What Happens During a Contact Visit at Estelle Unit
Contact visits let you have limited physical contact with your loved one. Here's what that actually looks like at the Estelle Unit—and what to expect once you're in the visiting room.
A contact visit at the Estelle Unit takes place either inside a designated visiting area or outside the main building within the fenced perimeter. The key difference from other visit types? Physical contact is allowed - within specific limits that staff enforce.
When you use the online visitation scheduler, you'll see multiple visit types listed: Regular, Contact, and Video/Tablet. But not every option shows up for every inmate. Visit types vary, and the system may only offer certain types for the person you're trying to visit.
Allowed Physical
- ✓ Embracing and kissing are permitted once at the beginning and once at the end of each contact visit.
Holding hands is allowed during contact visits, but there's a catch: your hands must stay on top of the table, in full view of staff. Keep them visible on the tabletop the entire time and you'll avoid being corrected.
Quick recap: Physical contact is allowed during contact visits, but it’s limited - embracing and kissing are only allowed once at the start and once at the end, and hand-holding is only allowed with hands on top of the table in staff’s view.
Contact visit eligibility depends on custody level. Inmates with custody levels G1, J1, and J2 can receive one contact visit per week.
Even when contact visits exist as an option, what you can actually schedule may be more limited. Availability depends on your relationship to the inmate, the facility's visiting area setup, and the inmate's current visitation privileges. The visit type you expect might not be what the system offers for that specific person.
Contact visits are still supervised. Physical contact happens in a controlled setting where staff observe and enforce the rules - including when you can embrace or kiss and where your hands need to be throughout the visit.
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