South Carolina H 3144: Inmate legal counsel access

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3144 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3144

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS, BY ADDING 
SECTION 24-3-990 SO AS TO PROVIDE INMATES CONFINED TO STATE, COUNTY, OR 
MUNICIPAL DETENTION FACILITIES SHALL NOT BE PROHIBITED ACCESS TO LEGAL COUNSEL 
WHEN REQUESTED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES AND TO DEFINE THE TERM "IN-PERSON 
MEETING."

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 9, Chapter 3, Title 24 of the S.C. Code is 
amended by adding:

 Section 24-3-990. (A) An inmate confined in a state, 
county, or municipal detention facility shall not be prohibited access to legal 
counsel when requested, provided such access does not jeopardize the security 
of the detention facility or prohibit the normal operations of the detention 
facility. In the event an in-person meeting is requested between an inmate and 
legal counsel, the state, county, or municipal detention facility shall make a 
reasonable effort to accommodate the request, provided the meeting does not 
jeopardize the security of the detention facility or prohibit the normal 
operations of the detention facility.

 (B) 
For the purposes of this section, an "in-person meeting" is a meeting that 
occurs when an inmate and legal counsel have been placed in the same room or 
general area with no continuous partition. The state, county, or municipal 
detention facility may provide general visual observation of the area in which 
the in-person meeting occurs, but shall not provide audio or video supervision 
of the area so as to uphold the privileged nature of the inmate's 
communications with legal counsel.

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on December 06, 2024 at 10:30 AM