Visiting Regulations

PS 5267.09 · Change Notice CN-1 (8/1/2023) to the 12/10/2015 statement · Official PDF on bop.gov →

How you get on the list, how long you get, and what happens in the front lobby. The national floor is four hours a month and weekend hours; nearly everything else is local, which is why the schedule, the dress code, and what you can carry in change from one facility to the next. This is the document those local supplements are built on, so it tells you which rules come down from the BOP and which ones the institution wrote itself. The 2023 change notice at the top is the part families keep needing: nobody can be turned away over sanitary products, and there has to be a plan for reaching a lawyer when the place goes on lockdown. Read this, then the facility's supplement, then the Facebook group, because the group knows which rules the lobby officer actually enforces.

A local supplement almost certainly applies Wardens issue institution supplements to fill in whatever national policy leaves up to the facility, and this is one of the policies they supplement most often. What's below is the national floor. The supplement is the version staff actually work from day to day: the hours, the limits, the forms, the local exceptions. It can't contradict the policy below, but it can be far more specific than anything on this page, and it's usually where the rule you can't find here lives. No supplements are posted on this site yet. They're written facility by facility and the BOP doesn't publish them in one place, so they go up as I get current copies. Until then, the person inside can ask their unit team for the institution supplement to PS 5267.09, usually numbered with the facility's code in front of it and kept in the law library. The facility's Facebook group is the other place people find out what the local version says.

CHANGE NOTICE CN-1, AUGUST 1, 2023 (EXCERPT)

This Change Notice (CN) implements changes to Program Statement 5267.09, Visiting Regulations, dated December 10, 2015. This CN establishes procedures for ensuring inmates have access to legal counsel during a significant disruptive event. In addition, per the First Step Act, no visitor can be prohibited from visiting an inmate due to the use of sanitary (i.e. feminine hygiene) products. The inserted text is marked in highlight.

CHANGE NOTICE CN-1, SECTION 1: PURPOSE AND SCOPE (EXCERPT)

c. Institution Supplement. Each institution will develop local procedures and guidelines required to administer this Program Statement. The institution will involve the Regional Office, Correctional Services Administrator, in developing the Institution Supplement.

Procedures to ensure inmates can access legal counsel as soon as it is safely possible after a facilities issue or other disruptive event.

Procedures for notifying inmate families and the public when deviation from the visitation schedule occurs.

Procedures that no visitor is prohibited from visiting an incarcerated individual due to such visitor's use of sanitary (i.e. feminine hygiene)products.

Guidance on providing a private area for nursing as nursing infants are permitted in the visiting room.

CHANGE NOTICE CN-1, SECTION 10: ATTORNEY VISITS (EXCERPT)

Alternative Legal Access Arrangements. To ensure inmates have access to legal counsel as soon as it is safely possible after a significant or disruptive event at a facility exceeds 24 hours, each facility will develop alternative legal access arrangements. These plans may include, but are not limited to, alternative visiting locations at the facility, expansion of normal visiting hours, and any additional procedures consistent with the mission and security of the facility. Restriction of legal access should occur only when necessary to protect the safety and security of employees, inmates, or the public.

Notification of Visiting Disruption. In instances where there is a significant or disruptive event affecting the conditions of confinement and, institution management decides to restrict legal and/or social visiting, employees must make all reasonable efforts to notify all known parties affected by the disruption. This includes, but is not limited to inmate families, defense counsel, local courts, and the public. For facilities housing pretrial inmates, such notice must also be made to the local Federal Public Defender Office(s), the local United States District Court(s), and the local United States Attorney's Office(s). This information can be transmitted via telephone, email, or listed on the Institution's webpage.

SECTION 1: PURPOSE AND SCOPE § 540.40 (EXCERPT)

The Bureau of Prisons encourages visiting by family, friends, and community groups to maintain the morale of the inmate and to develop closer relationships between the inmate and family members or others in the community. The Warden shall develop procedures consistent with this rule to permit inmate visiting. The Warden may restrict inmate visiting when necessary to ensure the security and good order of the institution.

Due to practical considerations and the different characteristics of institutions, certain limitations and controls must be established in developing and administering visiting regulations. The extent of these limitations will vary with each institution, and are recognized as reasons upon which visiting restrictions may be based. These limitations will be specified in the Institution Supplement.

The Warden has the authority to restrict or suspend an inmate's regular visiting privileges temporarily when there is reasonable suspicion that the inmate has acted in a way that would indicate a threat to the good order or security of the institution. Ordinarily, the duration of the restriction or suspension should be limited to the time required to investigate and complete the discipline process.

Reasonable suspicion exists when reliable information and/or facts are presented to the Warden that the inmate is engaged, or attempting to engage, in criminal or other prohibited behavior. Reasonable suspicion must be directed to the inmate(s)/visitor(s) in question.

In determining reasonable suspicion, employees should consider whether the available information could reasonably lead a person with correctional experience to suspect that the inmate is engaged in criminal or other prohibited behavior. (See Section 13.c. of this Program Statement for reference to inmates in detention or segregation status.)

The Institution Supplement must be available in English and Spanish.

