Visiting Day Checklist for Missouri DOC Facilities: arrival, dress, searches and permitted contact

Before you leave home, confirm the person you're visiting is actually at the facility you plan to drive to, and double-check the visiting schedule for that day. It also helps to review Missouri DOC rules ahead of time. The Offender Rulebook lays out prohibited behaviors, how the corrective process works, and what corrective actions may be taken.

Plan your arrival carefully. Missouri DOC facilities don't allow visitors in the parking lot until 30 minutes before visiting starts, so showing up too early can leave you waiting off grounds. Once check-in begins, visitors enter on a first-come, first-served basis. Arriving right when that window opens matters. One more thing: no person or pet may remain in a vehicle on institutional grounds, so plan your car situation ahead of time.

Expect security screening from the moment you enter prison grounds. Missouri DOC rules allow staff to search you, your packages, your children, and your vehicle as a condition of entry onto institutional property.

Every facility uses metal detectors for visitor screening. Dress and pack with that in mind so you don't get held up at the checkpoint.

Missouri DOC enforces a strict dress code, and the easiest way to protect your visit is to dress conservatively. Clothing that is tight, excessively baggy, transparent, or revealing is prohibited. Camouflage is also off-limits. The same goes for anything with gang references, racial imagery, or inappropriate or inflammatory language or symbols.

• ✓ Skirts, dresses, and shorts shorter than the top of the kneecap when standing
• ✓ Shirts, blouses, and tops that do not cover the chest, cleavage, back, and stomach
• ✓ Tops without sleeves that cover the shoulders

Missouri DOC limits physical contact during visits. You're allowed one greeting embrace and one departing embrace, plus a brief kiss. Holding hands during the visit is permitted. Children age 6 and under may sit on the offender's lap unless the offender is a sex offender. Children should be attended by the adult visitor at all times.

Contraband Penalties

• ✓ Illegal narcotics or drugs
• ✓ Alcoholic beverages
• ✓ Firearms
• ✓ Tobacco
• ✓ Cannabis
• ✓ Any other article an offender is not permitted to possess (even if it is legal to have outside a correctional setting)
• ✓ Anything that could be treated as contraband, violations can be referred for prosecution

Missouri takes contraband seriously. Under Missouri State Statute 217.360, bringing drugs, alcoholic beverages, firearms, or any other article an offender is not permitted to possess into a correctional facility is a criminal offense. It can be charged as a felony and carry a punishment of up to 15 years in prison.

Visiting is a privilege, not a right, and visitors can be sanctioned for breaking the rules. Reasons include refusing a search, failing to follow visiting rules, use of alcohol or narcotics, inappropriate language, improper dress, or presenting a risk to the safety and security of the facility, staff, offenders, or visitors.

If visiting sanctions are imposed, the institution will send you a written notice outlining the infraction and the sanctions. Keep that notice. It's usually what you'll need if you plan to challenge the restriction.