Berks County Prison

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The Berks County Prison is located at 1287 County Welfare Road in Leesport, PA and is a medium security county jail operated by the Berks County Sheriff’s Department.

This guide tells you info about everything a person needs to know about the Berks County Prison, like how to locate an inmate, the jail’s phone number and address, booking and intake procedures, court information and records, and lots more.

Top 10 Searches for Berks County Prison

1. Berks County Prison Information
2. Berks County Prison Inmate Search
3. Berks County Inmate Search in Leesport, PA
4. What Are the Visitation Rules for Berks County Prison
5. Berks County Prison Visitation Hours
6. How To Save Money on Inmate Calls at Berks County Prison
7. How to Send Inmate Care Packages to Berks County Prison
8. What is Inmate Commissary?
9. How to Send Money to an Inmate at Berks County Prison
10. How to Search Berks County Arrest Records

Introduction

This guide is meant to give you all the information and advice that you’ll need to make helping a friend or family member get out of jail easier. If you have specific questions, just ask it, and please leave any comments or feedback that could help other people in the same situation would be much appreciated.

Berks County Prison Inmate Search

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Who’s In Jail

The Berks County Prison Inmate Lookup is a list of people who have been arrested and are in jail, which includes status, and schedule for visitation. You can also get the same information on anybody arrested and booked or discharged in the past 24 hour period. Inmates are listed in alphabetical order by their last name. You can locate their inmate information faster if you’ve got the arrestee’s first and last name, date of birth, or inmate ID Number.

Berks County Prison Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The intake process at the Berks County Prison includes each of the following steps:

They’ll put you in a holding cell. If the jail is really busy, you will have to wait, sometimes for many hours, before you get processed.

The first step is that you will answer some basic questions, like your full name, your address, date of birth and an emergency contact, and they’ll also ask you about your medical and mental history. Next, You will be given an inmate ID and your fingerprints will be taken. Then, any personal property you have will be taken from you and stored until you are released.

You will then be allowed to make a telephone call to call a member of your family, friend, or loved one.

If they expect that you will make bail and be released quickly, you might be allowed to keep wearing your own clothes, if not you you will have to wear a jumpsuit.

Discharge Procedures

Once you are able to post bail, you will be allowed to go home after you get discharged. Getting discharged from jail may take from 10 minutes to many hours. In other words the quicker you post bail, the quicker you will get let go. It also can depend on whether or not you have a cash bond or if a judge must figure out how much your bail will be. For a minor charge, you will be booked and then released on your recognizance without having to pay bail. When you have served out your jail sentence and are given a discharge date, you should plan to get discharged between 9am and noon.

Berks County Prison Visitation

In order to have visitors, inmates have to give each visitor’s name and date of birth to the Berks County Prison in advance of any visit. This information will be put in a log of approved visitors for the requesting inmate. All visitors must provide identification. Anyone that gets to visitation or that is not an approved visitor will not be allowed to visit the inmate.

The Berks County Prison visitation procedures are always changing, so make sure that you call the official Berks County Prison at (610) 208-4800 before go to the jail to visit an inmate.

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Visitation Rules

In order to visit someone at the Berks County Prison you must first be on their approved visitation list.

Be sure to bring your valid driver’s license or government issued ID with you to visitation or you will not be allowed to enter without it.

No cellphones are allowed at Berks County Prison, and you will be searched before you can visit. Personal belongings are not allowed. Anybody on must obtain the permission of both the superintendent and their individual supervising officer prior to a visit. Usually is not going to be approved.

If the visitor is younger than 18 years of age and is a family member of the inmate, they must be accompanied by an adult family member or guardian to include a member of the inmate’s extended family. If a visitor is younger than 18 years old and is not related to the inmate, this visitor must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Sending Mail to Inmates

This is what you need to know about sending letters, photos, postcards, greeting cards and even magazines to an inmate at the Berks County Prison. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Berks County Prison is always searched and inspected for contraband that might threaten the security, safety or well-being of the facility, its staff, and inmates. Inmates can only receive metered, unstamped, plain white postcards no larger than 4″ x 6″ as mail. The writing on the postcard has to be in pencil or blue or black ink. If it has a stamp on it, it will get returned. If you write in green ink, then it will get returned. If you send any other kind of mail will be returned to the sender. If there is no return address on it, then the unauthorized mail will be stored in the inmate’s locker until the inmate gets release.

Do not include any of these things in the mail that you send to an inmate: any kind of threat to jail order, any description of the manufacture of weapons, bombs, incendiary devices, or tools for escape; do not encourage or advocate any kind of violence, hate speech, or racial or ethnic supremacy. Inmates are not allowed to write to other inmates.

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Sending Other Things to an Inmate

There are strict procedures that you must follow to send anything to an inmate at the Berks County Prison. This includes sending money for to spend in the commissary, sending regular mail or photos, sending money for phone calls, and even postcards.

This page covers everthing you need to know about the Berks County Prison to help you follow these procedures and guidelines. If you have questions, or there is something that you were looking for, but did not find, please contact us using the contact link in the site menu.

