Where is my loved one housed? Understanding Lee County’s Downtown Jail, Core Facility, and CPU

Lee County Corrections spreads its population across three facilities, and the names can trip you up. The Downtown Jail (also called the Main Jail) is a maximum security facility with 457 beds. The Core Facility is the largest - 1,216 beds - and operates at medium/maximum security; it's also where most female inmates are housed. The Community Program Unit (CPU) is minimum security, with 336 beds.

If your loved one was just arrested in Lee County, they'll likely start at the Downtown Jail (Main Jail). This facility handles all central intake and booking for the county - it's the first stop for processing before any housing assignment happens.

Even with three separate housing facilities, you don't visit at each one. All visits - whether your loved one is at the Downtown Jail, Core Facility, or CPU - happen at the Visitation facility on the Ortiz site.

One thing to know: "in-person" visitation here doesn't mean sitting in the same room. All in-person visits at the Jail, Core, and CPU are conducted through a video monitor. You'll see and speak with each other on a screen.

• ✓ Plan for two visits per week per inmate, with each visit lasting one hour; up to two visitors from the inmate’s authorized visitation list can visit per session.
• ✓ On visitation day, check in at the kiosk and confirm your identification at the visitation desk 15 minutes before your scheduled time.
• ✓ Bring a valid photo ID that shows your date of birth; without ID, you won’t be permitted to visit.
• ✓ Visits are limited to people on the inmate’s Inmate Visitation List (the inmate can add up to five names), and the inmate can only update the list every four months.
• ✓ Children under one year old don’t need to be on the visitation list and don’t count toward the two-visitor limit.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office Corrections Bureau reported an average daily inmate population of 1,606 in 2024. That gives you a sense of how many people move through housing, scheduling, and visitation on any given day.

With a system this size - especially the Core Facility's 1,216 beds - visitation slots fill up fast, and check-in can get busy. Housing assignments vary by facility type: the Core Facility, for instance, is where most female inmates are housed. But the key planning point stays the same: no matter which facility holds your loved one, all visits go through the Ortiz-site visitation facility.