Prisons are a necessary evil. People are only human after all. Some of them make mistakes and some make egregious mistakes. For those, we have to have special prisons. The ones that claim to be Level 3 - in South Carolina - are the ones for the people known as "long timers"; the ones who will probably never see the light of day from the other side of that razor wire fence. How many prisons are in South Carolina? We have 21 institutions in the Palmetto State. Here are the seven worst prisons in South Carolina.

This is the deadliest prison in South Carolina. At any given time, there are fewer than 300 guards to watch over the full prison. Riots are frequent, the smell is atrocious. And, death row is a real thing here. Probably more real than you can believe. Here is housed Stephen Stanko from Murrells Inlet who will never again be a free man.

Lee Correctional has been in the news more times than I'm sure South Carolina would like due to the more than frequent riots. Too many times guards are taken hostage by the prisoners who then send out pictures of what they have done on cell phones.

You may know Leath Correctional Institution because of who stays there...Susan Smith, known for having taken the lives of her two sons.

Kirkland is in Columbia and has its own share of stories including the one that surrounds Johnny Brewer (who beat death row only to kill himself by hanging), Jimmy Causey (a kidnapper who is in for life), and Stephen Beckham who is in for hiring a contract killer to kill his wife whom you will know as the daughter of State Senator Jim Lander.

Yes, you guessed it. Susan Smith stayed at this women’s prison for a while too. She seems to have been bounced around South Carolina prisons due to behavior unbecoming of a lady.

In 1985, Perry Correctional was top news due to the fact that a strange woman tried to hijack a helicopter to rescue some inmates. You may know or remember one of them as James Rodney Leonard who murdered a teacher in 1983.

If these were rated by which one housed the worst criminals, this one would have made the top of the list. You may or may not know this, but this was the last home of Pee Wee Gaskins; the most notorious serial killer of South Carolina.

This is a short video showing the South Carolina Department of Corrections Death Row, perhaps the worst prison in South Carolina. It's a few years old so there have been a few changes since then, but it's very informative.

I don't know about you, but I don't even want to have to visit these places. South Carolina has some really bad people behind bars, but don't forget that there are also people who were imprisoned unjustly. The Justice system is not infallible. It's run by humans, and just like the ones behind bars, neither is perfect. While you're visiting South Carolina, be sure to stop in Charleston and see one of the best prisons in South Carolina...for ghost hunting!

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/old-city-jail-overnight-ghost-hunt-charleston-sc/