South Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session Status: In Committee 1 D cosponsors

H 3144 — Inmate legal counsel access

Last action — Referred to Committee on Judiciary

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced December 05, 2024. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the House.

Prognosis

Stalled 18% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Low

How often bills like it became law.

  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 2 sponsors

    2 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

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."

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

33 added · 6 removed

Plain-language change summary

The recent amendment to Bill H 3144 allows inmates in South Carolina detention facilities to access legal counsel without being denied, as long as it does not compromise facility security or operations. Additionally, it provides a clear definition of what constitutes an "in-person meeting" between an inmate and their lawyer. This change is significant because it ensures that inmates have better access to legal representation, which is fundamental to their rights and can impact their cases while promoting the fair administration of justice.

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2025-2026 Bill 3144 Text of Previous Version (Dec.
06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online South Carolina General Assembly126th Session, 2025-2026Bill 3144Indicates Matter StrickenIndicates 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
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Action History

  1. Referred to Committee on Judiciary

  2. Introduced and read first time

  3. Referred to Committee on Judiciary

  4. Prefiled

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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2 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 168 not signed on

Sponsors (2)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (168)

168 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 168 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

public-safety civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does H 3144 do?
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."
Who sponsors H 3144?
H 3144 is sponsored by Representative J. Todd Rutherford and Tiffany R. Spann-Wilder (Democrat).
What is the current status of H 3144?
This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced December 05, 2024. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track H 3144?
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