The prison opened in 1973, as "Women's Correctional Institution". It was renamed in 2002 in honor of the first female warden of a maximum-security male prison in South Carolina, Camille Griffin Graham.
In October 2019, health care staff at the prison reported that women who reported mental health symptoms were punished with nutraloaf and were denied hygiene items.[2] The warden, Marian Boulware, resigned in January 2020 after the reports.[3] The prison houses the State of South Carolina death row for women.[1]
In January 2011, a young female prisoner with a history of mental illness succeeded in committing suicide. The death is under investigation.[citation needed] In February 2019, another prisoner killed herself.[4] In 2012, an inmate went into labor and was not aided by staff. One of her twins was delivered into a toilet where he died. The state reached a settlement for over a million dollars seven years later.[5]
The prison is one of 40, and the only prison in South Carolina, participating in Girl Scouts of the USA Beyond Bars program, allowing Girl Scouts visitation/bonding with their incarcerated mothers.[citation needed]
This list template only include facilities for post-trial long-term confinement of adult females and juvenile females sentenced as adults, of one or two years or more (referred to as "prisons" in the United States, while the word "jail" normally refers to short-term confinement facilities)
