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What to Expect During a Visit at Jefferson City Correctional Center: Check-in, Searches, Dress Code, and Rules

Visiting Jefferson City Correctional Center (JCCC) goes a lot more smoothly when you know the schedule, show up on time, and come dressed right. This guide covers check-in timing, searches and screening, visitor limits, and the most common reasons people get turned away.

• 4 min read Verified from official sources
What to Expect During a Visit at Jefferson City Correctional Center: Check-in, Searches, Dress Code, and Rules

Jefferson City Correctional Center holds visiting hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with two sessions each day: 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Before you make the trip, confirm that you're approved to visit. Missouri DOC requires all visitors to be pre-approved through the visiting application process. If you haven't completed that step, you won't get in.

Don't show up too early. Visitors may arrive in the parking lot no earlier than 30 minutes before the session starts. Entry is first-come, first-served, so arriving within that window helps you get in without unnecessary delays. One more thing: no person or pet may remain in a vehicle on institutional grounds. Bring everyone inside with you, and make arrangements for pets before you get there.

Security screening starts the moment you enter prison grounds. You, your packages, your children, and your vehicle are all subject to search. You'll also walk through a metal detector. If something you're wearing or carrying sets it off, staff will ask you to remove it or resolve the issue before you can continue.

Note: Staff may also screen you using an itemizer. They'll give you a towelette to wipe your shirt front, pockets, and palms, then test it for traces of narcotics or explosives. Refusing any search, or presenting a safety risk, can result in visiting sanctions and denied entry.

What to Expect During a Visit at Jefferson City Correctional Center: Check-in, Searches, Dress Code, and Rules

Dress Code

  • ✓ Do not wear tight, transparent, excessively baggy, or revealing clothing.
  • ✓ Do not wear clothing with gang, racial, inappropriate, or inflammatory language or symbols.
  • ✓ Do not wear camouflage designs.
  • ✓ Avoid skirts, dresses, and shorts shorter than the top of the kneecap when standing.
  • ✓ Do not wear wrap-around or slit skirts or dresses.
  • ✓ Do not wear pants with holes or slits.
  • ✓ Make sure shirts, blouses, and tops cover the chest, cleavage, back, and stomach, and have sleeves that cover the shoulders.

Headwear is not allowed unless it is for verified religious purposes. Even then, it is still subject to search.

Missouri DOC allows several categories of people to apply: immediate family, extended family, significant others, friends, and clergy. Regardless of your relationship, you must be pre-approved through the Missouri DOC visiting application before you attempt a visit. Visitor approval is typically tied to a single incarcerated person. You may only visit one offender unless you are an immediate family member of more than one.

Note: Visits are limited to 3 visitors per offender. Some Missouri DOC guidance mentions additional allowances for very young children, but the details are inconsistent across pages. Call the institution to confirm how many children (and what ages) can attend beyond the 3-visitor limit before you travel.

Physical contact during visits is limited. You're allowed one greeting embrace and a brief kiss, and one departing embrace and a brief kiss. Holding hands during the visit is permitted. Bringing kids? Children age 6 and under may sit on the offender's lap, unless the offender is a sex offender.

Do not bring contraband onto prison grounds. Under Missouri statute 217.360, it is a criminal offense to bring drugs, alcoholic beverages, firearms, or any other prohibited article into a correctional facility. The penalty can be a felony carrying up to 15 years in prison. This is exactly why screening is taken so seriously. Searches and tools like the itemizer detect traces of narcotics or explosives, and any issue at screening can end your visit before it starts.

What to Expect During a Visit at Jefferson City Correctional Center: Check-in, Searches, Dress Code, and Rules

Common Mistakes

  • ✓ Showing up without being pre-approved through the Missouri DOC visiting application
  • ✓ Wearing prohibited clothing (too revealing, too tight, too baggy, transparent, camouflage, or clothing with gang/racial/inflammatory symbols)
  • ✓ Arriving more than 30 minutes before visiting starts and expecting to wait on grounds
  • ✓ Leaving a person or pet in the vehicle on institutional grounds
  • ✓ Refusing to submit to searches, or arguing with screening instructions (this can lead to refusal of entry and sanctions)
  • ✓ Forgetting you must pass through a metal detector during entry
  1. Confirm your group size (especially with young children). The standard limit is 3 visitors per offender, but Missouri DOC materials sometimes describe extra allowances for very young children. Ask JCCC what they will allow for your visit.
  2. Verify the correct appeal mailing ZIP code before you send anything. Missouri DOC lists appeals to 2729 Plaza Drive, PO Box 236, Jefferson City, MO, but the ZIP code appears as 65102 on one page and 65109 on another. Confirm the correct ZIP for the type of appeal you are filing.
  3. If you were denied, confirm the deadline and who the appeal is addressed to. A visiting application denial can be appealed in writing within 30 days to the Missouri DOC Deputy Division Director of Adult Institutions at 2729 Plaza Drive, PO Box 236, Jefferson City, MO (verify the ZIP code first).

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