The Institution Supplement will include, at a minimum, the following considerations:

The visiting schedule for the institution, including all of its components (satellite camp, jail, etc.), if they differ.

Holdover visiting procedures (time frame for approval; who is permitted to visit, etc.).

Procedures addressing special visitors (i.e., minister of record and clergy visits).

Procedures for disapproving proposed visitors.

Procedures for approving any exception to the prior relationship requirement.

The method by which employees will make written guidelines available to visitors.

Limitations specific to the institution (e.g., visiting space, frequency of visits, number of visitors).

Identify employees responsible for arranging and supervising special visits.

Procedures to maintain a record of visitors for each inmate.

Procedures for a backup system to the computer visiting program.

Facility address/phone number, directions to the facility, and information about local transportation.

Days and hours of visitation.

Approved dress code.

Identification requirements for visitors.

Items authorized in the visiting room.

Special rules for children.

Authorized items that visitors may bring to give to the inmate, if applicable.

Special visit requirements.

Procedures for storing items not authorized in the visiting room (cellphones, car keys, handbags, etc.).

Visiting procedures for inmates assigned to the Special Housing Unit.

Visiting procedures for inmates hospitalized in the community.

Procedures for child areas (e.g., whether inmates are permitted in areas designated for children).

The size and quantity of any clear plastic container/bag used to carry authorized items into a visiting room.

SECTION 5: VISITING FACILITIES § 540.41 (EXCERPT)

The Warden shall have the visiting room arranged so as to provide adequate supervision, adapted to the degree of security required by the type of institution. The Warden shall ensure that the visiting area is as comfortable and pleasant as practicable, and appropriately furnished and arranged. If space is available, the Warden shall have a portion of the visiting room equipped and set up to provide facilities for the children of visitors.

a. Institutions of minimum and low security levels may permit visits beyond the security perimeter, but always under supervision of staff.

b. Institutions of medium and high security levels, and administrative institutions may establish outdoor visiting, but it will always be inside the security perimeter and always under supervision of staff.

Reasonable accommodations should be made to ensure that all parts of the visiting area accessible to the public are also accessible to visitors and inmates with disabilities.

SECTION 6: VISITING TIMES § 540.42 (EXCERPT)

a. Each Warden shall establish a visiting schedule for the institution. At a minimum, the Warden shall establish visiting hours at the institution on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The restriction of visiting to these days may be a hardship for some families and arrangements for other suitable hours shall be made to the extent practicable. Where staff resources permit, the Warden may establish evening visiting hours.

b. Consistent with available resources, such as space limitations and staff availability, and with concerns of institution security, the Warden may limit the visiting period. With respect to weekend visits, for example, some or all inmates and visitors may be limited to visiting on Saturday or on Sunday, but not on both days, in order to accommodate the volume of visitors. There is no requirement that every visitor has the opportunity to visit on both days of the weekend, nor that every inmate has the opportunity to have visits on both days of the weekend.

To the extent practicable, and consistent with available resources and concerns for institution security, the Warden is encouraged to establish visiting and/or attempt to accommodate a visitor who can only visit on a specific weekend day.

SECTION 7: FREQUENCY OF VISITS AND NUMBER OF VISITORS § 540.43 (EXCERPT)

The Warden shall allow each inmate a minimum of four hours visiting time per month. The Warden may limit the length or frequency of visits only to avoid chronic overcrowding. The Warden may establish a guideline for the maximum number of persons who may visit an inmate at one time, to prevent overcrowding in the visiting room or unusual difficulty in supervising a visit. Exceptions may be made to any local guideline when indicated by special circumstances, such as distance the visitor must travel, frequency of the inmate's visits, or health problems of the inmate or visitor.

The Warden may establish a limit, consistent with available resources, on the number of visits an inmate may receive and/or the number of visiting hours (in excess of four) allotted to the inmate each month. Due to space limitations, limits on visiting may be necessary when an inmate has numerous regular visitors living in the vicinity of the institution.

Where facilities permit, the Warden may allow family groups to visit. The Warden may also authorize special visits to accommodate unique circumstances (e.g., a person traveling a long distance to visit, a person visiting a hospitalized inmate).

SECTION 8: REGULAR VISITORS § 540.44 (EXCERPT)

An inmate desiring to have regular visitors must submit a list of proposed visitors to the designated staff. See §540.45 for qualification as special visitor. Staff are to compile a visiting list for each inmate after suitable investigation in accordance with §540.51(b) of this part. The list may include:

a. Members of the Immediate Family. These persons include mother, father, step-parents, foster parents, brothers and sisters, spouse, and children. These individuals are placed on the visiting list, absent strong circumstances that preclude visiting.

The word "spouse" includes a common-law relationship that has been previously established in a state that recognizes such a status. In states that do not, a common-law relationship is not considered "immediate family." For determination of applicable state laws, the Regional Counsel should be consulted. Failure to obtain acknowledgment of parent or legal guardian may preclude the addition of children to the visiting list. When deemed appropriate, background checks may also be completed on immediate family members. For determination of applicable state laws, the Regional Counsel should be consulted.

b. Other Relatives. These persons include grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws, and cousins. They may be placed on the approved list if the inmate wishes to have visits from them regularly and if there exists no reason to exclude them.

c. Friends and Associates. The visiting privilege ordinarily will be extended to friends and associates having an established relationship with the inmate prior to confinement, unless such visits could reasonably create a threat to the security and good order of the institution. Exceptions to the prior relationship rule may be made, particularly for inmates without other visitors, when it is shown that the proposed visitor is reliable and poses no threat to the security or good order of the institution.

