Detention center employee no longer on county payroll

A female corrections officer at the Cherokee County Detention Center who allegedly engaged in a relationship with an inmate is no longer employed at the facility.

Citing personnel policy, Sheriff Bill Blanton on Tuesday said he could not comment on the reasons for or circumstances of the corrections officer's departure and could only confirm she was no longer employed by the county facility.

The state Department of Corrections conducted an administrative investigation beginning last May into allegations that a female corrections officer had engaged in a romantic relationship with a state inmate serving his time at the local jail.

The DOC investigators alleged in a report released two weeks ago the state inmate had not only engaged in a relationship but had, on several occasions, sneaked out of the jail to go to the woman's home and was once given a ride to her home by another county employee.

Blanton had said his office requested an outside review last year from the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office and said several changes were made at the jail in response to some of the concerns raised in the report. He considered the matter closed on the county jail's part.

The DOC handed its findings over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for further review. SLED has not released any additional information at this point.

— Tim Gulla