What Happens During Booking at John Lilley Center: Step-by-Step for Families

Booking is how the facility identifies your loved one, secures their belongings and money, checks for immediate health concerns, and prepares them for housing. Here's what matters for families: your loved one will provide identifying information, their property and cash will be inventoried and documented, and they'll go through standard intake procedures like searches and hygiene checks. Knowing what's normal during these early steps makes it easier to track property and keep the right records.

Early in booking, your loved one provides personal information so staff can identify them and complete the necessary paperwork. This is where mistakes happen - wrong spelling, outdated addresses, incorrect identifiers - and they can create confusion that slows everything down later. Staff will ask follow-up questions until they have what they need to process the intake.

During booking, your loved one must turn over their money, securities, and personal property. Staff inventory everything in their presence, issue a receipt, then deposit the funds into an inmate account. Keep that receipt. Your loved one may need it later to reclaim funds or resolve account questions.

• ✓ Expect your loved one to turn over money, securities, and personal property so it can be inventoried and stored.
• ✓ Funds should be counted/inventoried in your loved one’s presence during admission.
• ✓ A receipt for the funds should be issued.
• ✓ The funds should then be deposited into your loved one’s inmate account.
• ✓ Tell your loved one to keep the receipt - losing it can create problems later.

Booking includes an initial health screening. Your loved one will be asked about injuries needing immediate attention and their mental state. The goal is to catch urgent medical or safety concerns right away - not weeks later after they've been placed in housing.

As part of intake, your loved one must submit to identification, search, and hygiene procedures. Families don't see this part, but it's routine: staff confirm identity and complete security steps before anyone moves into housing.

Grooming requirements tied to safety and hygiene can catch people off guard. Long fingernails may need to be clipped. Hair extensions or weaves that aren't bonded with glue or other hair-bonding agents may need to be removed. It helps to know these are standard intake expectations.

During intake, your loved one may be asked to acknowledge receipt of the inmate handbook. At John Lilley Center, accepting the handbook means the facility considers them informed about the rules - and can hold them to what's inside. Once they sign or accept it, they're expected to follow those policies.

They'll also receive jail-issued property and a confidential PIN for the inmate communication system. That PIN should stay private - sharing it can lead to misuse of funds connected to the account.

After Booking Family Actions

• ✓ Ask your loved one (when you’re able to communicate) whether they received a receipt for their funds.
• ✓ Tell them to keep every receipt they’re given during admission - especially anything related to money.
• ✓ Write down what they say was taken for inventory and secure storage (money, securities, personal property).
• ✓ If there’s a dispute later, the receipt and a clear list of what was surrendered are your best starting point.

1. Have your loved one confirm the receipt - during admission, funds are inventoried in their presence and a receipt is issued before the money is deposited into the inmate account.
2. Record the basics while it’s fresh - note what money, securities, and personal property they were required to relinquish for inventory and secure storage.
3. Double-check identifying details in future paperwork - because arrestees must provide current, accurate information for identification and booking forms, watch for typos or outdated info when you later see documents or case information.