Visiting
How to see the person: hours, sign-up, documents, rules. Enter the facility — we assemble the answer. If it is not in our base, we show how to learn everything with one call.
Updated July 28, 2026
Type a city, facility name, or state — in English or as written on documents. The base has 196 centers.
Rules that hold almost everywhere
- Arrive at least 15 minutes early — latecomers are turned away
- A government-issued photo ID for every adult (driver’s license, passport, or state ID); some facilities ask for a second document. At check-in you fill out a form with the person’s name and A-Number
- A limit on visitors per visit — usually up to three, children count
- Children usually need a birth certificate; a child stays under adult supervision the whole time, and noisy behavior is grounds to end the visit
- Bring nothing in: phones and bags stay in the car or in a locker at the entrance
- No hand-offs during visits — books and letters have their own channels
- On the day of the visit, call and confirm visits are not cancelled: a lockdown cancels them without notice
Dress stricter than the rules say
The typical requirements: knee length, nothing sheer, tight, or revealing, closed shoes. But guards interpret them on the spot, and the interpretation changes from shift to shift.
At the Delaney Hall facility, families were turned away over leggings, shorts, and Crocs — even children were refused. It is safer to dress well more conservatively than the rules, everyone, children included.
If you have no status yourself
Visitors fill out a form and show documents; at some facilities visitors are checked against databases.
Legal aid organizations point to an attorney here: discuss the risk of the visit before the trip. Video calls, regular calls, and letters are ways to stay in touch without a visit.
If you cannot make the trip
- Video calls and messages — through the facility’s phone operator
- Regular calls: the person calls out when there is money on the account
- Letters and postcards by mail arrive more reliably than any service
Every facility has its own rules, and they change without notice. As of July 2026 — confirm by phone on the day of the visit.
Related pages1
Information updated July 28, 2026. Rules change — check the date.
We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice. This page has facts and links to official sources only.