YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – For years the York County Prison has been under the control of York County government. Now, for the first time that control is being handed over to the York County Sheriff’s office for more focused control.
Beginning this Thursday, July 1, 2021, the York County Sheriff’s Office will take over control of the York County prison. This happening for the first time after an agreement between the Sheriff’s Office and York County Government, to devolve those powers. Now, Sheriff Kevin Tolson is explaining what that devolvement will mean.
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson saying, “It’s important to note the distinction between the detention center and the prison. The detention center houses those inmates who are awaiting deposition of their case. The prison, the county prison, houses inmates who have been sentenced to 90 days or less or are under a Family Court arrest order. And so, they are of course to sentenced inmates — so there’s a different intake process for the prison as there is a different intake process for the detention center. So there should be no effective changes there.”
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson says this discussion has been years in the making. He says it made more sense for the Sheriff’s office to take over the prison, rather than York County public works continuing to manage it. The agreement between York County government and the York County Sheriff’s office states that the Sheriff’s office will absorb the prisons budget and staff, among other conditions. Sheriff Tolson says he hopes this will continue to mean keeping York County Safe.
“Other than again having a law enforcement type function being under the control of a law enforcement agency, you know I think we’ll get, we’ll see some better training hopefully and looking into standards and you know we want to see a safer facility for everybody, we want to safer community for everyone,” says Sheriff Tolson.
Kevin Tolson explained that the biggest changes will be to the Sheriff’s office budget and to employee scheduling. He shares that more changes could take place, but over time.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with the York County Sheriff about what this transfer of power means.
