Prisoners in South Carolina's detention cells are placed in solitary confinement and lose privileges, such as telephone access and visitation rights, when found guilty of posting on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Punishments are imposed separately for each day that a post was made.
An inmate who posted once on Monday and made another one on Wednesday will be charged for the two separate violations. However, having as much as 50 posts on a single day will be counted as a single violation.
In other words, an inmate who, for example, instigated a riot, took three hostages and murdered them, stole their possessions then escaped, would still end up with fewer offenses than another inmate who updated his Facebook every day for a period of two weeks.
The offense, known as "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site" was made a Level 1 offense by the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) in 2012. This category is meant for the gravest violations against prison conduct.
The offense is also one of the most common charges in the Level 1 category incurred by inmates who want to maintain their contact with friends and family and keep themselves updated with what's happening in the outside world.
Some of the inmates would also go the extra mile of asking their families to access their accounts on their behalf. However, most of them would access the Internet themselves by using a contraband mobile device, the possession of which would be considered another Level 1 offense.
Realizing perhaps that the policy's application may be harsh, the SCDC has also at times suspended placing an inmate in solitary confinement due to the lack of space while they execute a disciplinary segregation.
In several cases, the social media-related punishments are "unnaturally" wrong that inmates do not really have to serve them since they go beyond their prison terms.
One inmate, Tyheem Henry, is said to have received the harshest penalty to date.
For making 38 posts on Facebook, Henry was punished with 13,680 days in disciplinary detention. He also lost 27,360 days worth of privileges such as telephone, canteen and visitation privileges. Lastly, he lost 69 days of good time.
Bryan P. Stirling, South Carolina Corrections Department Director, said that he is dialing back as he realizes how severe the punishment is in reality. However, he stressed that inmates are not allowed to access social media.
"Any hole in the system -- and social media is a hole into the system -- is a way for them to continue their criminal ways," said Stirling. "There needs to be a punishment that's worse than, 'No candy for you today,' or 'You won't see your mother.' There has to be something more severe than that."