Public Records

Warrant Inquiry

If you believe you have an outstanding warrant, you can find out by checking the arrest warrants inquiry online or you are able to call the court. You have to have the person’s first and last name. You can also go to the local jail and inquire at the information desk. Bear in mind that if you do have an outstanding warrant, you should be prepared to get taken into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you have a first and last name, and their arrest date, contact the jail, either by phone, go there in person, or find out online. An arrest is in the public record and this information is available to anyone.

Court Records

Court Records are public, and are accessible by anyone. These records include a court case file containing a docket and any documents filed in the court case. You are able to access the court records via the internet service ‘Public Access to Court Electronic Records’, or at the Berks County Clerk of Court where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Every state maintains records of someone’s criminal history. These state databases are linked together so you are able to track criminal histories from another state. Go to the Berks County Courthouse and check in person, or you can check online. It is helpful to know the county the crime was committed in, and if it was in a different state, you might have to pay a fee for a more complete search.

A criminal records search you will get a listing of all the arrests, charges, or convictions for the following crimes, drug offenses, kidnapping, sexual offenses including rape, assault, violent crimes like assault or murder, or theft.

Money & Commissary

The process for sending money to Berks County Prison jail inmates might change, so visit the Berks County Prison site before send funds to someone in jail there.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Berks County Prison

You will have your own ‘bank account’ while in jail. This money is used to purchase items from the Commissary. Family and friends can deposit money into this account for you, and any money you earn while in prison will also be deposited into your account. Outside money can be paid in to your account via a money order, cash or check. If someone sends a check or money order, make sure that they write your inmate ID on it. The maximum amount you are allowed in your account is $290 per month.

Guidelines For Sending Money To An Inmate

Before you send any money you should find out what online money transfer companies the jail your inmate is incarcerated in uses. The exact method that the Berks County Prison uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (610) 208-4800 to get the current payment method.

You may be required to be on the inmate’s visitation list in order to send them money, and be aware that they may have a limit on how much you deposit at one time, like $200-300 at a time, or a limit on how much money may be in the inmate’s account at one time.

Some of the money transfer firms being used by various facilities include JPay, MoneyGram, AccessCorrections, OffenderConnect, Touchpayonline, JailATM, WU, smartdeposit, and tigercommissary.

If an inmate has fines or are required to pay restitution then they will be subject to garnishment of their commissary/trust account. If the inmate has a garnishment, then money to pay them will be taken from the inmate’s bank account. In some cases it may be a percentage or the entire amount of the obligation, but the actual percentage depends on the circumstances. We recommend that inmates talk to the counselor at their facility and try to find out. You can also try to make an arrangement so that only a percentage of your commissary funds are taken, instead of all your funds take at one time.

Commissary

The commissary is the Berks County Prison store. Inmates can purchase a number of things here, like personal items, food, and things for writing. Remember that you will probably want to buy things from the commissary every day, and any infractions will get that privilege taken away from you.

The Commissary will sell an assortment of different items that inmates can buy if they have sufficient funds in their account. These items include clothes, shoes, small snacks and other food items, as well as personal hygiene products including soap, shampoo, and disposable razors for shaving. The commissary also sells other things like books and magazines, televisions and radios, playing cards, headphones, MP3 players, and electronic tablets. They also sell everything need to write home to family, friends, and loved ones: paper, envelopes, and stamps. If an inmate is indigent and cannot afford paper and stamps, the jail will provide these things to an inmate who has not had any money in their commissary account for at least 30 days.

Phone Calls & Phone Usage Policy

All phone calls from the Berks County Prison are collect calls or through a pre-paid phone account . Jail phone calls are usually more expensive than regular phone calls. There are certain restrictions about when you can make phone calls, how long you can talk, and how often you can make calls, but bear in mind that every inmate wants to use the phone too, so they can call their family. If you break the rules and are disciplined, an inmate’s phone privileges could be reduced or cut altogether.

Phone Number: (610) 208-4800

How To Save Money on Inmate Calls

Correctional facility phone service providers have a monopoly at each facility that they are the exclusive phone provider for, which means that they get to set the prices. The money these phone service providers make from all phone calls that inmates make are shared with the facility, so there is no incentive for the jail or the counselors at the facility to show inmates or their family how to save money on inmate phone calls at the Berks County Prison. The prices are posted and there are at least two different prices based on where the inmate is calling. These three factors will determine how much an inmate phone call will cost: Where you are located; Where your inmate is located, What type of phone number you have.

For example, if your inmate is in federal prison, if you get a new local number then this will decrease your inmate’s phone call rate from $.21 per minute to only $.06 per minute.

For state prisons and local jails figuring out how to lower your inmates phone charges can be more difficult. ArrestedResources.com keeps up to date with all of the changes that affect your inmate’s rate and in most cases is able to offer you an inmate calling number that will save you significantly on how much it costs you to call your inmate. There are some prisons or jails where we won’t be able to save you money on your inmate calls, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In cases like this, the jail has set their phone rates in a way that nobody can save you money.

For more detailed information on how to save on inmate calls at Berks County Prison, click the link below.

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