Medium and minimum security (men) · State Prison · KDOC

Ellsworth Correctional Facility

Ellsworth, Ellsworth County, Kansas

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: 785-472-5501 Info last verified: June 2026

A medium- and minimum-security state prison for men in Ellsworth, central Kansas — operates the Ellsworth–East satellite minimum-security unit.

Statewide rules that apply at every KDOC prison

These rules are set by KDOC and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in Kansas.

Dress code

Dress modestly — Kansas facilities enforce a visiting dress code that bars revealing, transparent, or provocative clothing, gang-related items, and anything resembling what residents or staff wear.
Each facility may turn away a visitor who is dressed out of code, and electronic devices are not allowed inside, so confirm the specific facility's rules before traveling.

ID: Every visitor must be on the resident's pre-approved visitation list before visiting (under KDOC policy IMPP 10-113D). Bring a government-issued photo ID to each visit.
What to bring: Bring only what the facility allows — most personal items are not permitted in the visiting room. Money for a resident's account is sent through Access Corrections (by app, online, phone, retail, or a money order to Centralized Resident Banking, P.O. Box 9101, Topeka, KS 66608), never handed over at a visit.
Scheduling: Kansas schedules visits statewide through ICSolutions — reserve at icsolutions.com at least 72 hours ahead. Each facility offers two slots a day (one morning, one afternoon); a visitor may book one or two slots on a day but not multiple days in the same weekend, with up to four visitors per resident, and appropriate contact such as a brief hug is allowed. Newly admitted people in reception cannot have family visits until they advance past intake. Men enter through the Reception and Diagnostic Unit at the El Dorado Correctional Facility; women at the Topeka Correctional Facility.

Full statewide rules: Visiting in Kansas

Overview

Ellsworth Correctional Facility is a state prison for men operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections. It is in Ellsworth, the seat of Ellsworth County, in central Kansas. The facility houses men in medium and minimum custody.

The Kansas DOC assigns custody level based on factors that include sentence length, time remaining, and conduct, and a person’s custody level can change during incarceration. The custody class and housing unit held at a given prison shape day-to-day arrangements, so families confirm the details that apply to the specific person before a first visit.

What Makes the Ellsworth Correctional Facility Different

Ellsworth Correctional Facility is a central-Kansas men’s prison holding both medium- and minimum-custody residents. It also operates a satellite minimum-security unit, the Ellsworth–East Unit, which opened in 2012 in Ellsworth. The satellite unit is administered as part of Ellsworth Correctional Facility rather than as a separate prison, but it keeps its own mailing address, so families confirm which unit a resident is held in — and the correct address — before sending mail or arranging a visit.

Visiting

The statewide KDOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility. The facility’s own arrangements:

Approved list first: Before any visit, each visitor must be on the resident’s pre-approved visitation list. The number of visitors per resident is four, and family visits are not available during reception (intake) until a resident advances to Incentive Level 1.
Scheduling: Statewide through ICSolutions at icsolutions.com. Reservations must be made at least 72 hours before visiting begins at the facility for that week; visitors who are not online can contact the facility’s visitation clerk.
Days and hours: Set by the facility. Each adult facility offers two slots per day, one morning and one afternoon; a visitor may reserve one or two slots on a day but cannot book multiple days in one weekend. Confirm the facility’s current visiting schedule.
Contact visits: Appropriate contact, such as a brief hug, is allowed between residents and their visitors.
Main line: 785-472-5501

Getting There and Parking

Ellsworth Correctional Facility is at 1607 State St. in Ellsworth, in Ellsworth County in central Kansas. Ellsworth is reached by way of Kansas Highway 156 and is a short drive north of Interstate 70, which runs between Salina to the east and Hays to the west. The nearest larger commercial airport is in the Wichita area to the southeast.

Parking is on site. Visitors confirm current entry procedures, the visitor-processing location, and what may be brought onto the grounds with the facility before arriving, because electronic devices and personal items are generally not permitted inside.

Nearby Services

Ellsworth has limited lodging and dining, with additional options in Salina to the east along Interstate 70. Emergency medical care is available locally, with larger hospitals in the Salina and Wichita areas. Visitors traveling a long distance generally find the most options for fuel, food, and overnight stays along the Interstate 70 corridor.

Mail

Kansas sends mail straight to the facility — there is no off-site scanning vendor. The Kansas Department of Corrections accepts only letters and photographs through the mail; it will not accept other items mailed into a facility. Every envelope must show the resident’s full name and KDOC registration number, plus the sender’s name and return address — mail missing this information is not delivered. Incoming and outgoing mail that is not legal, official, or privileged may be inspected or read.

Address personal mail to the resident at Ellsworth Correctional Facility, 1607 State St., Ellsworth, KS 67439. Residents held at the Ellsworth–East Unit have a separate mailing address (P.O. Box 107, Ellsworth, KS 67439), so confirm which unit the person is in before sending mail. Legal, official, and privileged mail goes to the facility and is handled separately. Books, publications, and packages are not sent as ordinary letter mail; confirm the current approved-vendor and publisher-direct rules with the facility before ordering.

Mail rules are set by Kansas Administrative Regulation 44-12-601 and KDOC policy IMPP 12-120.

Learn More

Visiting someone in a Kansas prison — the approved visitor list, scheduling visits through ICSolutions, days and hours, and what to expect at the facility.
Sending mail to a Kansas prison — what the Kansas DOC accepts, how to address an envelope, and the rules for legal mail and publications.
Phone calls and video visits in Kansas — setting up phone service through ICSolutions, video visits, and electronic messaging through GettingOut.
Sending money in Kansas — depositing to a resident’s trust account through Access Corrections, by app, online, phone, retail, or mailed money order.
Medical care in Kansas prisons — how health care is provided, requesting care, and what families can and cannot do.
Intake and transfers in Kansas — reception at El Dorado (men) and Topeka (women), and how people move between facilities.

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.