Horry County Jail Mugshots Overview
Horry County displays booking photos in the official Bookings and Releases app. The roster covers people booked at J. Reuben Long Detention Center and booking records involving the City of North Myrtle Beach. Each result row can include a mugshot thumbnail, and selecting the image opens a larger overlay with the person's name, booked date, and status.
The county app is not described by Horry County as a permanent mugshot archive. A last-name search during research returned released January and February 2026 records with mugshot-capable record ids, so the roster can show released bookings, but Horry County does not publish a fixed online retention window in the page inspected. The accurate working rule is to search the official booking app first and use HCSO Public Information or FOIA if a photo is not visible.
The screenshot below is from the official roster interface at https://www.horrycountysc.gov/apps/bookings/.
Where to Find Horry County Booking Photos
Start with the booking app, because it is the county-controlled source tied to J. Reuben Long Detention Center. The app lets the public search by last name, booking date, or release date. It also has a Reset Form control and a default sorting state by booking date in descending order.
- Open the Horry County Bookings and Releases page or the direct booking app.
- Search by last name for a person, by booking date for recent intake, or by release date for released booking records.
- Review the result row and select the mugshot thumbnail or name area to view the larger booking-photo overlay.
- Note the name, booking number, booking date, arresting agency, charge number, and status before making any follow-up request.
- If the photo is not available online, use HCSO Public Information or FOIA instead of non-official mugshot sites.
Other access channels can help with related custody questions. The Detention Center phone is (843) 915-5140. In-person questions should start with J. Reuben Long Detention Center for custody matters or the Horry County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Phillip E. Thompson, for records routing. FOIA requests can be filed online through Horry County Public Information or mailed to Horry County Sheriff's Office, Attn. Brennan Cavanagh, 1301 Second Ave, Conway, SC 29526. The sheriff mobile app provides bookings/releases lookup and notifications as an additional official channel. VINELink South Carolina is useful for custody notifications, but it is not a photo gallery.
What a Horry County Booking Photo Shows
The booking photo appears with the surrounding roster record rather than standing alone. In the app code and sample record inventory, the mugshot image is loaded from the route pattern https://www.horrycountysc.gov/apps/bookings/mugshots/{record-id}. A sample inspected booking on June 29, 2026 used record id 52312, which means the image route followed the same internal record-id pattern.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Booking Photo | A thumbnail in the result row and a larger overlay image tied to the internal booking record id. |
| Name | Last, first, and middle or suffix details as available in the booking record. |
| Demographics | Ethnicity, sex, and age in result rows; the Horry app does not publish every criminal-history demographic field. |
| Booking Date | The date and time of intake at J. Reuben Long Detention Center or a covered booking source. |
| Release / Status | Released date, Out to Home Detention, or Still Incarcerated based on the app's releaseDate and homeDetention logic. |
| Charges | Charge description, charge number, disposition, bail amount, and counts when the booking record contains charge data. |
| Arresting Agency | Agency associated with the booking, such as Horry County PD, Myrtle Beach PD, Conway PD, HCSO, or South Carolina Highway Patrol. |
Are Horry County Jail Mugshots Public Record?
South Carolina FOIA governs access to non-exempt public records, and the Horry County Sheriff's Office Public Information page cites FOIA as the route for certain records. The research did not locate an official South Carolina statute requiring every booking photo to be published online. Horry County voluntarily displays booking photos in its official app for covered records, and missing or older photos should be requested through official public-information channels.
Key Statutes:
South Carolina Code Title 30, Chapter 4 - South Carolina FOIA governs public access to public records, subject to exemptions and statutory limits.
South Carolina Code § 30-4-30 - Public records may be inspected or copied under FOIA, with limits and fees allowed by law.
South Carolina Code Title 17, Chapter 1 - Criminal-procedure and arrest-record provisions matter when an arrest record is later cleared or restricted.
How Long a Mugshot Stays on the Roster
Horry County does not publish a fixed deletion time or retention window in the booking app text reviewed. Released records can appear in the app when searched by name, but that does not mean every historical photo remains available online forever. Treat the booking app as a current and recent bookings/releases search, not a permanent archive or a complete criminal-history report.
What is and isn't public: The public roster can show a mugshot, name, booking date, status, age, sex, ethnicity, booking number, arresting agency, charges, bail amount, charge number, and disposition. It does not prove guilt, does not replace court records, and does not guarantee that every photo or historical booking is online.
How to Request a Horry County Booking Photo
Before requesting a photo, search the county app and save the public identifiers from the record: full name, booking number, booking date, arresting agency, charge number, and status. If the online app does not show the needed photo, the official records path is HCSO Public Information. The Sheriff's Office page lists Brennan Cavanagh as Public Information Officer, phone 843-915-8096, and states that FOIA requests may be filed through the county Public Information page or by mail to Horry County Sheriff's Office, Attn. Brennan Cavanagh, 1301 Second Ave, Conway, SC 29526.
The research did not identify a fixed fee, guaranteed turnaround time, or identification requirement for a mugshot request. South Carolina FOIA allows records access subject to statutory limits, exemptions, and fees. HCSO also states that it may deny information requests from people who are not South Carolina citizens and that it does not actively release personal information except to comply with legal proceedings or protect public safety.
Mugshot Removal and Sealed Records
A booking photo in the county app is not the same as a conviction record. If a charge is dismissed, discharged, expunged, or otherwise cleared, the court and records-clearing process matters more than copying an image from the roster. Horry County research did not document a separate county mugshot-removal form for the booking app, so the official path is to address the court record and ask the originating public-information office about any affected booking record.
For the court side of the record, use court records after a jail arrest and the South Carolina Public Index or Clerk of Court. For public-record questions about a booking photo after a dismissal or expungement, use HCSO Public Information rather than paying or relying on third-party mugshot publishers.
Federal and State Booking Photos
State, federal, and immigration systems do not work like the Horry County booking app. The SCDC public inmate search can show a thumbnail/photo and state-prison details for sentenced South Carolina prisoners, but it is not the county roster for J. Reuben Long Detention Center. The BOP inmate locator provides federal custody and release information, generally for federal inmates in BOP custody, not a Horry County mugshot gallery.
ICE's Online Detainee Locator System focuses on immigration custody lookup and does not use Horry booking numbers or publish a county-style booking-photo feed. A person may appear in the Horry roster while locally booked and later need SCDC, BOP, ICE, or VINELink depending on the custody change. For local photo questions, the Horry roster and HCSO Public Information remain the official county channels.