Directions
The institution telephone number is (405) 262-4875.
Visitors coming from I-40 may take exit 123, Country Club Road, and proceed north to Highway 66.
Once at Highway 66, turn east and proceed approximately one and one-half miles to the institution.
Visitors must stop at the intercom and identify themselves to the tower officer upon entering institution property, and will be directed to the visiting parking lot. There is no local transportation available inthis area.
There is Greyhound Bus service which picks up and drops off passengers at the Valero station at Country Club and I-40.
There is no local taxi service in El Reno.
Visiting Privileges
Each inmate is authorized no more than five adult visitors in the visiting room at any one time. Children will be limited to five per inmate; however, the behavior of children accompanying adult visitors will be the responsibility of the inmate and adult visitors. Children must remain within the supervision of an adult visitor at all times. All visitors, including children, must remain within the boundaries specified as visiting areas. Disturbances caused by an undisciplined child will result in termination of the visit. A portion of the FCI visiting room is set up as a playroom for children. It is the responsibility of the adult visitors to supervise the actions of their children. No food or drink items are permitted in the playroom. The playroom is considered out-of-bounds for inmates. Inmates are prohibited from entering the playroom at all times.
Inmates are responsible for informing all visitors of Bureau of Prisons policy regarding the introduction of contraband into the institution. Inmates are not allowed to give or receive any item from visitors in the visiting room.
All food and/or drink items at the FCI may only be purchased and consumed by visitors in a designated area. Inmates at the FCI are prohibited from consuming any food or drink during the visit, and they may not enter the designated visitor eating area. Once a visitor leaves the visiting area, the visit is terminated for that day. Inmates are not allowed to leave the visiting area to eat. Once an inmate leaves the visiting area, the visit will be terminated for that day. Handshaking, embracing, and kissing are permitted within the bounds of good taste and only at the beginning and at the end of the visit. During the visit, inmates and visitors are allowed only to hold hands, but no other physical contact is permitted.
Visits may be terminated, or a visitor may be turned around for reasons such as: national/institution emergency, inclement weather, failure to clear initial screening at the front entrance (i.e., metal detector, search, etc.), no documentation of visit approval, insufficient visiting points, misconduct on the part of the inmate or visitor, inappropriate dress, improper identification, and overcrowding.
Camp inmates must wait behind the wooden door which leads to foodservice until they are called for the visit by the camp officer. Inmates may not meet their visitors outside of the camp building or in the lobby area until they have been called by the camp officer. Camp visitors are permitted only in the institution parking lot and the area from the parking lot to the front entrance of the camp. All camp visits will be terminated inside the front door of the camp front entrance. Inmates are not allowed to accompany visitors to the parking area. Camp visitors must remain within the roped-off area when visiting in the outside area. All areas accessible to visitors are designated as non-smoking areas.
Visiting List
A visiting list will be established for each inmate. Immediate family members, mother, father, step-parents, foster parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, and children should be included on the list absent strong circumstances which preclude visiting. Ordinarily, the visiting list should not include more then ten friends and associates. Except for immediate family, visitors will not ordinarily be placed on more than one inmate’s approved visiting list.
Other potential visitors, such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, in-laws, cousins, and the mother of an inmate’s child are not considered immediate family and will not be allowed to visit until the inmate can complete a visiting list and have it approved. Exceptions require written approval from the captain or associate warden of programs.
Inmates recommitted as violators (parole, mandatory release, etc.) will not need to resubmit a list of proposed visitors if released from that sentence within the previous six months. The visiting list in the central file will remainvalid unless unit staff are aware of extenuating circumstances which could reasonably create a threat to the security and good order of the institution.
Established visiting lists on inmates transferred from other federal institutions will be recognized. Unit staff will review the visiting list with the inmate to ensure its accuracy. This review will also ensure no previously approved visitors pose a threat to the security and good order of the institution.
If, during the admission/orientation process, an inmate anticipates visits from immediate family members (i.e., spouse, children, parents, brothers, and sisters), he must submit their names to his assigned unit counselor.
