Those looking to visit with their loved ones inside of the San Joaquin County Jail will get their chance next week.

Starting on November 1 all three of the jail visitation facilities – at the South Jail, the Jail Core, and the Honor Farm – will again accept in-person visitation on a first come, first served basis.

After being closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, jail visitation has largely taken place for more than a year over video calls through tablets issued by the department in order to prevent the virus from being brought into the facility.

Visitation was initially halted in March of 2020 when the pandemic first emerged, and in-person visitation didn’t resume until April of this year when the county transitioned into the red tier from the State of California’s most restrictive classification. Visits were once again halted in August when the number of cases in the county spiked.

All in-person visits will be 45 minutes in length, and call-in appointments are no longer being accepted.

While routine visits are a typical part of daily life inside of the facility, jail visitation has also proved to be problematic for jail staff who have to manage both the inmates that are being visited, and those that are coming from the outside – sometimes carrying things that they shouldn’t.

Multiple times over the past several years have outside visitors come to the jail facility in an attempt to smuggle drugs through visitation – only to end up staying at the facility themselves as inmates. From drugs and contraband that are dumped into the trash for inmates to later retrieve to people actively trying to carry drugs into the meetings, the agency has been proactive in keeping contraband out of the jail facility.

One woman who was caught with illegal substances on her person was found to have a cache of even more back in her vehicle – all of which was logged as evidence once she was taken into custody.

Sometimes there are just too many attempts to get contraband through to stop all of it from getting inside.

Earlier this year San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow spoke openly about the number in medical emergencies that have arisen as a result of opiate abuse – including an in-custody overdose death – inside of the jail’s secure facilities.

For addition information about the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office visitation schedule, or to view the policies for those who are traveling to the jail for an in-person visit, visit the agency’s website at www.sjsheriff.org/visiting-info.