Penobscot County Jail Visiting Hours and Scheduling

Step 1. Wait Out the Four-Day Eligibility Period

Someone newly booked into Penobscot County Jail cannot be visited right away. The jail’s policy requires an inmate to be in custody for more than 4 days before they become visit-eligible. If you’re planning a visit right after an arrest, expect to wait, and use the automated inmate information line at 207-922-3898 or the inmate search guide to track custody status in the meantime.

Step 2. Get Approved as a Visitor

You cannot show up and ask to visit. The inmate has to add you to their approved visitor list first, and that list is capped at 8 names total. Here’s the process:

1. Ask the inmate to request a visitor application form (sometimes called a visitor solicitation form) from their deck officer.
2. Complete the form following its instructions.
3. Mail it back, along with a copy of your valid photo ID, to the Programs division, care of Penobscot County Jail, 85 Hammond Street, Bangor, ME 04401.
4. If a child will be visiting, mail a copy of their birth certificate as well.
5. All IDs and birth certificates are shredded after processing.
6. Allow about 5 business days for approval. The jail notifies the inmate directly when a visitor has been approved, so confirm your status with them before you try to schedule.

The inmate can update their approved visitor list every 30 days if they want to add or remove names. If you’re not on the approved list, you will not be allowed in, even if you show up in person.

Step 3. Call to Schedule, on the Right Day, at the Right Time

Which night you visit depends on the inmate’s last name, and scheduling for each visiting day opens the day before during a specific call window:

Call this day	To visit on	Last names	Visit type
Monday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.	Tuesday	A-L	Non-contact only
Wednesday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.	Thursday	M-Z	Non-contact only
Thursday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.	Saturday	A-L	Non-contact and contact
Friday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.	Sunday	M-Z	Non-contact and contact

Call (207) 945-4932 during that window only. The phone will not be answered before 12:30 p.m. or after 3:30 p.m. Scheduling is first call, first served, so calling right when the window opens gives you the best shot at your preferred session.

Each visiting night has two roughly 1-hour sessions, beginning in the early evening, with a third or fourth session added if demand requires it. The last Sunday session is reserved specifically for protective custody inmates. Inmates classified as maximum security, or who are in disciplinary segregation, are limited to non-contact visits only regardless of the day, and jail staff will explain any additional restrictions that apply to a specific inmate’s housing status.

What to Expect When You Arrive

• Sign in no earlier than 15 minutes before your session. Visitors aren’t allowed to loiter on county property beforehand. Anyone caught loitering will be asked to leave and barred from visiting any inmate at the jail for at least 30 days.
• Bring a valid, government-issued photo ID. You need it to sign in.
• Once your session starts, no one else can join, and you can’t step out and come back in. Arrive on time.
• Each inmate can have up to 2 visitors per session, plus one child under 5 who stays seated on a visitor’s lap. The child doesn’t count toward the 2-visitor limit.

Dress Code

Wear appropriate footwear, shirts, and pants. Swimsuits, bikini tops, hot pants, and similarly revealing clothing are not permitted. The Shift Leader on duty makes the final call on borderline attire, so dress conservatively to avoid being turned away.

Children at Visitation

Minor children may visit, but only biological or adopted children of the inmate, and only when accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or adult immediate family member. Emancipated juveniles between 14 and 18 may visit after proper approval, and unaccompanied juveniles between 14 and 18 may visit an incarcerated parent with written parental permission and after approval. In every case, the inmate must include the child on their visitor request, and the Programs division must approve the child before the first visit.

What’s Not Allowed

Passing any item between a visitor and an inmate during a visit, including letters, photos, or anything else, is treated as contraband. Both the visitor and the inmate are subject to search, and the visitor can be arrested and permanently lose visiting privileges. Everything you want to send instead has to go through the mail. See the mail and photos guide for the address and what’s confirmed about mail rules.

Visitors who appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be admitted.

Conduct and Visit Termination

Visitors and inmates are expected to behave in a way that doesn’t disturb others in the visiting area. A visit can be shortened or ended immediately if behavior causes a disturbance, and staff can also shorten a visit to give other waiting families a turn.

After Release: Visiting Bans

If you’ve been sentenced and released from Penobscot County Jail yourself, you’re barred from visiting anyone else at the jail for 1 year following your release. If you were held but not sentenced, that ban is 90 days. Anyone who drops off money for an inmate is also barred from doing so again, for any inmate, for 30 days following that inmate’s own release.

Handbook and Visitor Application Form. What We Found

We checked specifically for two things, as we do for every facility: a downloadable inmate or family handbook PDF, and a specific visitor application or registration form. We did not find a standalone handbook PDF published on the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office website. We did find a clearly described visitor application process, summarized in Step 2 above, but it isn’t offered as a downloadable form online. It starts with the inmate requesting the form from their deck officer inside the jail, not with anything you can print or fill out from home ahead of time.