Columbia County Prison

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The Columbia County Prison is located at 721 Iron Street in Bloomsburg, PA and is a medium security county jail operated by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department.

This page tells you information about everything you might want to know about the Columbia County Prison, like how to do a jail inmate search, the jail’s address and phone number, intake procedures, how to find Columbia County court records, and much, much more.

Top 10 Searches for Columbia County Prison

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

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to offer information that you’ll need to make helping a friend or family member get out of jail less stressfull. If you have specific questions, just ask it in the comment section below, and also any tips or comments that would help other people in the same situation would be appreciated.

Columbia County Prison Inmate Search

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Who’s In Jail

The Columbia County Prison Inmate Roster is an online list of people who have been arrested, including custody status, and times the inmate can have visitors. Also, you can get the same information for anyone arrested and booked or discharged in the last 24 hours. Prisoners are listed alphabetically by their last name. You can find their arrest information quicker if you’ve got your friend or family member’s full name, birth date, or inmate ID.

Columbia County Prison Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The jail intake procedure at the Columbia County Prison takes you through these steps:

You will be placed in a holding cell. If the jail is busy, you may not be processed immediately.

The first thing you will have to to is you will have to answer a bunch of questions, such as what is your full legal name, address, date of birth and contact person, and you will also be asked about your psychological and medical history. Next, you’ll be given an inmate number and your fingerprints will be taken. Then, all personal property will get taken away from you and will be stored until you are released.

You will be allowed to use the telephone so you can talk to a member of your family, friend, or somebody else who can help you get out.

If you are expected to be released shortly, they will let you keep wearing your own clothes, otherwise you you will be given a jumpsuit.

Discharge Procedures

Once bail has been posted, you will get discharged from jail. Getting discharged can take between 15 minutes to hours or even all day long. In other words the quicker you post bail, the quicker you can get out of jail. Also, it might depend on whether or not you’ve been given a bond amount or if a magistrate has to decide on the bail amount. For a minor offense, you will be booked and get released without having to post bail. If you have served a sentence in jail and are given a release date, you should expect to be released between 9am and noon.

Columbia County Prison Visitation

In order to have visitors, inmates must give information about each visitor to the Columbia County Prison in advance. Your visitors will be put in a Visiting log as an approved visitor. Each visitor is required to provide acceptable photo identification. Anyone showing up late or without a visiting order will not be allowed to visit the inmate.

Visitation procedures at Columbia County Prison can change, so make sure that you call the jail at (570) 784-4815 before you visit an inmate.

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Visitation Rules

In order to visit someone at the Columbia County Prison you have to first have your name on the inmate’s approved visitation list.

Be sure to take your valid driver’s license or government issued ID when you go to visitation because you will not be allowed to enter without it.

No phones are allowed at Columbia County Prison, and you will be searched before you can visit. No personal belongings. Persons under must obtain the permission of both their individual supervising officer and the superintendent prior to a visit. Such visitation is not normally approved.

If the visitor is under the age of 18 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 under the age of 18 and is not a family member of 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 magazines to an inmate at the Columbia County Prison. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Columbia 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 Columbia 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 Columbia 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 think you might have an outstanding warrant, you are able to check the court records on the Columbia County court website or call the jail directly. This requires a first and last name. Or, you can just go down to the jail and ask one of the officers. Bear in mind that if there is a warrant for your arrest, you will be taken into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you know a person’s name, as well as the date of their arrest, contact the jail, by phone, in person, or find out online. An arrest is public record and this information is freely available.

Court Records

Court Records are public, and are accessible by anyone. Court Records include a court case file that includes a docket sheet and all documents and filings filed in the court case. You can access court records on the internet, or at the Columbia County Clerk of Court where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Each state maintains a record of a person’s criminal history. These state databases are all connected so you are able to track criminal histories from any other state. You are able to go to the Columbia County Courthouse and make an inquiry, or check the website. You must know which county the crime occured in, and in the event that the crime was in a totally different state, you may have to pay for a more intensive search.

When you look up a person’s crminal records you will get a listing of all the arrests, charges, or convictions for these crimes, drug Possession of drug trafficking, kidnapping, sexual offenses including rape, assault, violent crimes like assault or murder, or breaking and entering, theft, larceny.

Money & Commissary

The rules for sending money to Columbia County Prison jail inmates might change, so it would be best to visit the Columbia County Prison site when send funds to someone in jail there.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Columbia 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 Columbia County Prison uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (570) 784-4815 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 Columbia County Prison store. Inmates can buy a number of things here, such as personal items, food, and things for writing. Keep in mind that you will most likely need to use the commissary on a daily basis, and any infractions will get that privilege taken away from you.

The Commissary will sell an assortment of different products that inmates can buy if they have sufficient funds in their trust 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

Phone calls that inmates are allowed to make from the Columbia County Prison are with a pre-paid phone card or account, or are collect calls . These phone calls are much more expensive than phone calls made at home. Phone calls are restricted on when you can make phone calls, how long you can talk, and how often you can make calls, but you should keep in mind lots of people want to use the phone – so you have to share. If you are disciplined for an infraction, phone privileges might get cut back or eliminated completely.

The Columbia County Prison phone number is: (570) 784-4815

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 how much it costs to make phone calls. The profits 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 Columbia County Prison. The prices are posted and there are at least two types of prices based on where the inmate is calling. These three things 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 the other correctional facilities like state prisons, and local and county jails learning how to lower your inmates phone charges is more difficult. ArrestedResources.com keeps up to date with all of the changes that affect your inmate’s calling rate and in most cases is able to offer you an inmate calling number that will save you a lot of money on inmate phone calls. There are some circumstances where we will not be able to save you any money, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In these cases, the jail has set their phone call rates in a way that nobody can save you money.

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

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