What to Expect During Your Loved One's First 48 Hours at Brooklyn Correctional Inst

Right after your loved one arrives at Brooklyn Correctional Inst, intake processing begins. Staff conduct a search as part of admission. This is one of the first steps. They're also given a shower during admission. Intake can be a long, exhausting stretch, but the shower is standard procedure. During this same period, they receive a health evaluation. This gives the facility an initial medical baseline and helps identify any immediate health needs early on.

Staff also handle personal belongings during admission. Your loved one's property is inventoried, then either issued to them or sent home. If you're expecting items to come back to the family, this inventory step explains why it may not happen right away or the way you expected.

After admission, your loved one should receive orientation from a Correctional Counselor within the first few business days. This is when the facility shifts from basic intake processing to day-to-day expectations. Orientation covers facility and departmental rules, behavioral expectations, and how the disciplinary process works. For families, this helps explain why your loved one may sound focused on rules and routines when you first talk.

• ✓ Facility and departmental rules
• ✓ Behavioral expectations
• ✓ The disciplinary process

Visits require some paperwork to get started. To establish visiting approvals, your loved one must submit the name and address of each potential visitor to their assigned counselor. Once those names and addresses are submitted, the counselor mails visiting application forms to the prospective visitors. For families, that means a built-in delay: the first step has to start inside the facility, then the forms get mailed out.

Phone access also starts with a list. Your loved one can submit up to 10 phone numbers for approval. Until those numbers are approved, calling is limited. Once approved, they can make calls up to 15 minutes in length. Call times are dictated by the facility schedule, so even after approval, calls come at specific windows rather than whenever they want.

During admission, your loved one receives basic items to get started: a bedroll with sheets and a blanket, plus uniform pants and shirts. If needed, they also get underwear and personal hygiene items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. After that initial issue, hygiene items are handled through commissary. Most hygiene basics must be purchased unless a specific exception applies. That exception is indigent status. If your loved one has less than $5.00 in their account, personal hygiene items are provided free of charge.