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Berrien County Jail Information

Address

Berrien County Jail
919 Port Street
St Joseph, MI 49085

Phone Number

Phone: (269) 983-7141

The Berrien County Jail is located at 919 Port Street in St Joseph, MI and is a medium security county jail operated by the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.

This guide tells you all the information about everything you might need to know about the Berrien County Jail, like how to find out who’s in jail at the Berrien County Jail, the jail’s address and phone number, intake procedures and booking, how to find your court records, and much, much more.

Introduction

This guide is designed to give advice and information that you need to make helping a friend or family member get out of jail a lot easier. If you have a question, just ask it in the comment section below, and also any comments or tips that would help other people in the same situation would be welcome.

Berrien County Jail Inmate Search

Do you know someone that has gone to jail and need to contact them? Do you know a friend or family member that’s been arrested and you don’t know how to find out where they are?

To look up who is in jail at the Berrien County Jail you will have to use the search form.

Inmate Search

First Name

Last Name

State

Who’s In Jail

The Berrien County Jail Inmate Roster is an online list of individuals currently in custody, including current status, and visiting schedule. You can also get information for anybody who has been arrested or released in the last 24 hours. Inmates are shown in alphabetical order by their last name. You will be able to locate their inmate information fast if you have the arrestee’s first and last name, date of birth, or arrest number.

Berrien County Jail Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The jail intake procedure at the Berrien County Jail is made up of the following steps:

You will be placed in a waiting area or cell. When the jail is busy, you will have to wait a while to get processed.

You must answer some questions, like your full name, home address, birth date and an emergency contact person, and they’ll also ask you about your medical and mental history. Next, you’ll be given an inmate ID number and you will be fingerprinted. Then, all personal property will be taken from you and stored until you are discharged.

You will then be allowed to make a phone call so you can call family, friends, or loved one.

If you think you will get released quickly, you might get to keep wearing street clothes, but if you are not expected to make bail quickly you you will be given a jail uniform.

Discharge Procedures

Once bail has been posted, you will get discharged from jail. This process will take anywhere between 10 minutes to all day long. In other words the quicker bail is posted, the sooner you will be released. Also, how fast you get released will depend on whether you have a cash bond amount or if a magistrate must determine the bail amount. For a minor offense, you will be booked and get released without having to post bail. When you have served your sentence and are given a release date, you should plan to be discharged in the morning.

Berrien County Jail Visitation

In order to have visitors, inmates have to provide each visitor’s full name to the Berrien County Jail before you can visit. Your visitor’s information will go in the log as an Authorized visit. Each visitor has to provide acceptable photo identification when visiting an inmate. Visitors that gets to visitation or that does not have a visting order will not be able to attend visitation.

Jail visitation policies change often, so make sure that you call the official Berrien County Jail at (269) 983-7141 before you try to visit an inmate.

Visiting Hours

Day	Visiting Hours
Monday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Tuesday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Wednesday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Thursday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Friday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday	9:00am – 5:00pm

Visitation Rules

To visit someone at the Berrien County Jail you have to be on the inmate’s approved visitation list.

Make sure to bring your up to date government issued ID or driver’s license when you go to visit or you will not be allowed to enter without it.

No phones at Berrien County Jail, and you will be searched. No personal belongings. Anyone under must get the permission of both their individual supervising officer and the superintendent before visiting. Such visitation is not normally approved.

If the visitor is younger than 18 years of age is related to the inmate, they will have to be accompanied by an adult family member or guardian to include a member of the inmate’s extended family. If the visitor is younger than 18 years of age and is not related to the inmate, the minor 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 magazines to an inmate at the Berrien County Jail. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Berrien County Jail 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.

Mailing Address

The address that you should use if you are sending a letter to an inmate at the Berrien County Jail is:

Berrien County Jail
919 Port Street
St Joseph, MI 49085

Here is how you should address the letter:

[INMATE’S FULL NAME]
[INMATE ID]
Berrien County Jail
919 Port Street
St Joseph, MI 49085

The Berrien County Jail inmate mail policy can change, so it would be best to visit the official Berrien County Jail site when send a letter to someone in jail there.

Sending Other Things to an Inmate

There are strict procedures that you must follow to send anything to an inmate at the Berrien County Jail. 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 Berrien County Jail 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 think you have a warrant out for your arrest, you can check the arrest warrants online or you can call the court. You have to have their first and last name. Or, you can just go the jail in person and ask the officer in charge. You should be clear that if there is an arrest warrant out for you, they will take you into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you know the person’s first and last name, as well as the date of their arrest, contact the jail, either by phone, in person, or check online. Records of arrests are in the public record and these records are accessible by the public.

Court Records

Court Records are public, and are accessible by anyone. These records include a court case file that includes a docket sheet and all of the filings and documents filed in your court case. You are able to access the court records via the internet, or at the Berrien County Clerk of Court in the county where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Every state keeps a record of their state citizen’s criminal history. These online databases are linked together so you can track criminal backgrounds from any other state. You can go to county courthouse and make an inquiry, or check the website. It is helpful to know the county the crime was committed in, and in the event that it was in a completely different state, you might have to pay a fee for a more comprehensive search.

When you look up a person’s crminal records you are able to find out if someone has been arrested, charged, or convicted for driving under the influence (DUI), drug crimes, kidnapping, sex offenses which could include rape, and sexual assault, violent crimes including assault, battery and murder, or theft.

Money & Commissary

The procedure to send money to inmates at the Berrien County Jail is likely to change, so be sure to check the Berrien County Jail website before you send any funds.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Berrien County Jail

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 Berrien County Jail uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (269) 983-7141 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 inmateâ€™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 Berrien County Jail store. An inmate can purchase a number of things here, like toiletries, snacks and writing supplies. Remember that you will probably want to buy things from the commissary daily, and any infractions will cause you to lose commissary privileges.

The Commissary will sell an assortment of different products that the inmate can buy if they have money in their trust account. These products include clothes, shoes, small snacks and other food items, as well as 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 Berrien County Jail are made through a jail approved pre-paid phone account or phone card . Jail phone calls are much pricier than phone calls made at home. Phone calls are restricted on how often you can use the phone, but inmates must keep in mind that you are just one of many people who want to talk to their loved ones. If you break the rules, phone calls may be limited or cut altogether.

Phone Number: (269) 983-7141

How To Save Money on Inmate Calls

Correctional facility phone service providers have a monopoly at every facility that they operate the phone services for, which means that they they control the prices. The money these phone service providers make off of all of the inmate phone calls are split 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 Berrien County Jail. The rates are posted and there are at least two types of prices based on where the inmate is calling. The following three things will determine the cost of an inmate phone call: 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 decrease 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 inmate phone calls. There are some prisons or jails where we will not be able to save you money on your inmate calls, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In these cases, the jail or prison has set their inmate calling prices in a way that nobody can save you money.

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

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