Shasta sheriff’s office announces plans to resume in-person jail visitations in September

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office has announced that it intends to reinstate in-person visitations at the county jail on Sept. 8. 

The announcement comes after Shasta Scout’s reporting earlier this month that documented the more than 10-month pause in visitations at the jail. Visitations have been suspended since last September reportedly due to construction on the elevator used to bring visitors to the visitation area. 

“Although construction on the long-term project remains ongoing,” the sheriff’s office’s website says, “the project has progressed to a point that allows in-person visitation to safely resume.” 

An email sent to some family members of incarcerated individuals last year explained that in-person visitations were only supposed to be suspended for four months. Prior to reporting earlier this month, the sheriff’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment as to why there was a delay in reopening the jail to visitors.

Shasta’s jail visitation pause came as the county faced an alarmingly high rate of deaths of those incarcerated — two dozen deaths have occurred at the jail in recent years, and a third have been ruled suicides. In-person visitations have been proven to have tangible benefits on incarcerated individuals, their loved ones, jail staff and the broader community, especially in terms of mental health and public safety.

Rio Scharf, a staff attorney at the University of California, Berkeley Law’s Criminal Law and Justice Center, said today in an email statement that the UC Berkeley center was concerned about how long the Shasta jail had suspended in-person visitations “over a mere elevator repair.” Scharf is currently representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Solano County, which has replaced in-person visits with video calls in its jails. 

He added that while he and the law center are glad that Shasta County announced the jail is scheduled to resume visits on Sept. 8, the sheriff’s office had previously communicated a date for jail visitations to restart without following through. 

“As a result, we’ll be checking in with people incarcerated at the jail and their families in September to confirm visits actually resume next month,” he said. 

He also emphasized the benefits of visitations, including stronger family relationships, improved behavior inside the jail and reduced recidivism rates. 

“Given these benefits, and given that family members have a constitutional right to maintain familial relationships even when a loved one is in jail,” he said, “facilities should always find a way to preserve in-person visits notwithstanding construction projects or other disruptions.” 

Missy McArthur, the mother of a man currently incarcerated at the Shasta jail, learned the news of the reinstated visitations this afternoon. She told a reporter over the phone that she was glad she’d finally get to visit her son soon. “Thank goodness,” she said. 

The reinstation of in-person visitations — if followed through by the sheriff’s office — isn’t the only change at the jail that the county has made recently. Last week, the board of supervisors approved an amendment to the county’s revenue agreement with the jail’s phone provider, which decreases call rates for incarcerated individuals. The change comes after a new law was passed earlier this year that ensures those incarcerated and their families aren’t charged excessive phone rates or hidden fees. 

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