From million-dollar estate to a tiny cell: Where will Alex Murdaugh go to prison?

Rachel Sharp
·2-min read

Alex Murdaugh is used to the high life.

Coming from a long line of top prosecutors, his wealthy family once dominated the legal system in the lowcountry.

As a powerful and well-known attorney himself, he earned upwards of $1m a year (not to mention the millions that he allegedly stole from legal clients and his law firm).

He lived on a huge 1,700-acre in Islandton with his family while also enjoying a second home in Edisto Beach.

Now, his lifestyle will be a little bit different.

Murdaugh is now expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was convicted of the brutal murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The disgraced legal dynasty heir – whose family once dominated the legal system in the lowcountry – will be sentenced in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Friday

He faces up to life in prison on each of the murder charges – with prosecutors seeking the maximum penalty after taking the death penalty off the table. Sentencing will begin at 9.30am ET with victim impact statements read out in court.

It took jurors less than three hours on Thursday to find Murdaugh guilty of shooting dead his wife and son on the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle hunting estate in Islandton, South Carolina, on 7 June 2021.

The unanimous verdict was reached after a dramatic six-week “trial of the century” in a sprawling and scandalous case that has enthralled the nation for almost two years.

But where will Murdaugh go to prison?

It is not yet clear where Murdaugh will spend his days behind bars.

First, he will be handed over to the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) and taken to the Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia.

All male inmates are originally taken to this facility after sentencing, which is one of the state’s maximum security prisons.

Once there, he is expected to have a two-month evaluation including mental and physical health checks.

This evaluation – together with the inmate classification system – will be used to determine which of South Carolina’s 21 prisons Murdaugh will be sent to spend the duration of his sentence.

If Murdaugh is sentenced to life in prison, he will automatically be sent to one of the state’s maximum security prisons.

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