Immediate family will be allowed to visit pending finalization of an approved visiting list unless there are strong circumstances which preclude their presence in the institution.
In the event an inmate receives a visit prior to his approved list being completed, the unit team will be contacted by visiting room staff to find out if the visitors are on the immediate family list provided by the inmate. If the unit team is not available, the operations lieutenant or duty officer will be the deciding authority.
Upon completion of the admission/orientation program, a permanent list, to include immediate family, other relatives, or friends, will be prepared.
The unit team will make sure visiting lists are kept current. Copies of current visiting lists will be provided by the unit team to front entrance of the FCI and at the main entrance of the camp, to be used when the computer visiting program is inoperable. Original copies of the visiting list will be maintained in the inmate’s central file.
Denial of Proposed Visitors
In accordance with Program Statement 5267.08, the Warden may deny visiting privileges. If the background information reveals information that may preclude the proposed visitor from placement on the inmate’s visiting list, or if the inmate did not have an established relationship with the individual prior to his incarceration, the unit team will complete and route attachment F through the associate warden of programs to the warden for his approval/disapproval.
Unit staff will provide inmates with copies of the visiting regulations (attachment D for FCI inmates and attachment E for camp inmates) to mail to their approved visitors.
Exception to the Prior Relationship Requirement
Visiting List Changes
After the inmate’s initial list has been prepared and approved, inmates are authorized to request changes to the list through their respective unit team.
In accordance with the program statement for inmate central files, the inmate’s unit manager will ensure that visiting files of inmates no longer housed at El Reno are retrieved and placed in the inmate’s central file.
Authorized Inmate Items
Authorized Visitor Items
Inmate Attire
Special Visits
Visitor Attire
Visitor Identification
Frequency of Visits
At the FCI, inmates begin each month with 32points.
No more than 20 points may be used forweekend/holiday visiting.
One point will be deducted for each hour ofvisiting during the month for weekday visits.
Two points will be deducted for each hour ofvisiting on weekends and holidays.
Camp inmates are only charged one point on weekends. Points will be recorded on the Camp Visiting Point Sheet (Attachment G).
Additional Points (FCI and Camp)
Inmates may request up to ten additional points per month for special instances. The associate warden of programs/camp administrator, respectively, will be the final approving authority for requests for additional points.
Visiting Hours
Camp visits are conducted Friday through Monday, and on federal holidays.
Camp visiting hours on Monday and Friday are from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Camp visiting hours on Saturday, Sunday, and federal holidays are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Visitors will not be allowed to enter the camp after 8:00 p.m. on weekdays.
Visitors will not be allowed to enter the camp after 2:00 p.m. on weekends and federal holidays.
Social and special visits (legal or religious) for each inmate will be in accordance with the institution visiting hours and days.
Pretrial, Holdover and Detainee Visits
Holdovers and new commitments: When an approved visiting list is not available, visits for new commitments (A&O) and inmates in holdover status may be authorized by the Operations Lieutenant or theDuty Officer. These visits will be limited to members of the immediate family and can be extracted from the inmate’s pre-sentence report. These persons include father, mother, stepparents, foster parents, brother and sister, spouse, and children. If the PSI is not available for review, the visit will be denied.
Victim and Witness Cases
WITSEC Inmates
Physical Limitations
Number of Visitors per Inmate
Overcrowded Procedures
The visiting room officer will compile a list of those visitors listing an address within a fifty mile radius of the El Reno area.
After the list has been compiled, the operations lieutenant and/or IDO will privately explain the overcrowded situation to the local visitors and ask for volunteers to terminate their visits.
Should this method prove ineffective, the operations lieutenant and/or IDO will notify the first five groups on the list for that day that their visits have been terminated due to overcrowded conditions. Should mandatory termination become necessary, consideration will be given to locality and frequency of visits. The operations lieutenant and/or IDO will terminate no less than five groups, and no more than is deemed necessary, to eliminate the overcrowded conditions.
If weather causes overcrowded conditions at the camp, the operations lieutenant and/or IDO will be advised of the situation and they will follow the aforementioned guidelines.
Visitor Processing
Visits are permitted to those individuals on the inmate’s approved visiting list as authorized by the inmate’s unit team. It is the responsibility of the inmate to advise his friends and family not to visit prior to the inmate receiving notification from the unit team that they have been authorized as visitors.
Proper Identification
Children under the age of 16 may not visit unless accompanied by a responsible adult and must be kept under supervision of a responsible adult. Exceptions in unusual circumstances may be made by special approval of the IDO or operations lieutenant.
If the visitor does not have the required identification, the front entrance officer will consult with the operations lieutenant. In cases where identification cannot be
established, the operations lieutenant or IDO will be the authorized staff member to deny the visit. The denying official will advise the prospective visitor of the reason for the denial.
The visitor’s identification will be held bythe visiting room officers during the visit.
Visitor Attire
A visit may be terminated in order to maintain good taste and consideration for others. Questionable attire will be referred to the Institution Duty Officer prior to denial of the visit. Visitors over age ten may not wear miniskirts, halter tops, sleeveless shirts, tank tops, backless shirts/dresses, body suits, hiphuggers, see-through clothing, or clothing which ends at the knee or above.
Notification to Visitors
Processing
A visitor who needs to use a locker will be issued a key by the front entrance officer, and will be required to sign a ledger recording the date, time, name, locker number, and issued locker key. Upon completion of the visit, the visitor will return the key to the front entrance officer. Lockers are only to be used for visitors who are dropped off.
The front entrance officer must ensure all items are thoroughly searched before they are permitted inside the secure perimeter of the FCI. Any visitor who refuses to allow themselves or anything in their possession to be searched will not be permitted to enter the institution.
The front entrance officer will record the visit in the visiting program, and the operations lieutenant or the duty officer will be informed in order to deny the visit.
Metal Detector (Walk-through and Hand-held)
If a visitor activates the walk-through metal detector and the cause of the activation cannot be determined, the visitor will be required to submit to a transfrisker (hand¬held unit) search. Every effort should be made by the visitor to clear the walk-through metal detector.
Ultra-Violet Light (Black Light) Procedures
The visiting room officers will ensure each visitor’s hand is checked with the black light prior to leaving the visiting room.
Ultra-violet lights (black lights) will be stationed at the front entrance, front lobby, visiting room, rear entrance, and any other locations deemed appropriate by the captain.
Administration
At the camp, the camp officers will maintain the current visiting files of approved visitors.
Once a visitor has been approved to visit and processed through the front entrance, the visiting room officers will retrieve the visitor’s identification card, and escort the visitor from the front entrance to the visiting room.
The visitor’s identification card will be retained at the officers’ station in the visiting room along with the inmate’s commissary card or picture card until the completion of the visit.
The visiting room officers will record the visiting points using the visiting program.
If the visiting program is unavailable, the visits will be temporarily recorded using attachment C until the program is restored.
Inmate Processing
Inmate Visit Notification
The inmate will proceed to the west door of the visiting room. The visiting room officer will open the door and direct the inmate into the shakedown room.
The visiting room officer will take the inmate’s commissary card and establish his identity. The inmate’s commissary card will be maintained at the visiting room officer’s work station throughout the entire visit.
The visiting room officer will conduct a pat search or a random strip search of the inmate, and record on attachment A, the description of authorized items being worn into the visiting room.
Once the inmate has been processed, he will be escorted from the shakedown room to the visiting room for his visit.
At the camp, once the inmate has been called for a visit, he will proceed to the door separating the living area from the front of the camp. There, he will be identified and pat searched.
Inmate Attire
Camp inmates will be required to wear the same attire with the exception of clothing color. The issued clothing at the camp is spruce green.
Conduct in the Visiting Room
Visits at the camp will be conducted in the camp visiting room and the outside visiting area. The outside visiting area is located on the north side of the camp and is partitioned off from the rest of the front area.
No outside food or drink will be allowed in any visiting area.
Visitors will not be allowed to depart the institution and return again on the same day. Visiting will be terminated once the inmate’s visitor(s) depart the visiting room.
