Prison Visitor Guide is a free reference site for families and friends of incarcerated people in the United States. It organizes publicly available information about visiting, mail, phones, money, and rights — by state and by facility — so the rules that apply to your situation are in one place.
Which facility are you visiting?
Search by facility name, city, or state, then move into state guides and facility-specific details.
Overview
Visiting
Most prisons and jails allow in-person visits, but visitors typically need to be on an approved visitor list first. This requires filling out an application and passing a background check, which can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks depending on the facility. Visits are usually scheduled in advance, and each facility has its own rules about dress code, approved items, and visit length.
Staying in Touch
Beyond in-person visits, there are several ways to communicate: phone calls, video visits, electronic messaging (similar to email), and physical mail. Each has its own costs and rules. Phone calls from prison are expensive, though recent FCC regulations have brought prices down. Video visits have become more widely available since 2020.
Sending Money
Incarcerated people use commissary accounts to purchase food, hygiene products, stamps, and phone time. Most facilities use third-party services to process deposits, and each charges different fees. The available deposit methods and fee structures vary by facility and state.
Visitor Rights
Visitors have the right to a clear explanation if a visit is denied and the right to file complaints through official grievance processes. Federal regulations and state laws set baseline protections, though enforcement varies. Each state’s corrections department publishes its own visitor policies and complaint procedures.
Browse by state
Alabama
Guides and facility information for Alabama, where the Department of Corrections runs about 14 major state prisons plus work centers — and where, because of crowding, many state-sentenced people wait in county jails for a prison bed.
Arizona
Guides and facility information for Arizona, where the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry runs 10 state prison complexes — each with several units — plus privately operated prisons that hold state inmates, while people awaiting trial or serving jail sentences are held in county jails run by elected sheriffs.
Arkansas
Guides and facility information for Arkansas, where the Division of Correction runs about 20 state prison units — a mix of large agricultural units and specialized facilities — and where, because of crowding, many state-sentenced people wait in county jails for a prison bed.
California
Guides and facility information for CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) prisons.
Colorado
Guides and facility information for Colorado, where the Department of Corrections runs roughly 20 state prisons plus two privately operated facilities — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails.
Connecticut
Guides and facility information for Connecticut, which runs a unified state correctional system — the Department of Correction holds both people awaiting trial and people serving sentences, and there are no county jails.
Delaware
Guides and facility information for Delaware DOC facilities — a unified system whose four prisons hold both pretrial detainees and sentenced people.
Florida
Guides and facility information for Florida, the third-largest state prison system in the country — the Department of Corrections runs about 50 major institutions plus work camps and several privately operated prisons, while county jails for people awaiting trial or serving short sentences are run separately by elected sheriffs.
Georgia
Guides and facility information for Georgia, where the Department of Corrections runs about 34 state prisons plus four private prisons — and where many people serving a state sentence are held in county prisons or county jails, which set their own rules.
Illinois
Guides and facility information for Illinois, where the Department of Corrections runs roughly 27 adult prisons — all state-operated, since Illinois has banned for-profit prisons since 1990 — while people awaiting trial or serving jail sentences are held in county jails run separately.
Indiana
Guides and facility information for Indiana, where the Department of Correction runs 18 adult prisons — including two operated by a private company, the GEO Group — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails that set their own rules.
Louisiana
Guides and facility information for Louisiana — where DPS&C runs eight state prisons, but more state-sentenced people are held in local parish jails than in any other state, each with its own rules.
Maine
Guides and facility information for Maine, where the Department of Corrections runs six adult facilities and holds people serving more than nine months — shorter sentences and people awaiting trial are in county jails, which set their own rules.
Maryland
Guides and facility information for Maryland, where the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services runs the state prisons — all state-operated — while pretrial detention in Baltimore and county detention centers are run separately.
Massachusetts
Guides and facility information for Massachusetts, where the Department of Correction runs 13 state prisons — including one women's prison — while people awaiting trial or serving sentences under 2.5 years are held in county jails and houses of correction run by elected sheriffs that set their own rules.
