In-person visitations at Shasta jail resume after nearly 1 year of suspension

In-person visitations at the Shasta County Jail officially resumed today after being paused for nearly a year. 

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office suspended visitations almost exactly 12 months ago, reportedly due to construction on the elevator used to take visitors to the visitation area. The suspension was only supposed to last for four months but was delayed for unknown reasons. Over the months the jail remained closed to visitors, the sheriff’s office did not publish press releases about the subject or respond to repeated requests for comment. 

Shortly after Shasta Scout reported last month about the monthslong suspension and its effects on those incarcerated and their loved ones, the sheriff’s office announced its plans to resume visitations on Sept. 8. A staffer at the jail confirmed today that visitations have resumed. 

The Board of State and Community Corrections was also aware of the construction project that prevented the jail from facilitating visits, a spokesperson said by email, and the agency has been monitoring the situation, including through a targeted inspection in early August that preceded the announcement that visits would reopen.

Rio Scharf, a staff attorney at the University of California, Berkeley Law’s Criminal Law and Justice Center, said he had been monitoring the jail since Shasta Scout’s reporting to ensure the sheriff resumed in-person visitations. He explained that visitations are both a constitutional right for incarcerated individuals and their families and are a crucial component to enhancing safety within the jail and in the broader community.

“Because of the value of in-person visits, other counties should avoid doing what Shasta County did here: suspending in-person visits for a full year,” he said in an email statement. “We urge counties to maintain robust in-person, and preferably contact, visitation programs.”

Research has shown that in-person visitation has tangible benefits on incarcerated individuals, including through reduced recidivism rates and a drop in misconduct within jails and prisons, which are impacts that also extend beyond the walls of incarceration facilities and increase public safety. 

Before today, people could only see their incarcerated loved ones in person during court hearings, where it is illegal for people to communicate with those in custody. 

To make up for the suspended in-person visitations, the Shasta jail announced it would facilitate one free hour a week of video visits. But over recent months, several individuals have complained to reporters about technical difficulties with tablets, including one who said her son’s tablet stopped being able to administer video calls. 

Now that visitations have reopened, people looking to visit incarcerated individuals at the jail can do so by filling out a form on the sheriff’s office’s site. Those incarcerated are allowed two visits a week with no more than one adult visitor a day, and visitations occur in 30-minute time slots.

The sheriff’s office’s site says that construction at the jail remains ongoing, though it has progressed to a point where visitations can resume with potential short delays.

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