Director's Biography
Freddie Pough
Director, SC Department of Juvenile Justice
Scholarship, Perseverance, and the Uplifting of all mankind are the guiding principles of South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Director, Freddie B. Pough. Freddie is a proud native of South Carolina. He was reared in Swansea by his loving and devoted parents, James and Margie Pough. As the younger of two male children, he was taught through experiential learning the value of hard work and determination by his working class parents. Pough's father worked nearly 40 years in the steel industry, and his mother is a master seamstress, who is still offering her craftsmanship after 50 years of service. Freddie's father, before his passing in 2009, ensured that his son knew that true success in life begins with God, Family and Servant-leadership. Those characteristics are evident when you examine the work that Director Pough has performed over his extensive law enforcement career.
It was at the age of 15 that Pough vowed to live a life of protecting and serving. After spending his adolescent years as a member of the boy scouts, he became a law enforcement cadet with the Lexington County Sheriffs Department Law Enforcement Explorers Program, where he rose to the rank of Major and concluded his tenure in that program at the age of 21. He dedicated countless hours to training and understanding what it really means to be a law enforcement officer. Mr. Pough takes great pride in placing the civil liberties and safety for others above himself.
Freddie is a 1995 graduate of Swansea High School. He graduated top of his class and continued his academic and athletic career at South Carolina State University -- graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice, as a four-year lettered athlete in 1999. Pough' s Alma Mater, established in 1896, is one of the cornerstones of South Carolina's history and serves as the place of birth for the scholastic and social acuteness he displays as a selfless leader.
In the fall of 2000, Freddie seized the opportunity to fulfill his calling and began working for the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) as a juvenile correctional officer. Today, Nearly 18 years later, he is regarded as an expert in the field of interviewing and interrogation, marksmanship, investigations, and search and seizure. He is a certified class one police officer with the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and professionally certified as a detective, school resource officer, probation, pardon and parole agent and a juvenile justice correctional officer.
Before returning to the foundation of his rewarding law enforcement career, DJJ, in March of 2016 as the Inspector General; Mr. Pough served the citizens of South Carolina as a probation, pardon and parole agent; a patrol officer; and as a lieutenant with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Since 2016, Pough has developed and implemented an agency-wide search and seizure policy for staff and visitors; and has taken aggressive measures towards combating gangs through in-depth gang intervention and investigative action. Under his decisive leadership, the Special Response Team (SRT) was established to quickly respond to disturbances and security needs at all secure facilities. In addition, he created and implemented DJJ's Emergency Response Plan. This plan withstood Hurricane Matthew and helped to ensure the well-being of staff and juveniles across South Carolina during the mandatory evacuations, storm, floods and aftermath.
Director Freddie B. Pough's commitment to empowering South Carolina's youth for the future exudes from the very essence of the work he is doing at the state's Department of Juvenile Justice. Mr. Pough often reflects on his personal mission of utilizing each day to bring forth improvements to the law enforcement system-- striving to reduce recidivism and improving clinical and vocational outcomes. Freddie understands that the continuum of care is a never-ending cycle that requires everyone's involvement to achieve the maximum level of measurable results. Pough often states, "the system can and will only be changed when the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is etched into the fabric of our society, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; and, we cannot be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream;" and I'm committed to enacting that level of change."
Director Pough shares his public servant passion with his wife of 15 years, the former Celestine Banks, a notable public educator in South Carolina and their 13 year old daughter Ebony.
Accomplishments
Director Freddie Pough has achieved several notable accomplishments during his executive management tenure with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice: