St. Charles Parish Jail is one of the most recently built correctional facilities in the state of Louisiana that still manages to serve its purpose as much as most of the older ones. The jail was officially opened on the 15th of June 2001 and has since then been active. The prison is capable of housing 600 inmates in total and currently houses 550. Note that the majority of the people in the St. Charles parish jail has not been sentenced. They're merely on trial and either continue to stay there or leave, depending on the turn of events in their case.
To serve the inmates, there are 150 staff at the St. Charles Parish Jail, all of whom include deputies, clerics, and medical practitioners. These people are always available to discharge their duties and with promptness. The inmates are adequately taken care of and well-fed. However, you should know that there are some things that the inmates may want to buy for themselves or services they want to enjoy in the prison that would have to come from their purse, so there's a need for you to constantly send them money to be able to do this. Don't worry; we will look into that in more detail shortly.
If you have a family member, a friend, or any loved one in the St. Charles parish jail and want to find out how their life is or will be in prison, you have come to the right place. Attorney Carl Barkemeyer is here to give you complete details on what to do about your family member who is going through a trial or has been sentenced and has been slated to enter into this prison. Follow this article carefully, and you'll know everything that you need to know.
To get a clear picture, we'll go over the details in an orderly fashion. Below are the essential points we're going to look at and questions we are going to answer.
1. What are some of the basic things to know about the St. Charles parish prison?
2. How is visiting done in this prison
3. Is it possible to make a phone call to an inmate in St. Charles parish prison?
4. Sending money to an inmate in St. Charles parish prison.
5. Bailing out loved ones from St. Charles parish jail.
6. Sending mails; are they better than phone calls?
7. Are there qualified doctors in St. Charles parish prison?
All these questions will be answered in detail so prepare to stick around and read them carefully. Carl Barkemeyer has been a respected attorney in the state of Louisiana, practicing criminal law and defending the cause of many. In this article, he will tell you what you need to know about this prison.
Most of the basic things you need to know about this prison have already been covered in the introduction but for a more grounded and specific look into this subject, I'll list out some of the basic things you should know, and they include:
If you want to locate the St. Charles parish jail, you'll have to come to Louisiana. The prison is located at 5061 LA-3127, Killona, LA 70057, United States. In case you're looking for direction, the prison is also referred to as the Nelson Coleman correctional center.
If you want to reach the jail, you can either contact them on the phone with the number +1 985-783-1164, or you can simply visit their official website and follow all the directives that they present.
Remember that I said this prison is one of the newest prisons in Louisiana. Well, they have lived to the expectations of that attribute. Visiting your loved ones in jail can be a stressful thing to do. Face the fact, considering the busy schedules that we have to walk around every day, the expenses of transporting ourselves to the prison, and all of that. However, at the St. Charles parish jail, you don't have to worry about all of that anymore. The parish has introduced a new way to visit your loved ones without having to leave your house.
There's something called video visitation, and though the primary reason why the parish introduced this visiting style is to reduce the introduction of drugs and other contraband into the prison, it serves other useful services. Some of those purposes include getting to interact with your loved ones without leaving your house, helping to ensure that everyone in the family can see the inmate without needing to pay transport fares to the prison. For parents who don't want their children to ever visit the jail for any reason or see their father or mother in jail, they can connect the kids with the parent via video visitation.
This video connection is not limited to just visitation. There's also what is referred to as video arraignment in the St. Charles parish prison, where inmates can appear in court without physically appearing in court. They connect with their lawyer, the judge, and the rest of the court via live video. This will reduce the need or cost of transporting inmates from the prison to court all the time. It's an applaudable innovation and one that we believe other parish jails in Louisiana should emulate.
Visiting days are not restricted in St. Charles parish jail. However, there can be limitations as to the time of the day you want to visit. Visiting time will defer depending on the day you choose to visit, the gender of the person you're visiting, or the holiday. Aside from that, you're welcome to visit any day. To ensure that you're going by the rules, contact the jail for the appropriate time to visit before you come.
Before you can visit the St. Charles parish prison, you must abide by these rules
â— You can only visit if you're 18 years and above.
â— Children are not allowed into the premises without their parents or guardians.
