Kent County Jail

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The Kent County Jail is located at 703 Ball Avenue NE in Grand Rapids, MI and is a medium security county jail operated by the Kent County Sheriff’s Department.

This page will tell you info about everything a person needs to know about the Kent County Jail, such as how to do a jail inmate search, the jail’s phone number and address, booking and intake procedures, court information, and more.

Top 10 Searches for Kent County Jail

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

Introduction

This guide is meant to give advice and information you need to make getting locked up a lot easier. If you have a question, feel free to ask it in the comment section below, and also any comments or tips that might help others will be welcome.

Kent County Jail Inmate Search

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Who’s In Jail

The Kent County Jail Inmate Lookup is an online list of individuals who were arrested and are now in jail, which includes status, and times the inmate can have visitors. Also, you can find the same information on anyone booked or discharged in the last 24 hours. Prisoners are shown in alphabetical order by last name. You can locate the information fast if you have their first and last name, date of birth, or inmate ID.

Kent County Jail Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The jail intake process at the Kent County Jail takes you through the following steps:

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

You will have to answer some questions, like your legal name, your address, date of birth and an emergency contact, and also, you will also be asked about your mental and medical history. Next, You will be given an inmate number and you will be fingerprinted. Then, Any property you have will be taken from you and stored until you are discharged.

They will let you use the telephone so you can contact family, friends, or loved one.

If you think you will get released quickly, you might be allowed to wear your own clothes, if not you you will have to change into a jail issued jumpsuit.

Discharge Procedures

When you finally post bail, you will be discharged from jail. Getting discharged from jail will take between 15 minutes to all day long. In other words the faster you post bail, the sooner you will be released. How quickly you get discharged will depend on whether you have a bond amount or if the judge needs to decide on how much your bail will be. For a minor charge, you will simply 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 date of your release, you should expect to get released that morning.

Kent County Jail Visitation

In order to have visitors, inmates must provide each visitor’s name to the Kent County Jail before anyone can visit them. This information will go in the log for the inmate. All visitors has to provide identification. Any visitors that arrives for visitation late or that is not an approved visitor will not be allowed to attend visitation.

The Kent County Jail visitation procedures change often, so call the jail at (616) 632-6300 before you visit an inmate.

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Visitation Rules

In order to visit someone at the Kent County Jail you must have your name on their visitation list.

Make sure to take your up to date government issued ID or valid driver’s license with you to visitation because you will not be allowed to enter without it.

No phones at Kent County Jail, and you will be searched before visiting. Personal belongings are not allowed. Persons on must get the permission of both their individual supervising officer and the superintendent before they can visit. This kind of visitation is not going to be 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 the visitor is younger than 18 years old and is not a family member of the inmate, the minor visitor must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Sending Mail to Inmates

This is what you need to know in order to send letters, photos, postcards, greeting cards and magazines to an inmate at the Kent County Jail. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Kent 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.

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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 Kent 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 Kent 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 might have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you can find out by checking the arrest warrants inquiry on the website or you are able to call the jail directly. You have to have their first and last name. Or, you can just go down to the jail and ask them. You should be clear that if you do have an outstanding warrant, you will be taken into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you know the person’s name, and the date of their arrest, contact the jail, either by phone, in person, or you can check online. Arrest records are a matter of public record and this information is accessible by the public.

Court Records

Court Records are considered public records, so they are accessible to anyone who requests them. They include a case file that contains a docket sheet and all of the documents and filings filed in your court case. You are able to access your court records on the website, or at the clerk’s office of the court in the county where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Every state keeps a record of their state citizen’s criminal background. These databases are all connected so you can track criminal convictions from any other state. You can go to courthouse and make an inquiry, or check the website. It is helpful to know the county, and in the event that it was in a totally different state, you may have to pay for a more intensive search.

A criminal records search you will be able to find out if someone has been arrested, charged, or convicted for DUI, drug offenses such as possession or trafficking, kidnapping, sex offenses which could include rape, and sexual assault, violent crimes including assault, battery and murder, or property crimes like theft or larceny.

Money & Commissary

The procedure to send funds to someone in jail at the Kent County Jail change frequently, so be sure to double check the Kent County Jail website when you send money to an inmate there.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Kent 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 Kent County Jail uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (616) 632-6300 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 Kent County Jail store. Inmates can purchase several different things here, such as personal items, food, and things for writing. Remember that you will probably want to use the commissary every day, 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 commissary account. These items include clothes, shoes, small snacks and other food items, in addition to hygiene products such as 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 Kent County Jail are collect calls or through a pre-paid phone account . These phone calls are a lot more costly than phone calls made at home. There is no limit to 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 jail rules, an inmate’s ability to use the phone might get reduced or eliminated completely.

Phone Number: (616) 632-6300

How To Save Money on Inmate Calls

Correctional facility phone service companies have a monopoly at each facility that they operate, which means that they they control the prices. The profits these phone service providers make from 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 Kent County Jail. The rates are posted and there are at least two different prices based on where the inmate is calling. The following three factors 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 lower your inmates phone charges is 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 a lot of money on how much it costs you to call your inmate. In some cases, we will not be able to save you any money, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In cases like this, the facility has set their phone call rates so high that nobody will be able to save you money.

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

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