Regardless of the institution's security level, the inmate must have known the proposed visitor(s) prior to incarceration. The Warden must approve any exception to this requirement.

See Section 14.b.(2) of this Program Statement regarding background investigations for proposed visitors.

Ordinarily, an inmate's visiting list should not list more than 10 friends and associates. The Warden may make an exception to this provision when warranted.

d. Persons with Prior Criminal Convictions. The existence of a criminal conviction alone does not preclude visits. Staff shall give consideration to the nature, extent, and recentness of convictions, as weighed against the security considerations of the institution. Specific approval of the Warden may be required before such visits take place.

Ordinarily, employees should obtain written authorization from the appropriate Federal or state probation/parole official prior to approving visitation privileges for an individual on probation, parole, or supervised release. A copy of this authorization will be maintained in section 2 of the Privacy Folder in the Inmate Central File.

See Section 14.b.(2) of this Program Statement regarding background investigations for proposed visitors.

e. Children Under Sixteen. Children under the age of 16 may not visit unless accompanied by a responsible adult. Children shall be kept under supervision of a responsible adult or a children's program. Exceptions in unusual circumstances may be made by special approval of the Warden.

The signature of a parent or legal guardian on the Visitor Information form (BP-A0629) is necessary to process a request for an applicant under 18 years of age. Ordinarily, completing the questionnaire portion of this form (items 1 through 14) is not required if such an applicant is a verified immediate family member of the requesting inmate.

SECTION 9: QUALIFICATION AS SPECIAL VISITOR § 540.45 (EXCERPT)

a. Business Visitor. Except for pretrial inmates, an inmate is not permitted to engage actively in a business or profession. An inmate who was engaged in a business or profession prior to commitment is expected to assign authority for the operation of such business or profession to a person in the community. Pretrial inmates may be allowed special visitors for the purpose of protecting the pretrial inmate's business interests. In those instances where an inmate has turned over the operation of a business or profession to another person, there still may be an occasion where a decision must be made which will substantially affect the assets or prospects of the business. The Warden accordingly may permit a special business visit in such cases. The Warden may waive the requirement for the existence of an established relationship prior to confinement for visitors approved under this paragraph.

b. Consular Visitors. When it has been determined that an inmate is a citizen of a foreign country, the Warden must permit the consular representative of that country to visit on matters of legitimate business. The Warden may not withhold this privilege even though the inmate is in disciplinary status. The requirement for the existence of an established relationship prior to confinement does not apply to consular visitors.

(1) Minister of Record. An inmate wanting to receive visits from his/her minister of record must submit a written request to the Chaplain. Upon approval, unit employees add the name and title (minister of record) to the inmate's visitor list.

An inmate may only have one minister of record on his/her visiting list at a time. The addition of the minister of record will not count against the total number of authorized regular visitors an inmate is allowed to have on his/her visiting list, and will not count against the total number of social visits allowed.

SECTION 10: ATTORNEY VISITS § 540.46 (EXCERPT)

Employees may not subject visits between an attorney and an inmate to auditory supervision. To the extent practicable, attorney visits, for both pretrial and sentenced inmates, are to take place in a private conference room. However, areas designated for attorney visits will be arranged so as to provide adequate unobstructed visual supervision.

Where such a room is not available, the attorney visit may occur in a regular visiting room, provided the inmate and the inmate's attorney have a degree of separation from other visitors.

SECTION 12: TRANSPORTATION ASSISTANCE § 540.49 (EXCERPT)

The Warden shall ensure that directions for transportation to and from the institution are provided for the approved visitor (see §540.51(b)(4)). Directions for transportation to and from the institution and pay phone service, with commercial transportation phone numbers posted, are also to be made available at the institution to assist visitors.

If pay phone service is not available, the visitor is to ensure transportation is arranged prior to the visit.

SECTION 13: VISITS TO INMATES NOT IN REGULAR POPULATION STATUS § 540.50 (EXCERPT)

a. Admission and Holdover Status. The Warden may limit to the immediate family of the inmate visits during the admission-orientation period or for holdovers where there is neither a visiting list from a transferring institution nor other verification of proposed visitors.

b. Hospital Patients

(1) When visitors request to see an inmate who is hospitalized in the institution, the Chief Medical Officer (or, in his absence, the Health Services Administrator), in consultation with the Captain, shall determine whether a visit may occur, and if so, whether it may be held in the hospital.

When a visit is denied because the inmate is suffering from an infectious disease, is in a psychotic or emotional episode that makes a visit inadvisable, or is otherwise not in a condition to see visitors, the situation is to be carefully and sensitively explained to the approved visitor. Notification to the visitor will be addressed in the Institution Supplement. Documentation is maintained in section 2 of the Privacy Folder in the Inmate Central File.

