J. Reuben Long Detention Center launches new housing unit for female recovery program
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — The J. Reuben Long Detention Center recently moved inmates into a new housing unit designed for women participating in the jail's recovery program.
There are about 30 inmates in the center's recovery program and the new housing unit can accommodate up to 64. Some of the prisoners are pre-trial, while others have already been sentenced.
"They have a choice to come in and just sit here and do their time, or they can make a choice that they want help," said Kimberly Watts, a peer-support specialist with the Horry County Sheriff's Office.
Watts earned her certification while incarcerated in March 2019.
"They understand the journey that you've been on," Watts said. "They can also help you start on a new journey that doesn't have to end you back in jail or worse, dead."
Two years ago, the current recovery program did not exist for female inmates. Now, they have their own therapeutic community with motivational quotes and pictures of women in history.
"It's absolutely humbling because I have been an inmate here," Watts said. "I have been through these days many times on the side, and now I get to come back to a place where I can give hope."
Watts said these inmates undergo many interventions such as art therapy, recovery dynamics, criminal addictive thinking, relapse prevention and more. She also said that in just the past couple of days, they've received 12 applications from inmates who are interested in the program.
"When I first got here, I really didn't want to change," one of the recovery program inmates who talked to News13 said. "It was kind of like, I was sat down and was told, it is what it is. I'm going to say around like three or four months is when I actually started to, like, click, that I actually wanted to change my life."
The inmate, who cannot be identified, said she will graduate from the program in 14 days. She said the new housing unit is more open. It allows for better communication, and everyone in the program can hold each other accountable.
"Sitting behind a door, you reflect a lot on you know," the inmate said. "What you did when you were in active addiction, what you went through, and all of those things, and I don't want to be that same person that I was anymore."
* * *
Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and was raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook , or Instagram , and read more of her work here.
