COLUMBIA — The state’s prisons director was officially sworn in as acting U.S. attorney Monday.
With Bryan Stirling tapped as the state’s lead federal prosecutor, his deputy director of operations, Joel Anderson, will take over leadership of the state’s 21 prisons, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Stirling started working as head of the Department of Corrections in 2013. That job, which involved overseeing more than 3,700 employees and a prison system with more than 16,000 inmates, was “the privilege of a lifetime,” Stirling said in a statement.
“I look forward to continuing to serve the people of South Carolina and pledge to uphold the high standards set by those who came before me,” Stirling said.
Stirling’s appointment by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi means a formal nomination from President Donald Trump is likely. Stirling will then need confirmation by the U.S. Senate to officially become the state’s top federal prosecutor. Bondi’s appointment means Stirling will oversee 120 prosecutors and about 20 support staff on an interim basis as he awaits confirmation.
Trump’s administration removed Adair Ford Boroughs, the state’s U.S. attorney since 2022, in February. Boroughs’ assistant attorney Brooks Andrews has filled the role since.
As corrections director, Stirling cracked down on contraband coming into prisons, including a push to change federal law that would legalize signal blocking technology to make inmates’ illegal cellphones useless. He implemented personal development programs for inmates that led to the state having one of the lowest rates in the country of inmates re-offending and returning to prison. And he successfully pushed for higher employee salaries in an effort to recruit and retain correctional officers.
Stirling also guided the department through a 2018 prison riot that left seven inmates dead and the restarting of executions after 13 years, including the first conducted by firing squad in state history.
“Director Bryan Stirling is widely recognized as the best corrections director in the country, and his relentless spirit has turned SCDC into a model for other states to follow,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in a news release.
Before becoming director of the state’s prison system, Stirling was then-Gov. Nikki Haley’s chief of staff. Prior to that, he was deputy attorney general during McMaster’s two terms as the state’s head prosecutor.
Stirling’s name was among those floated for the position during Trump’s first term, though Trump eventually nominated Columbia attorney Sherri Lydon instead. Two years later, after Lydon’s departure, Peter McCoy led the agency for eight months before stepping down after former President Joe Biden took office.
Anderson, who will act as interim head of the prison system, has overseen security, maintenance and food service for the corrections department since 2019.
Originally from Texas, the 66-year-old started working in prisons in 1978 as a correctional officer for the state of Texas. He rose through the ranks, becoming a major by the time he left in 1996, according to his agency bio.
Anderson came to South Carolina that year to lead the state’s inmate work programs and prison food service. After a brief stint working for Florida’s prison system, Anderson returned to the South Carolina Department of Corrections in 2004, where he worked as a prison warden and in several other leadership roles.
“It is my honor to leave the South Carolina Department of Corrections in the very capable hands of Joel Anderson,” Stirling said in a statement.
Last updated 5:12 p.m., Apr. 28, 2025
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