Inmates with medical conditions will be reviewed by the Chief Medical Officer or, in his/her absence, the Health Services Administrator, in consultation with the Captain, to determine whether visiting will be permitted. Visiting procedures for inmates with medical conditions will be addressed in the Institution Supplement.

(2) Visits to inmates hospitalized in the community may be restricted to only the immediate family and are subject to the general visiting policy of that hospital.

c. Detention or Segregation Status. Ordinarily, an inmate retains visiting privileges while in detention or segregation status. Visiting may be restricted or disallowed, however, when an inmate, while in detention or segregation status, is charged with, or has been found to have committed, a prohibited act having to do with visiting guidelines or has otherwise acted in a way that would reasonably indicate that he or she would be a threat to the orderliness or security of the visiting room.

Loss of an inmate's visiting privileges for other reasons may not occur unless the inmate is provided a hearing before the Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) in accordance with the provisions of §541.17 of this chapter, following those provisions which are appropriate to the circumstances, which results in a finding by the DHO that the inmate committed a prohibited act and that there is a lack of other appropriate sanctions or that imposition of an appropriate sanction previously has been ineffective.

The Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) may not impose a loss of visiting privileges for inmates in detention or segregation status. The provisions of this paragraph (c) do not interrupt or delay a loss of visiting sanction imposed by the UDC or DHO prior to the inmate's placement in detention or segregation status.

SECTION 14: PROCEDURES § 540.51 (EXCERPT)

b. Preparation of the List of Visitors.

(1) Staff shall ask each inmate to submit during the admission-orientation process a list of proposed visitors. After appropriate investigation, staff shall compile a visiting list for each inmate and distribute that list to the inmate and the visiting room officer.

An inmate will be provided written material on the institution's visiting procedures during the intake screening process. At a minimum, the information will include the following:

The initial visiting list is prepared and distributed as soon as practicable after receiving the required information to process the visiting list. This list identifies immediate family members approved to visit the inmate. Additional family members and friends may be added following the completion of an appropriate investigation.

Visiting privileges for a minister of record must be submitted directly to the Chaplaincy Services Department for review and approval/denial.

Whenever a person is deleted from or added to an inmate's visitor list, employees update the list as soon as possible to reflect the change. A copy of the most current approved visiting list will be placed in section 3 of the Inmate Central File.

Likewise, if an inmate elects not to have any visitors, he/she will be asked to sign a visiting list indicating no visitors are requested. This form is filed in section 3 of the Inmate Central File.

(2) Staff may request background information from potential visitors who are not members of the inmate's immediate family, before placing them on the inmate's approved visiting list. When little or no information is available on the inmate's potential visitor, visiting may be denied, pending receipt and review of necessary information, including information which is available about the inmate and/or the inmate's offense, including alleged offenses.

The Visitor Information form (BP-A0629) is used to request background information and obtain the visitor's consent to release information. This form will be filed in section 2 of the Privacy Folder in the Inmate Central File.

Regardless of the institution's security level, employees should obtain background information on potential visitors, to include Minister of Record. This is required in the Medium, High, and Administrative institutions due to their greater security needs. The Warden or designee may make an exception to this procedure when warranted.

Employees in institutions housing pretrial offenders are strongly encouraged to complete a background check (NCIC) on potential visitors due to limited information received on these individuals. Background checks may also be completed on immediate family members.

The inmate is to mail the BP-A0629 to his/her proposed visitor(s). The proposed visitor must complete this form and mail it directly to the unit employees responsible for processing the inmate's visiting list. Employees should advise the inmate to provide his/her proposed visitor with the employee's name and address.

If necessary, employees will either send the Request for Conviction Information form (BP- A0311) to the appropriate law enforcement agency to gather additional background information or complete a background check using the (NCIC). Periodic background checks are to be conducted every two years by regenerating the background check and reviewing it for new criminal activity.

Visitor Information forms, Request for Conviction Information forms, and NCIC background information will be maintained in section 2 of the Privacy Folder of the Inmate Central File.

When an inmate transfers from one institution to another, employees do not need to reapprove the visitors already contained on the inmate's visiting list. However, employees will need to review the visiting list to ensure the approved visitors are still appropriate based on the institution's security level and any local requirements identified by the Warden. Additionally, background checks greater than two years old are to be regenerated and reviewed for new criminal activity. When possible, the unit team should be consulted prior to approval of a visitor not on the inmate's approved visiting list.

(4) Staff shall notify the inmate of each approval or disapproval of a requested person for the visiting list. Upon approval of each visitor, staff shall provide the inmate with a copy of the visiting guidelines and with directions for transportation to and from the institution. The inmate is responsible for notifying the visitor of the approval or disapproval to visit and is expected to provide the approved visitor with a copy of the visiting guidelines and directions for transportation to and from the institution. The visiting guidelines shall include specific directions for reaching the institution and shall cite 18 U.S.C. 1791, which provides a penalty of imprisonment for not more than twenty years, a fine, or both for providing or attempting to provide to an inmate anything whatsoever without the knowledge and consent of the Warden.

d. Identification of Visitors. Staff shall verify the identity of each visitor (through driver's license, photo identification, etc.) prior to admission of the visitor to the institution.