Michigan
Guides and facility information for Michigan, where the Department of Corrections runs about 26 state prisons and refers to people in its custody as prisoners — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails.
Mississippi
Guides and facility information for Mississippi — a three-tier system where state-sentenced people are held in state prisons, two privately operated prisons, or fifteen county-run regional facilities, each with their own rules.
Missouri
Guides and facility information for Missouri, where the Department of Corrections runs 19 adult prisons — all state-operated — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails that set their own rules.
Nebraska
Guides and facility information for Nebraska (NDCS), a heavily overcrowded system that receives newly sentenced men in Lincoln and women in York, scans personal mail off-site, and is overseen by two independent state offices.
Nevada
Guides and facility information for Nevada, where the Department of Corrections runs six major state prisons — all state-operated — plus minimum-custody conservation camps and transitional housing, while county jails are run separately.
New Hampshire
Guides and facility information for New Hampshire's three state prisons — two in Concord, one in Berlin — which are separate from the county-run houses of corrections.
New Jersey
Guides and facility information for New Jersey, where the Department of Corrections runs nine adult state prisons — a system that has shrunk by more than half since 2011 — while people awaiting trial or serving short sentences are held in county jails.
New York
Guides and facility information for New York, where the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision runs about 41 state prisons — all state-operated — while jails for people awaiting trial or serving short sentences are run separately by the counties and New York City.
North Carolina
Guides and facility information for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NC DAC), which runs one of the larger state prison systems, scans incoming mail off-site, and processes new arrivals through several reception prisons.
Ohio
Guides and facility information for Ohio, where the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction runs about 28 state prisons (two of them privately operated) — while people awaiting trial or serving short sentences are held in county jails that set their own rules.
Oklahoma
Guides and facility information for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (Oklahoma DOC), a now fully state-operated prison system that scans incoming mail off-site and schedules all visits through one statewide Visitation Unit.
Oregon
Guides and facility information for Oregon, where the Department of Corrections runs 12 state prisons and calls people in its custody adults in custody — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails.
Pennsylvania
Guides and facility information for Pennsylvania, where the Department of Corrections runs 22 state prisons (SCIs) — all state-operated — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails that set their own rules.
Rhode Island
Guides and facility information for the RIDOC Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) — six facilities on one campus in Cranston, holding pretrial detainees and sentenced people alike.
South Carolina
Guides and facility information for South Carolina, where the Department of Corrections runs about 21 state institutions — all state-operated — while people awaiting trial or serving jail sentences are held in county detention centers run separately.
Tennessee
Guides and facility information for Tennessee, where the Department of Correction runs 14 adult prisons — 10 state-operated and 4 operated by CoreCivic under contract — while people awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences are held in county jails and workhouses that set their own rules.
Texas
Guides and facility information for TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) prisons and state jails.
Utah
Guides and facility information for UDC (Utah Department of Corrections) prisons and the county jails that house state inmates.
Vermont
Guides and facility information for Vermont DOC facilities — a unified system of six in-state facilities, plus men housed out of state in Mississippi.
Virginia
Guides and facility information for Virginia, where the Department of Corrections runs about three dozen adult prisons — but many people serving a state sentence are held in local and regional jails, which set their own rules.
Washington
Guides and facility information for the Washington State Department of Corrections (WA DOC), which runs 10 prisons, still delivers physical mail to the facility, offers free monthly video sessions and extended family visits, and is overseen by an independent Corrections Ombuds.
West Virginia
Guides and facility information for West Virginia, where a single agency runs both the state prisons and the regional jails — and where a state-sentenced person can still be held in a regional jail, so families often have to check two separate locators.
Wisconsin
Guides and facility information for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC), which runs 20 adult prisons, scans personal mail off-site through TextBehind, and uses separate vendors for phone calls (ICSolutions) and money (Access Corrections).
Wyoming
Guides and facility information for WDOC (Wyoming Department of Corrections) facilities, including inmates housed out of state.