How to Contact an Inmate at FCI Petersburg Med, VA (VA)

Bureau of Prisons facilities use a couple of internal systems to manage who's approved for contact and who physically enters the building. The Web Visiting System (often called WebV) handles visiting activity and pulls key inmate identifiers from the BOP's inmate management system. A separate system, the Access Control Entry Exit System (ACES), works alongside WebV to log everyone entering and exiting the institution: staff, contractors, approved volunteers, and approved visitors. Understanding these systems helps explain why the facility asks for specific identifying details, and why you'll be checked and logged when you arrive.

WebV is built around matching visitors to the correct inmate record. It can display identifiers like the inmate's name, register number, housing unit assignment, and work detail. For approved visitors, the system stores personal details that may include your name, relationship to the inmate, date of birth, sex, race, ethnicity, driver's license or state ID number, passport number, alien registration number, legal residence, phone number, and date of approval. ACES focuses on institution entry and exit. As part of that tracking, it can collect physical and demographic descriptors for people entering Bureau facilities: hair color, eye color, sex, and race. In practice, expect identity verification and basic descriptive information to be part of the process whenever you visit in person.

Steps to Follow

• ✓ Your full legal name, date of birth, and current contact information (including phone number)
• ✓ The ID details you may be asked for (for example, a driver’s license or state ID number, or a passport number if that is what you use)
• ✓ Your relationship to the person you’re trying to contact
• ✓ The inmate’s identifying information you have available, especially their name and register number
• ✓ Any housing details you already know (housing unit assignment can be one of the identifiers displayed in WebV)

• ✓ Expect your entry to be logged and tracked when you enter and exit, the system is designed to track staff, contractors, volunteers, and approved visitors
• ✓ Be ready for basic physical and demographic descriptors to be recorded in connection with entry (for example hair color, eye color, sex, and race)
• ✓ Bring the identification you will use consistently, so verification matches the information on file

1. Start with the facility’s official web page: For questions about FCI Petersburg Med’s procedures (including how contacting and visiting works right now), use the Bureau of Prisons “Locations” area to open the facility page and pull the current addresses and phone numbers.
2. Use the BOP Central Office if your issue is bigger than the facility: For comments or questions about information found (or not found) on the BOP website, you can call the Central Office at (202) 307-3198 or write to Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Washington, DC 20534.
3. Plan for response time if you write or email: The Bureau processes emails in the same manner as written correspondence, and they note it may take about 20 to 30 working days for a response.

Before you make plans or send paperwork, check the facility's official web page for current contact information and procedures. The BOP directs questions about a specific facility's operations to that facility, and the facility page is where the Bureau publishes its current addresses and phone numbers. You'll also find the most up-to-date rules affecting contact there, including what's required for visiting approvals and entry.

If you have concerns about privacy or what gets recorded, ask the facility directly what information is kept in the visiting and entry systems for your situation, and how it's used during approvals and check-in. At the Bureau level, ACES access is limited to staff with appropriate clearance, and those staff are trained annually on handling sensitive information. Still, confirming the basics with the facility ahead of time means you won't be caught off guard by what you're asked to provide at the door.