Photo Identification must be a valid state or government-issued photo identification.

Visitors under the age of 16 who are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian are exempt from this provision.

e. Notification to Visitors. Staff shall make available to all visitors written guidelines for visiting the institution. Staff shall have the visitor sign a statement acknowledging that the guidelines were provided and declaring that the visitor does not have any article in his/her possession which the visitor knows to be a threat to the security of the institution. Staff may deny the visiting privilege to a visitor who refuses to make such a declaration.

Visiting room employees are to make the institution's written guidelines for visiting available to visitors. The Notification to Visitor form (BP-A0224) may be retrieved via the Sallyport Policy/Forms page.

f. Searching Visitors. Staff may require a visitor to submit to a personal search, including a search of any items of personal property, as a condition of allowing or continuing a visit.

Refer to the Program Statement Searching, Detaining, or Arresting Visitors to Bureau Grounds and Facilities for additional instructions on this subject.

g. Record of Visitors. The Warden shall maintain a record of visitors to each inmate. The visitor's signature may be required on that record and shall be required on at least one visiting log or record maintained by the institution.

h. Supervision of Visits. Staff shall supervise each inmate visit to prevent the passage of contraband and to ensure the security and good order of the institution. The Warden may establish procedures to enable monitoring of the visiting area, including restrooms located within the visiting area. The Warden must provide notice to both visitors and inmates of the potential for monitoring the visiting area. The Warden may monitor a visitor restroom within the visiting area when there is reasonable suspicion that a visitor and/or an inmate is engaged, or attempting or about to engage, in criminal behavior or other prohibited behavior.

Visitor restrooms may be monitored physically only with the Warden's written approval, and only after it is determined that there is a reasonable suspicion that the visitor or inmate is engaged, or attempting to engage, in a criminal activity or other prohibited behavior.

Physical monitoring should be conducted by a person of the same sex as the visitor using the restroom. Other restrooms may be inspected and monitored as needed for security purposes.

Refer to the Program Statement Searching, Detaining, or Arresting Visitors to Bureau Grounds and Facilities for further information regarding "reasonable suspicion."

(1) The visiting room officer shall ensure that all visits are conducted in a quiet, orderly, and dignified manner. The visiting room officer may terminate visits that are not conducted in the appropriate manner. See 28 CFR §541.12, item 5, for description of an inmate's responsibility during visits.

(2) Staff shall permit limited physical contact, such as handshaking, embracing, and kissing, between an inmate and a visitor, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that such contact would jeopardize the safety or security of the institution. Where contact visiting is provided, handshaking, embracing, and kissing are ordinarily permitted within the bounds of good taste and only at the beginning and at the end of the visit. The staff may limit physical contact to minimize opportunity for the introduction of contraband and to maintain the orderly operation of the visiting area.

An inmate who has been approved for, and is awaiting placement in the ADX-Florence Control Unit, may be limited to non-contact visits.

(3) The visiting room officer may not accept articles or gifts of any kind for an inmate, except packages which have had prior approval by the Warden or a designated staff member.

All authorized items entering the visiting room must be carried in a clear plastic container/bag.

An inmate's visitor may not leave money with any employees for deposit in the inmate's commissary account. Refer to the Program Statement Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual for additional information on accepting packages.

SECTION 15: PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF VISITING REGULATIONS § 540.52 (EXCERPT)

Any act or effort to violate the visiting guidelines of an institution may result in disciplinary action against the inmate, which may include the denial of future visits, possibly over an extended period of time. Moreover, criminal prosecution may be initiated against the visitor, the inmate, or both, in the case of criminal violations.

In an effort to eliminate the introduction of drugs and drug paraphernalia into Bureau institutions, the Bureau will seek criminal prosecution against visitors who participate in contraband violations. Additionally, as a disincentive for inmates found guilty of these violations, the Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) or Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) may impose the loss of visiting privileges as a sanction.

Refer to the Program Statement Inmate Discipline Program for information regarding loss of visiting privileges resulting from disciplinary action.

SECTION 16: WALSH ACT REQUIREMENTS (EXCERPT)

The Unit Team will evaluate all inmates on their caseload and all incoming inmates to determine if they have an inmate who has been convicted of a sex offense involving a minor (WA W CONV).

Any inmate fitting this criterion will have the following annotation placed in the visiting program under the comments section: "this inmate was convicted of a sex offense involving a minor."

Any inmate identified as having a Walsh Act assignment involving a minor will have his/her visits closely monitored. Specific procedures will be determined locally by the Warden.

SECTION 17: VISITING REGULATIONS REGARDING PETS (EXCERPT)

Visitors are precluded from bringing animals on to institutional grounds, except for animals that assist persons with disabilities. The visitor must provide employees with certification that the animal is trained for that purpose.

Source: PS 5267.09 (8/1/2023), bop.gov/policy/progstat/5267.09cn-1.pdf. U.S. government work, public domain. Excerpts only; the official PDF controls.

This is in here because it kept happening. Women were getting turned around in the lobby, after a long drive, over a tampon or a pad setting off the scanner or showing up on a pat search. Congress put it in the First Step Act and in 2023 the BOP finally wrote it into the visiting policy. If a front lobby officer tries it on you, stay calm, ask for the operations lieutenant, and say you'd like the 5267.09 CN-1 language checked. Print this page and keep it in the car.