Handshaking, embracing, and kissing arepermitted within the bounds of good taste and only at the beginning and at the end of the visit. During the visit, inmates and visitors are allowed only to hold hands, but no other physical contact is permitted.
If it is determined that an inmate or visitor is in violation of this regulation, the visit will be terminated and disciplinary action will be taken against the inmate.
Inmates are not allowed to converse with or visit with other inmate visitors. Inmates will remain in the visiting area after greeting their visitors, and are not permitted to return to their living quarters until the visit is over. Inmates not receiving visits are not allowed in the visiting area.
Inmates will not be permitted to leave the visiting room to go to the dining hall, commissary, or any other institutional services, and then return. Once an inmate leaves the visiting room, his visit is terminated and he will not be permitted to reenter the visiting room that day.
Should staff feel a need for assigned seating, staff may place inmates in areas of closer supervision. Assigned seating may be invoked based on past documented instances of inappropriate inmate conduct in the visiting room or history of contraband introduction.
Conduct of Children
A portion of the FCI visiting room is set up as a playroom for children. It is the responsibility of the adult visitors to supervise the actions of their children. No food or drink items are permitted in the playroom. The playroom is considered out-of-bounds for inmates.
Inmates are prohibited from entering the playroom at all times.
No Property Exchange Policy
Restrooms
Inmates at the FCI must be escorted by staff to the inmate restroom, and will remain under constant visual supervision. Inmates at the Camp will be escorted by staff to the inmate restroom in the inmate living area and will remain under constant visual supervision. All inmates will be pat searched upon entering and leaving the restroom.
Vending Machines
Food purchased in the visiting room must be consumed during the visit. The only exception will be baby bottles and baby food.
Procedures for Exiting the Visiting Room
During times when a large group of visitors is departing (i.e., end of visiting hours), the visitors will remain in the visiting room until all inmates have been identified by photograph, a complete separation of inmates and visitors has been accomplished, and the count verified.
The visitors will then be permitted to leave (no more than five adults at a time) under the supervision of the visiting room escorting officer.
Once the visitor has been escorted to the front entrance, the inmate will be visually searched. Staff will return the inmate’s commissary card to him and release him to the compound.
At the camp, the inmate will be pat searched before being allowed to return to the living area.
Termination of Visiting
1. In the event of a national emergency, severe weather, or institution emergency.
2. When there are more visitors than space allows (overcrowding).
3. When visiting conduct becomes indecent, loud, profane, or affects the general order of the visiting room or poses a threat to the overall security of the institution.
The visiting room officer will issue a verbal warning for conduct in violation of this institution supplement or other existing laws, rules, and BOP regulations. A warning log will be maintained in the visiting room for documentation purposes.
Continued violations will result in the issuance of a written warning. This written warning will be referred to the operations lieutenant for review.
If deemed necessary, after consultation with the operations lieutenant, the IDO will advise the inmate and his respective visitor(s) that the visit has been terminated.
Whenever a visit is terminated for the above reasons, an incident report will be written.
Visits for Inmates not in Regular Population Status
Ordinarily,visiting will not be allowed when an inmate is a patient at a local medical facility. In instances where visiting is allowed, a memorandum will be prepared by the unit team, listing each visitor, and the date and time of the visit. Each visitor must be on the inmate’s approved visiting list. The memorandum will be forwarded to the warden for approval. Upon approval, the memorandum will be forwarded to the escorting officers at the local hospital.
Special Housing Unit Inmates
Inmates housed in the Special Housing Unit will receive full visiting privileges, unless their visiting has been restricted or their conduct dictates otherwise. If their visiting privileges have been revoked or suspended, documentation will be placed in the inmate’s central file and also entered into the visiting program.
Inmates housed in SHU will sit in a designated location in the visiting room as determined by the visiting room officers. In cases deemed appropriate, visiting may be conducted in SHU. These visits will be held in the disciplinary hearing room.
The visitor(s) will be processed as normal. All SHU inmate visits will be limited to two adults only and up to five children, with a two-hour time limit, under direct supervision. A maximum of three inmates housed in the SHU will be permitted to visit in the visiting room at any one time. Visits for additional SHU inmates will require the termination of an existing SHU inmate’s visit in order of arrival time.
