What You Can't Bring Into an Illinois DOC Visiting Room — and how to store it
Illinois DOC visiting rooms have strict property rules. The fastest way to protect your visit? Show up with as little as possible. Here's what can't go in with you—and what to do with it instead.
These rules exist to keep the visiting room safe. If staff think an item poses a security risk, breaks department rules, or could lead to disruptive behavior, the facility's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) can deny, suspend, or restrict your visiting privileges - sometimes on the spot. Plan ahead. Use the lockers when you need them. A little preparation keeps a small oversight from turning into a ruined visit or bigger problems down the road.
Note: If you try to bring prohibited property into the visiting room, staff can end or refuse the visit, and the CAO can restrict your future visiting privileges.
Full List
- ✓ Electronic devices (including cell phones, tablets, and smart watches)
- ✓ Food
- ✓ Drinks
- ✓ Purses
- ✓ Bags
- ✓ Personal keys
- ✓ Smoking materials
- ✓ Tobacco products
- ✓ Tobacco-less products
Medication gets handled differently than everyday personal items. Illinois DOC doesn't allow pills or medication of any type in the visiting room - with one narrow exception: physician-prescribed heart medication or an asthma inhaler. If that exception doesn't apply to you, leave all medication secured outside the visiting room.
- Bring only what’s allowed - If you need physician-prescribed heart medication or an asthma inhaler, bring only that item.
- Keep heart medication properly labeled - Heart medication must be in a properly labeled container.
- Hand it to staff for storage - Any required medication is delivered to and held at the officer’s station in the visiting room.
Arrive with items you can't bring inside? You're not stuck. Every facility has small lockers for visitors to store personal belongings, and they're free to use.
Once you accept responsibility for what you store, you can carry the locker key into the facility. Just know the facility isn't liable for those items - so I recommend leaving valuables at home whenever possible.
Try to enter the visiting room with prohibited items - especially common ones like phones, food, or drinks - and staff can refuse them. Your visit may be denied or cut short. Beyond that immediate consequence, the Chief Administrative Officer can deny, suspend, or restrict your visiting privileges for security and safety concerns, space limitations, disruptive conduct, abuse of visiting privileges, or violations of laws or departmental rules.
Tip: If you accidentally bring something you can’t take in, use the free small lockers and keep only what’s permitted on you - your goal is to get through check-in without turning a simple mistake into a lost visit.
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