The 5-Visit Monthly Limit at USP Lewisburg: What Counts and What Doesn't

USP Lewisburg caps social visits at five per month. That's the number to work with when planning weekends with family and friends.

Not every visit counts toward that five-visit total. Attorney visits are excluded - they don't eat into the monthly social visit slots. The same goes for Parole Representative visits.

USP Lewisburg has a special category for an inmate's "minister of record," but it comes with its own process. The minister must submit a written request to the Chaplain. Once approved, unit staff add the name and title to the inmate's visitor list. Only one minister of record can be listed at a time.

Here's where it gets confusing. A minister of record doesn't count against the total number of authorized regular visitors on the list, and visits from them don't count toward the five monthly social visits either. But other clergy? Different story. Visits from clergy who aren't the minister of record follow standard visitor procedures and count against the monthly total like any other social visit.

Minister-of-record visits don't count toward the social-visit cap, but they're not unlimited. Each inmate can receive one minister-of-record visit per month. In emergencies - personal or family crises - an additional visit may be authorized, but only if scheduled and approved by the Chaplain.

Practical Tips

• ✓ Treat the “five (5) per month” cap as your baseline when you’re planning family/friend weekends so you don’t accidentally run out of visits mid-month.
• ✓ If your loved one needs to preserve social visits, remember attorney visits are excluded from the five-visit monthly total.
• ✓ Parole Representative visits are also excluded from the five-visit monthly total.
• ✓ If you’re trying to add a minister of record, plan ahead: the minister of record has to submit a written request to the Chaplain before unit staff can add them to the visiting list.
• ✓ Don’t assume “clergy” automatically means “doesn’t count.” Only the minister of record is treated as not counting against the total number of authorized regular visitors and not counting against the total number of social visits allowed.
• ✓ Keep expectations realistic: each inmate is limited to one minister-of-record visit per month, even though it doesn’t count against the usual social-visit total.