How Ministers Can Get Approved to Visit Inmates at Greenville Detention Center
Your first clergy visit at Greenville Detention Center starts with the right documentation at the door—and ends with an application you'll need to complete for future minister visits. Here's how the process works.
What-to-bring
- ✓ Clergy ID card
- ✓ Business card showing church affiliation
- ✓ Church bulletin that identifies you (and leaves no doubt you’re clergy)
- ✓ Certificate of ordination
Bring a pictured ID with you when you request to visit. Staff will ask for it as part of the check-in process for clergy.
Expect paperwork after your first visit. At the end of that initial minister visit, staff will give you an Application for Ministerial Visitation Approval Form to complete and return to the Detention Center.
- ✓ Copy of a valid South Carolina driver’s license
- ✓ Copy of your certificate of ordination
- ✓ Original church-affiliation business card (no copies)
- ✓ Original church bulletin with your name in it (no copies)
By submitting the application, you're authorizing the Detention Center to run a criminal background investigation - including fingerprinting.
Once approved as a volunteer minister, you'll need to complete a required training session before you can enter the facility in that role. After training, you're expected to follow all facility rules during your visits.
After the Detention Center receives your completed application, they'll notify you in writing whether you're approved or denied - typically within 10 days.
If you're clergy and also related to the inmate, there's a limit to know upfront: relatives get only one minister visit. After that, the inmate must add you to their regular visitation list for any additional visits.
Note: The Detention Center’s management can disapprove any volunteer application at its discretion.
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