This is the whole reason CN-1 exists. Facilities were going on lockdown for weeks and people with active appeals, filing deadlines, or upcoming sentencings just lost contact with their lawyers. The 24-hour mark is the trigger. After that the facility is supposed to have a plan on paper. Note what this does not say: it doesn't say the visit happens in 24 hours. It says the facility has to have written down how it would happen. The lever that actually works is the attorney calling the institution, not the family calling. If your person has counsel, tell counsel.

Read that as: posting it on the website counts as telling you. Nobody is calling you. Before you drive four hours on a Saturday morning, check the facility's page on bop.gov and call the institution's main number. This is the single most common wasted trip families make.

This sentence is worth more than it looks. When you're arguing for a visit, an exception, or a special visit, this is the policy's own stated purpose and you should quote it back. The agency is on record saying visiting is good for the institution, not a favor to you.

Visits can be shut off before anybody is found guilty of anything, while an investigation runs. That's legal under this policy. What the policy also says is that it's supposed to end when the discipline process ends. If your person beat the shot or already served the sanction and visits still aren't back on, that's the sentence to point at when you write the unit manager.

Meaning it has to be about your person specifically. "There's been a lot of contraband coming through the visiting room lately" is not reasonable suspicion aimed at anybody. It gets used that way anyway, but the policy language is narrower than the practice, and knowing that is the difference between an angry phone call and a useful one.

This is the most important paragraph in the document and it's buried on page four. The program statement is the national floor. The Institution Supplement is the local rulebook, and it's the one the officer in the front lobby is actually working from: dress code, what you can bring, how many people at a table, whether you visit Saturday or Sunday. Two facilities that look identical on paper run visiting completely differently. Get the supplement for the specific facility. Everything else is guessing.

If you're a Spanish-speaking family and you've been handed nothing you can read, this line is your ask. It's a requirement, not a courtesy.

Assume nothing comes in with you. Phone, wallet, purse, keys, jacket, everything goes in a locker in the lobby or stays in the car. Bring quarters if the lockers take quarters, because plenty still do, and a single car key rather than your whole ring. Money for the vending machines usually has to be in a clear bag and there is usually a dollar limit. All of that is local, all of it is in the supplement, and all of it will get you turned away if you get it wrong.

This is the practical difference between a camp or a low and everything above it. At minimum and low security, weather permitting, visiting can happen outside at picnic tables. If you're bringing kids, that matters enormously. A four-year-old can run around outside for three hours. A four-year-old cannot sit still in a plastic chair in a fluorescent-lit room for three hours. I did my time at a low and outdoor visiting was the single biggest quality-of-life difference for the families who came.

Weekends and federal holidays are the guaranteed floor. Weekdays and evenings exist at some facilities and not others. Holidays are real: Thanksgiving and Christmas visiting happens, it's usually the most crowded day of the year, and you want to be in the lobby line early.

This is where visiting point systems come from. Lots of facilities split the population, by unit, by register number, by odd and even, so you get one weekend day and not the other. Some run a monthly points allowance where each visit costs points. None of that is in the national policy, all of it is local, and it's legal because of this sentence.

Four hours a month. That's the actual federal guarantee, and it's worth knowing because it's so much lower than people assume. In practice most camps and lows give far more than that. But when a consultant tells you they'll make sure your person gets weekly visits, this line is what they're promising against, and the answer is that nobody can promise it.

Here's your leverage if you live far away. The policy specifically names travel distance, how rarely your person gets visits, and health problems as reasons to break the local rules. If you're flying in from another state twice a year, that is exactly the situation this sentence was written for. Ask before you book, in writing, through your person's case manager.

A special visit is the mechanism, and almost nobody on the outside knows it exists. It can mean visiting on a day that isn't your day, extra hours, or more people at the table than the local limit. How it happens: your person asks the unit team, in writing, well in advance, with the dates and the flight or drive details. Not you calling the institution. The request has to come from inside. Start three to four weeks out, not the Tuesday before.

Immediate family is the easy tier. Parents, step-parents, foster parents, siblings, spouse, kids. "Absent strong circumstances" means they go on unless there's a real reason, and they usually skip the questionnaire and the long background wait. Note who isn't on this list: grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, cousins, and anyone you aren't married to. Those are all the next tier down.

If you aren't legally married, whether you count as a spouse depends on the law of your state, and most states don't recognize common-law marriage anymore. If yours doesn't, you're going on the list as a friend, which means you needed to have known them before they were locked up and you're going through the full background process. This catches long-term partners constantly and it is a miserable thing to find out in month two. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice, but if this is your situation, it's worth asking their attorney about before they self-surrender.

The prior relationship rule. Friends have to have known them before they went in. This is why the visiting list should get built before self-surrender, while everyone still has a phone and an address and nobody is trying to coordinate it through 15-minute phone calls.

Ten friends is the soft cap, and family doesn't count against it. "Ordinarily" and "may make an exception" mean the number is real but not sacred. If somebody on the list has stopped coming, take them off and use the slot. Lists are changeable, and people treat them like they're carved in stone.

