2009/11/05 by Judith E. Sturges, Aref M. Al-Khattar · 1 citation
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Homelessness and Social Issues #Social and Cultural Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/0032885509351009
crossref issued 2009/11/05 · crossref published 2009/11/05 · crossref published-online 2009/11/05 · openalex publication_date 2009/11/05 · crossref created 2009/11/05 · crossref published-print 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Little has been written about policies affecting the public who visit jails. As the number of jail inmates increases, many offenders’ families are affected. For the majority, their first contact with the criminal justice system might be by visiting an inmate in jail. This study measured the levels of visitors’ understanding and satisfaction with visitation policies at two county jails in a northeastern state. A total of 281 visitors from two county jails completed the surveys. Data from this study revealed that—to meet the needs of the visitors—attention should be given to methods of visiting, jail staff training, dissemination of visitation policies, and conditions of inmate incarceration. By addressing these issues, problems that visitors encounter while visiting inmates may be lessened, and their concerns about inmates may be decreased. These changes may lead to more amenable interactions between visitors and jail staff during visitation.