SPARTANBURG, S.C. — During a campaign stop in Spartanburg, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called for sweeping education and criminal justice reforms in South Carolina and across the U.S., two issues he says are intricately connected.

The U.S. Senator from Vermont addressed a crowd of about 250 people who had gathered at Mount Moriah Baptist Church Thursday for a town hall hosted by the state's Legislative Black Caucus that invited Sanders as its special guest.

Sanders plans to be in Greenville on Friday, first at a poverty roundtable at the West End Community Development Center at 2:30 p.m. followed by a rally at the Peace Center amphitheater at 5 p.m.

In Spartanburg, Sanders addressed criminal recidivism rates, racial profiling in law enforcement, generational poverty, teacher salaries and early childhood development. He spoke for about 30 minutes to an applauding crowd that shouted "Bernie" during several parts of his remarks.

"A nation and a community, which provides quality education for its children that makes certain there are good jobs available to those young people when they leave school is a nation and a community which will have a lower rate of crime where residents will be safer, where human lives are not destroyed because people are rotting away their lives in prisons," Sanders said. "At the same time is a nation and community which will save enormous sums of money by avoiding mass incarceration."

After his remarks, he answered two questions from members of the audience that centered on reducing prison sentences for convicted felons and plans for keeping children in poverty from incarceration. He left the church before speaking with members of the media.

James Young, of Spartanburg, said he has friends incarcerated who are serving lengthy prison sentences for past crimes he feels should have warranted lesser time. He was one of the men who posed a question to Sanders.

Sanders answered by arguing for convicted felons to have voting rights in addition to voting rights for those currently incarcerated.

"Even people who are in jail have the right to vote," he said, referencing Vermont's stance on permitting felons to vote while in prison unlike most states which prohibit inmate voting.

Sanders said he wants to see better educational and counseling opportunities for prisoners to reduce recidivism rates and effectively spend less money on incarceration.

"At the end of the day, what we want is rehabilitation," he said.

Here are other key takeaways from Sanders' visit to Spartanburg Thursday:

Bernie Sanders addressed SC's troubled prison system

Sanders addressed South Carolina's prisons and the roughly 22 percent recidivism rate of convicted felons re-offending within three years of being released.

He said more emphasis in prisons needs to be placed on education programs within facilities so that inmates being released have a plan and purpose once they're back into the community.

He also compared spending on incarceration with spending on education, adding that South Carolina spent $11,552 on average per student while spending about double that on average per prison inmate.

Sanders quoted abolitionist Frederick Douglass when he said, "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

"It makes a lot more sense to invest in our young people, in jobs and education, rather than in jails and incarceration," Sanders said.

Sanders also said more training is needed for law enforcement's ability to handle mental illness situations. He said racial bias also exists in law enforcement as it relates to traffic stops, arrests, and said agencies should represent the demographics of the communities they serve.

"We're talking about creating police departments all over this country whose membership reflect the demographics of the community and do not look like invading armies," Sanders said. "Use of lethal force should always be the last option, not the first."

Political leaders applaud Bernie Sanders' platform

Ohio Sen. Nina Turner was Sanders' surrogate during his 2016 presidential campaign.

She joined Sanders in Spartanburg and called him "a visionary" and "a champ" for causes like raising minimum wage standards and seeking improvements to early education as a means to pull children out of generational poverty.

"He understands that no one chooses to live in poverty," she said.

Spartanburg County Councilman Michael Brown helped introduce Sanders to the crowd. He said Sanders has fought for racial inequality since he "marched with MLK" in the 1960s.

"If you're going to be president of the United States, you have to march with kings," Brown said, who added that he has been "feeling the 'Bern'" since Sanders ran for office in 2016.

A coffee shop visit sparked a photo op

Sanders paid a visit to Spill The Beans in downtown Spartanburg just prior to his appearance at the town hall.

He ordered a green tea and a slice of carrot cake, according to employee Jason Wall, 21.

"My friend, Landon, was like, 'I think that's Bernie Sanders," he said. "Everybody was in here kind of looking at him whispering and he went out there with his drink and his carrot cake and somebody got up to take a picture and after that it was everybody. Everybody got up the confidence to get up."

Wall said Sanders asked if he liked his job at the coffee shop and asked how long the location had been in business. He congratulated employees on celebrating their one year since opening in April 2018.

"We were just having a nice conversation," Wall said. "He was super kind."