A record doesn't automatically disqualify you. It gets weighed: how bad, how much, how long ago. It does mean the Warden may have to personally sign off, and it means your approval will take longer than everyone else's. Don't lie on the form about it. They run NCIC either way, and getting caught lying is a much worse outcome than the conviction itself.

If you're on supervised release, probation, or parole yourself, you need your officer's written permission before you can visit anybody. Two separate agencies have to say yes, and neither one will chase the other. Get the letter from your probation officer first and make sure it lands in the hands of the unit counselor processing the list. I've been on the supervision side of this. The paperwork moves at the speed of whoever cares least, so be the person who cares.

Kids under 16 need an adult with them, and anyone under 18 needs a parent or legal guardian to sign their form. If the parents are split up and the other parent won't sign, that's a real wall, and this policy doesn't solve it for you. Bring the kids' birth certificates or a copy the first time. Some lobbies ask for them, some don't, and it's better to have them in the folder.

If you own a business, you're expected to hand the keys to somebody on the outside before you go in. You cannot run it from inside. This gets people written up, because it's easy to drift into it: approving an invoice on a phone call, telling your wife which vendor to pay, answering a question over TRULINCS. Everything on the phone and on the messaging system is monitored and recorded, so it isn't a question of whether they'd find out. Sign the authority over before you self-surrender, cleanly, and put it in writing.

There's a narrow exception for a genuinely big decision, a sale, a shutdown, something that moves the whole company. It's a one-off special visit, not a standing arrangement, and the ask goes through the unit team with an explanation of why it can't wait or be handled by the person you assigned. Note also that a business visitor doesn't need to have known them before, which is unusual.

If your person is a foreign national, their consulate can visit and the facility cannot block it, even if they're in the SHU or have lost visiting privileges. "Must" and "may not withhold" are strong words in this document and they barely appear anywhere else. For families of non-citizens, the consulate is a real channel and it's badly underused.

A minister of record is free visiting. One per person, requested in writing through the chaplain rather than the unit team, and it doesn't eat a slot on the ten-friend list or burn one of the month's visits. If your family has a pastor, priest, rabbi, or imam who would actually show up, this is worth setting up. Regular clergy who aren't the minister of record do count against the normal limits.

An attorney visit isn't listened to. They can watch, they can't record or eavesdrop. This is the only genuinely private conversation in the building. Understand the contrast: the inmate phones are recorded, TRULINCS messages are monitored, the visiting room is supervised, and even a call to an attorney on the regular inmate phone is a recorded call unless it's been set up as an unmonitored legal call in advance. If something actually needs to be private, it happens in a legal visit.

Translation: figure out your ride home before you get there. A lot of these places are an hour from the nearest town, cell coverage in the parking lot is often bad or nonexistent, and rideshare coverage ranges from thin to imaginary. If you're flying in and relying on a phone to get back, confirm the return trip before you walk into the lobby and hand your phone over to a locker.

During A&O, the first couple of weeks, visiting can be restricted to immediate family only. There may also be no approved list yet at all, because the list gets built during A&O. This is the stretch where families panic. It is normal, it is temporary, and it is not a sign that anything went wrong. Immediate family should bring ID and expect to be told to come back.

If your person is taken to an outside hospital, visiting gets narrow fast: immediate family, plus the hospital's own rules, plus whatever the escorting officers decide is workable. Don't drive to the hospital on your own and expect to be let in. Call the institution and ask to speak to the duty officer if it's after hours.

Being in the SHU does not automatically cancel visiting. That surprises people. The visits usually become non-contact, through glass, on a different schedule and often on a weekday, but the right doesn't disappear just because they got moved. Call the institution and ask what the SHU visiting procedure is. It's in the Institution Supplement.

There's a real limit here that families should know. Once they're in segregation, the UDC, the unit-level hearing for minor stuff, cannot take their visits. Only the DHO can, at a real hearing, with a finding, and only when there's no other appropriate sanction. If visits vanished after a unit-level write-up while they were in the SHU, something is off. That's an administrative remedy question, and it's one worth asking about calmly and in writing.

The list gets started in the first days, when they're the most disoriented they will ever be and have no phone and no address book. So write it out before they go in: every name, full legal name as it appears on the ID, date of birth, full address, phone number, relationship, and whether they have a record. On paper, in their property or already mailed to them. This one piece of prep saves families about a month.

Immediate family gets approved first and fast. Everybody else waits on a background check. So the sequence in real life is: mom and the wife can come in a couple weeks, the best friend from high school shows up on the list six or eight weeks later. Plan the first few visits around the people who'll clear first.

Some people do this, especially early, out of shame more than anything else. If your person says they don't want you to see them in there, that's common and it usually passes. It's also reversible. The list can be amended any time, and signing this form isn't a permanent decision.

Background checks are supposed to happen everywhere but are mandatory at medium and above. Practically, that means approvals at a camp or a low can be quicker and looser than at a medium. It also means that if they get transferred up in security, visitors who slid through before can get looked at again. I did my time at a low, so mediums and above are outside what I lived, but the paperwork asymmetry is right there in the text.