Inmates from SHU will be properly dressed in institution issued underwear (boxers/briefs),T-shirt, socks, blue deck shoes, and orange jumpsuit. SHU inmates will not be permitted to wear personal tennis shoes in the visiting room.
Special Visits
Special visits will be conducted during regular visiting hours and supervised by the visiting room officers.
Any requests will be forwarded to the associate warden of programs with a recommendation for approval or disapproval. The request will include the amount of extra visiting points approved for the previous four months.
A memorandum requesting the extra visiting points for the inmate will be forwarded to the associate warden of programs. Prior to submitting the memorandum, the unit team will review the inmate’s visiting file maintained at the front entrance.
PVS Visits
Attorney Visits
Prior arrangements with the inmate’s unit team should be made to prevent delay.
Each attorney will present a bar card in addition to the other required forms of identification.
All attorneys entering the institution to visit inmates are required to complete a visiting attorney statement form. The completed form will be attached to the notification to visitor form and forwarded to the captain’s office by the visiting room officer.
Attorney/client visits will be conducted in the inmate visiting room using the attorney visiting areas. Unless special circumstances dictate otherwise, attorney visits will be conducted during normal visiting hours.
Inmates will not be allowed to bring legal documents to the visiting room unless prior approval has been obtained from the inmate’s unit team.
Any legal document approved for admission to the visiting room will be searched by the visiting room officer in the presence of the inmate.
Attorneys who need legal documents signed by the inmate must inform the visiting room staff of their intentions prior to the beginning of the visit.
Unscheduled visits, or visits after normal visiting hours, will be cleared with the inmate’s unit team or the IDO. Visiting points will not be deducted for attorney visits.
All attorney visits not occurring during regular visiting hours will be supervised by unit team staff.
Religious Visits
In accordance with procedures established in national policy, an inmate’s minister of record is placed on the inmate’s visiting list and, therefore, does not need any further approval. The associate warden of programs is the delegated authority for approving special visits of ordained ministers and spiritual guides (other than the inmate’s minister of record).
If a minister visits an inmate as a friend rather than in an official capacity, he/she must be on the inmate’s approved visiting list. Ministers appearing on an inmate’s regular visiting list will not be permitted to attend volunteer religious programs.
No volunteers will be permitted on an inmate’s approved visiting list.
Visits From Federal and State Investigative Officials
The SIS will coordinate the visit with the inmate’s unit team, who in turn will select a suitable location for the visit.
If the visiting official is an FBI agent who routinely visits the institution, no subsequent notifications are required.
If a visit has not been pre-arranged, the front entrance officer will contact the SIS. The operations lieutenant will be advised of all investigative official visits.
In the event the visit occurs after normal visiting hours, the operations lieutenant will coordinate the visit.
Representative Visits
Prior arrangements must be made. The front entrance officer will notify the inmate’s unit team of any individual claiming to be a representative for an inmate.
A staff member from the unit team will escort and supervise the representative to and from the parole/review hearings.
Video Monitoring (FCI)
All visitors are notified by posted signs that the visiting areas are subject to video monitoring to maintain institution security and good order.
Staff assigned to monitor the video equipment will report any unusual activity to the operations lieutenant immediately.
In the event unusual activity has been recorded, the video tape will be labeled and forwarded to the SIS with a chain of custody form, where it will be kept as evidence for institution administrative purposes.
Special Camp Regulations
Visitors are permitted only in the visiting area, institution parking lot, and the area from the parking lot to the front entrance of the camp.
Once a visit begins, a visitor may not return to his/her vehicle until the visit has been terminated and the visitor is ready to leave.
All visits will be terminated at the front entrance of the camp building. Inmates are not permitted to accompany visitors to the parking lot. Under no circumstances will inmates be in the area where either staff or visitor vehicles are parked unless assigned to work there under staff supervision.
Camp Special Visits
Special visits will only be authorized by the camp administrator and must be arranged prior to the visit with a memorandum forwarded to the visiting file.