1, the website said.

Level 1-A facilities are community–based pre-release/work centers that house minimum– security non–violent inmates who are within 36 months of release. These units are work and program oriented, providing intensive specialized programs that prepare the inmates for release to the community. Housing is mainly double bunk, open–bay wards with unfenced perimeters.

There are nine prisons in the Columbia area. Including Kirkland there are two male and one female maximum security prisons in the city, all on Broad River Road. The other six are minimum security or pre–release centers.

“I’ve seen the incentive of getting to a minimum security place really work for these inmates,” he said. “I hope that is something that is here to stay because it gives them something to strive for and a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

The real light at the end of the tunnel is the inmate’s release date and when that comes the state is still there to offer assistance.

“We give the inmates a set of tan clothing, and we give them a bus ticket back to his/her SC hometown or the town of their original arrest,” he said.

They are given the remaining money on their accounts, as well. Account money is either from their families or earned from working while incarcerated.

Gelinas said the pre–release centers work well for most people, but there are exceptions to every rule.

“In the past few years we’ve had a few who made it all the way to the minimum security prisons and had a job and were just weeks away from release, yet they decided to run. It never makes sense because then they get new charges of attempted escape and have to start all over.” Conclusion

The goal and purpose of the entire incarceration process is to rehabilitate the inmates and show them there are other ways to live rather than a life of drugs and crime.

“We want the men and women to come out of the prisons as productive law–abiding citizens,” Gelinas said. “They are given every opportunity to turn their lives around, but it’s ultimately up to the individual what they do with that opportunity.”

In the end, from one bad decision in a person’s past when they decided to rob a liquor store or sell illegal drugs or from a long pattern of criminal behavior, once that person gets into the system, they are extended a hand that can help them stand on their own and make their world a better place.

Sometimes they gratefully reach for that hand and sometimes they slap it away. In the case of the latter, the state will be ready to receive them and try again.