When Professionals Visit Palm Beach JDC: Lawyers, Probation, Clergy and Officials
Professional visits at Palm Beach JDC run on a different schedule than regular family visitation. Here's who qualifies for access, the hours that apply, and the sign-in and security rules you'll still need to follow.
Certain professionals can visit a youth at Palm Beach JDC outside regular visitation hours when necessary and approved. This includes attorneys, probation officers, law enforcement, clergy, guardians ad litem, and other approved professionals. A separate group of stakeholders has broader access to juvenile detention centers between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. That list includes the Governor, Cabinet members, legislators, judges, state attorneys, and public defenders.
Professional visits don't skip the basics. Whether you're a lawyer meeting a client or clergy providing support, you still need to sign in and out on the facility's Visitor's Log for the youth you're seeing. Need to coordinate a professional visit or add someone to an approved visitation list? Start with the youth's assigned Juvenile Probation Officer. The JPO handles visitation list additions and special visit arrangements.
Search requirement: All visitors go through an electronic search. Refuse, and you'll be denied entry.
Contraband warning: Leave personal items like keys, purses, and packages outside the secure area. Bringing unauthorized items into a detention facility is a third-degree felony.
Media visits work differently - you can't just walk in. Tours must be arranged in advance: contact the Department's Office of Communications for state-operated facilities, or the relevant sheriff's office for county-operated ones. Give at least one week's notice so the facility can verify your media credentials.
Official stakeholder visits have a wide access window: 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. This applies to the Governor, Cabinet members, legislators, state court judges, state attorneys, and public defenders.
- Start with the youth’s Juvenile Probation Officer (JPO) - The assigned JPO is the contact to approve visitation list additions and to arrange special visitation arrangements.
- Explain what kind of professional visit you’re trying to set up - Legal counsel, probation officers, law enforcement, clergy, guardian ad litems, and other professionals may be able to visit outside regularly established visitation times when it’s necessary and approved.
- ✓ Sign in and sign out on the Visitor’s Log for the youth being visited.
- ✓ Expect an electronic search; refusing the search can mean being denied entry.
- ✓ Don’t bring personal items (keys, purses, packages, etc.) into the secure area; introducing unauthorized items into a detention facility is a third-degree felony.
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