Here's the actual flow, which nobody explains. They mail you the form, BP-A0629. You fill it out and mail it back directly to the staff member, not to them. Get that staff member's name and mailing address from them before you send anything, because a form mailed to the wrong person or to the generic institution address goes into a pile. Make a copy of what you send and write down the date. When someone says the form never arrived two months later, and they will, that copy is the whole conversation. One oddity you'll notice reading the original: "staff member" is struck through and replaced with "employee" all over this document. That's a 2023 agency-wide word swap, not a change in the rule.

Approval isn't permanent. Every two years they re-run you. If you pick up a charge, a DUI, anything, while your husband is inside, expect it to surface on the re-check and expect to be asked about it. Not automatically disqualifying. Definitely not something to hide.

Good news for transfers: the list travels with them. You do not start over. In practice there's still a lag while the new facility processes them and pulls up their file, so the first couple of weeks after a transfer are usually a dead zone for visiting. That's normal. Also note the caveat: the new place reviews the list against its own security level, so a visitor who was fine at a low isn't automatically fine at a higher-security facility.

Nobody from the prison is going to call and tell you that you were approved. They tell your person. Your person tells you. That's the whole notification system. So don't sit around waiting for a letter from the BOP that is never coming, and don't drive out on a hunch. Wait until they confirm you're on the list, and get them to read you the local rules while you're on the phone.

Read that number again. Twenty years, for the visitor. Not the inmate, the visitor. And read "anything whatsoever" literally: it isn't just drugs and phones. A stick of gum, a note, a photo you slid across the table, cash in a handshake. The serious end of that statute is aimed at drugs and weapons, but the sign on the wall isn't a bluff, and people do get arrested in prison parking lots. Whatever they ask you to bring in, the answer is no. If they push, that's a conversation about what's happening to them inside, not about the item.

Valid means unexpired, and they check. A work badge, a student ID, or a photo of your license on your phone will not get you in. If your license expired last month, deal with that before you plan the trip. Kids under 16 with a parent or guardian don't need photo ID, though some facilities still want a birth certificate, which is a local rule.

That form you sign in the lobby without reading is a declaration that you aren't carrying anything you know to be a threat. Refuse to sign it and you don't visit. It also means the "I didn't know" defense gets thinner the moment you sign it, so actually read the guidelines the first time and empty your pockets in the parking lot, not at the desk.

Expect a metal detector and a pat search every time. Some facilities also run an ion scanner, which swabs for drug residue and throws false positives off things like handled cash and some medications. If you're picked for a more invasive search you can say no, and then you don't visit that day. That's the trade the word "condition" is doing. If a search felt out of line, ask for the lieutenant while you're still there, and write down names and times before you forget them.

The visiting room is watched, including cameras, and that's not a secret. The bathrooms are the narrow case: they can be physically monitored, but only with the warden's written approval, only on reasonable suspicion about specific people, and only by staff of the same sex. Practical version: assume you're on camera the entire time you're in the building and behave accordingly, and know that the restroom exception has actual conditions attached to it.

One officer can end your visit, on the spot, for behavior. Loud arguing, a screaming toddler nobody is managing, sitting the wrong way, too much contact, wandering out of your assigned seats. "Appropriate manner" means whatever that officer thinks it means that day. The one piece of leverage in this paragraph is the last line: they're supposed to consult the lieutenant or the duty officer before terminating. Do not argue with the officer in the visiting room. You will lose, and so will they, after you leave.

A hug and a kiss hello, a hug and a kiss goodbye. That's it. In between you sit across from each other and keep your hands on the table. This is the rule that surprises couples the most, and getting cute with it is how people lose visiting privileges for months. Small kids usually get more latitude, sitting on a lap and so on, and how much is local. Ask before you assume.

You can't hand anyone at the prison cash for their account. Money goes in through the approved channels: the lockbox address in Des Moines, or one of the electronic services. It isn't complicated, and anyone charging you a consulting fee to explain it is charging you for a form you can fill out yourself. Same for gifts: you don't bring things in. Books and magazines come from an approved vendor, direct from the publisher, not out of your bag.

Not "may." Will. On drugs specifically, the stated policy is prosecution of the visitor, and that's a new federal case with your name on it. Meanwhile they catch a shot and lose visiting for months or longer, which means the family loses them too. Whatever the item is worth, it is not worth this trade, and the person asking you for it is usually being pressured by someone else inside. That's worth knowing before you say yes.

If the conviction involved a minor, it gets flagged in the visiting system and visits get watched closely. What that means in practice is set locally, and it commonly includes restrictions or extra conditions on minors visiting, including their own kids. Families in this situation need the specific Institution Supplement and a direct conversation with the case manager, because this is the area where local practice varies the most and where guessing hurts the most.

Service animals only, and bring paperwork. Emotional support animals are not service animals under this and you should assume the answer is no. If you use a service dog, call the institution ahead of the trip and ask what documentation the front lobby wants to see. Sorting that out over the phone on a Wednesday is much better than sorting it out at the door on a Saturday.

Need help with this? Just ask.

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. Answers are free, and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

josh@federalprisondude.com

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.

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