The head of South Carolina’s prison system has been named U.S. Attorney for the state’s federal judicial district.
Bryan P. Stirling, who has served as director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections since 2014, was recently named U.S. attorney for the state by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to a news release.
Stirling took the oath of office Monday joined by family, friends and law enforcement partners. He will lead a team of 120 prosecutors and other personnel spread across offices in Columbia, Charleston, Florence and Greenville.
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South Carolina has only a single federal judicial district. The district no longer has a courthouse in Aiken.
Stirling served as former Gov. Nikki Haley’s chief of staff from October 2012 to September 2013 and as South Carolina’s deputy attorney general for almost six years, the release said.
As corrections director, Stirling led a department of 4,000 employees staffing 21 prisons that housed 16,500 inmates. Under his leadership, the state has had the lowest recidivism rate in the country since 2021, according to the release.
