public awareness / crime prevention
The South Carolina Department of Corrections recognizes the importance of public awareness and crime prevention and currently offers two crime prevention/public awareness programs for schools, colleges, law enforcement, churches, civic and business groups throughout South Carolina.
Operation Get Smart was implemented in 1976 and for more than 30 years this program has been an intricate component in our crime prevention efforts. Operation Get Smart
consists of a carefully screened team of inmates that travel the state speaking to youth and adults about actions which led to their involvement in crime and the consequences of criminal behavior.
Operation Behind Bars is a modified version of the old "Scared Straight" program which utilizes a more realistic approach with the participants rather than scare tactics. The program, targeted toward at risk youth and adults, allows each participant to tour a prison facility and then hear inmates give realistic accounts of actions that led to their criminal behavior, the effects of incarceration and day to day prison life. Currently, there are 14 prisons, located throughout the state that participate in the Operation Behind Bars program.