Monroe County Jail Visiting Hours and Rules

Six Slots a Day, Booked on the Matching Weekday

The schedule is the same every weekday:

Morning	Afternoon
8:15	1:15
9:15	2:15
10:15
11:15

Booking works on a one week rotation and the weekday has to match. A Tuesday visit is arranged the Tuesday before. A Friday visit, the Friday before. It is not a rolling seven days, it is the same day of the week, one week out.

Two ways to book:

• 585-753-4000, from 8:15 AM until the appointments are gone.
• The county’s own online visit request form, which asks for the person’s last and first name, their MCJ identification number, their date of birth, your name, any second visitor, an email and a phone number, plus a first and second choice of date and time.

The form carries one warning worth reading twice: every adult visitor has to be named on the request before they can attend. Turning up with somebody who was not on it does not work.

The Door Is Not the One You Would Pick

This is the detail that costs people their slot.

The visiting area sits next to the Hall of Justice. The county’s own instruction is to use the Rochester City Court entrance and then follow the signs in the lobby to Jail Visits. A family that drives to 130 South Plymouth Avenue, finds the Public Safety Building and looks for a jail door is in the right complex and the wrong entrance, with a 30 minute arrival window running down.

Allow for parking downtown on top of that. The 30 minutes is a floor, not a target.

One Layer of Clothing, and a Long List of Nothing Else

Monroe publishes a dress code that is more specific than most. One layer of clothing only. Beyond that, none of the following:

• Piercings, and no jewellery except a wedding ring
• Gum, candy, food or liquids
• Tinted eyewear
• Hooded sweatshirts, jackets or ripped jeans
• Hats or head wraps
• Watches, belts and scarves
• Hair pins and metal hair beads
• Revealing clothing, halter tops, strapless or spaghetti strap tops

Lockers are provided for what you cannot bring in.

Infants get a specific allowance: one blanket and a pacifier. Not a bottle. If you are bringing a baby, that is the whole list.

Carrying contraband into a visit costs a one year ban from visiting and can bring charges on top.

Bringing a Child Means Paperwork Every Single Time

Most jails ask for a form once. Monroe asks for documents at every visit.

The county publishes a Visitation Permission Form for Minors under the age of 18, which covers both the jail and the STAR Academy. It must be notarized, and it carries a full New York notary block for that purpose.

On top of the form, for every visit:

• A raised-seal birth certificate and a current photo ID, each time, not only the first.
• For a child visiting a parent, the birth certificate has to show the incarcerated person as parent or guardian.
• For a child under court-appointed guardianship, guardianship papers from the issuing court, with that guardian present.
• 16 and 17 year olds also need a New York State ID or a school photo ID.

The Clearance Packet Is Not For You

The Sheriff’s Office links a Jail Clearance Packet directly underneath its Social Visitation heading, which invites exactly the wrong conclusion.

It is for professional, programme and religious entry. Its own text says it may not be used to visit family or friends, and that misusing clearance privileges means losing them. Getting it involves a record check, a warrant search, fingerprinting, a monthly one hour security orientation with a sign-up deadline a week beforehand, and four years clear of criminal justice contact.

An ordinary family visitor needs none of that. Book the slot and bring your ID.

Shift Change Eats the Middle of the Afternoon

Between 2:30 and 3:15 PM the jail changes shift, and visits are delayed while it happens. The county publishes this, which is more than most do.

It explains a wait that would otherwise feel like something going wrong, and it is worth knowing if your slot is the 2:15.

Video Visits Run Alongside

Video visiting runs through Securus Technologies. You register at the vendor’s site and wait for security staff at the facility to approve you.

• You must be 18 to schedule a session.
• Minors may attend, but the person who booked has to stay present throughout.
• General population gets two 30 minute video visits a week.
• Sessions are monitored and recorded.
• Co-defendants, witnesses in the case and anyone subject to an order of protection are barred.

The Walk-In Question, Which the County Answers Twice

We are flagging this rather than picking a side.

Three official Sheriff’s Office pages disagree about whether you can turn up unannounced. The Jail Bureau page, updated most recently, says walk-in visits are available during normal business hours. The Incarcerated Individual Information page says plainly that there are no walk-in visits available. The phone booking window is given as two different things in the same places.

The newest page is the permissive one and two older pages contradict it. Since “can I show up without booking” is the question families arrive with, the honest answer is that the county publishes both, and 585-753-4000 is the number that settles it for the day you are going.