Free Video Visits at Shelby County Jail: How They Work and What the One-Visit-Per-Week Limit Means
Setting up a visit can feel overwhelming, especially your first time. Here's how Shelby County Jail's on-site video visits work, what
Shelby County Jail’s on-site video visit (the kind you do from the Sheriff’s Office lobby) is provided at no cost to the inmate or the visitor. In other words, you’re not paying a fee just to have that weekly face-to-face time on the video system.
Each inmate at Shelby County Jail gets one scheduled visit per week. The scheduling system enforces this automatically - if someone already has a visit booked that week, or if they're on a privilege restriction, the system simply won't let you book another. So if you keep trying different days and nothing works, it's probably not a glitch. The weekly slot may already be used, or the inmate's visiting privileges are currently limited.
Note: Even when the inmate still has their one weekly visit available, appointment times can be affected by the number of visitation monitors in each housing area.
Friends and family visits are recorded and monitored. Attorney visits are the exception - those are privileged and available seven days a week during these windows: 7:00 AM–11:00 AM, 1:00 PM–4:00 PM, and 6:00 PM–10:00 PM.
Practical Tips
- ✓ Schedule at least 24 hours ahead of the visit time.
- ✓ Make sure you’re an approved visitor before you try to visit.
- ✓ Bring a valid government-issued ID and be ready to show it before the visit starts.
- ✓ Use one of the approved scheduling options: the NCIC website, the NCIC phone line at 1-800-943-2189, or the Visitation Kiosk in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office lobby.
Reminder: Because personal visits are recorded and monitored, treat the video visit like you’re speaking in a public setting - keep it respectful and appropriate so it doesn’t get cut short.
Looking for the perfect day and time? Build in some flexibility. Available slots depend on how many visitation monitors are working in each housing area, so you might see fewer options than expected - even when the inmate still has their weekly visit available.
If you're stuck - can't get scheduled, unsure why an approval didn't go through, or think a restriction might be affecting visits - call (205) 670-6000 and choose the option to speak with someone in the Jail. A quick call beats spending hours troubleshooting the scheduling system yourself.
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