â— You will fill out a form at the jail or on their website, starting every correct information about you, and that will include all your past criminal records (if any)
â— You're not allowed to visit any inmate if you're under probation for a felony.
â— You must dress appropriately, and that includes raising your sleeves halfway up your arm, not wearing any see-through clothing, and other basic dressing guidelines that you must follow.
The rules are pretty basic and straightforward. That's all there is about visiting the St. Charles parish prison.
Calling your inmate at the St. Charles parish jail is an exclusive privilege given by the court; it is not a right. The court may decide to withdraw that privilege for reasons related to the case at hand. Sometimes, the court doesn't even give the privilege at all, and that also depends on the crime that was committed by the inmate.
With that cleared, let's now get into the different ways an inmate can make calls from the prison.
Collect calls are expensive, and that's a fact. It doesn't matter what jail you're using the service from; making a call from the prison by calling collect is not very affordable for everyone. The calls are placed for the inmate by the officers in the jail and are only directed at pre-approved family and friends. Inmates cannot make calls to random numbers except they have first recorded that contact with the jail authority.
Before this call can be made, the inmate needs to get a credit approval or an initial deposit for this to be affected. We will get to the part where you'll learn to fund the jail account of the inmate. For now, let's just stick with this knowledge.
A much cheaper and easier way to connect with your family and loved ones from the St. Charles parish jail is by using direct calls. They're straightforward, and all you have to do is input and call any number that you want to call. What makes it easier than the collect calls is that the jail already has a contract with a phone service provider, and all you have to do is pay the required fees and make a direct phone call to the landline or personal cell phone of your loved ones.
If you want to find out more about how the St. Charles parish correctional center organizes their phone calls, you can reach them on 985-783-1164, to speak directly with somebody from the inside. Don't worry; your calls to the office won't be recorded unless you call an inmate.
Another quick way for inmates to make phone calls to their loved ones from the St. Charles parish prison is by buying call cards from the commissary. The amount will be deducted from their jail account, which you should continuously fund to ensure that they're not stranded.
There are a few tips you must bear in mind when you want to make a phone call to or from prison.
â— Phone calls are recorded for the purpose of an investigation, especially when the inmate is still on trial. You must know that whatever you say or do will be used against you or the inmate in court.
â— There are schedules for phone calls. Calls cannot be made every day and at any length. There are limits to how long an inmate can stay on the phone in one month. Reaching this limit too early in the month means that your inmate won't be able to hear from you unless you visit.
â— If you have scheduled a calling time with your inmate and their call has not come in, you would have to be patient because there are several other people who want to speak with their loved ones, and the waiting time can be extended.
â— Always find the jail account of the inmate as they may not be able to reach out to you about important matters if they don't have the slated fees for calls.
That is all the essential information you need to have about phone calls in the St. Charles parish prison. Let's move on to sending money.
If this is your first time having a loved one in jail, then you probably already think that there's no way to send them money, and probably no use for that since everything is provided. That isn't true. If your inmate is there during their trial, they'd definitely need money to fund some of their needs in jail.
Their feeding and clothing are indeed taken care of, but we all know that there are other things that you need money for in jail, and they may include health care. Having enough money in their jail account will do them a lot of good. You also have to know that physical cash is not allowed in prison; it is regarded as contraband. So how do you ensure that your inmate gets the money they need to acquire some items in jail? Below are a few ways.
Recall that I said money isn't allowed in prison. Well, that is only when the inmate is in possession of it. You can actually take money to the jail but the money would not be handed to your inmate. The jail personnel will process the payment into the account of the inmate. Many people are afraid of this method because they believe that the personnel may not deliver the money.
If you don't want to go through the rigors of visiting the prison or you have doubts about giving the money to jail personnel, then this is another option for you. You can decide to pay the money online by visiting the St. Charles parish jail website. When you get to the site, you will get directions on how to fund the account, but first, you must create an account with the jail and then register your card (debit or credit).
This method takes more time to complete but it is the best option for those who don't have debit or credit cards to do the online transaction and those who live too far away from the prison. It is always advised that you use a money order from a trusted bank, the post office, or Western Union. Doing this is a lot better than sending the money in cash.
That's all the essential information on sending money to your loved ones in jail. If you want to find out more about sending money, you can contact the jail directly with the phone number already provided above.
Bail is free but not when the case at hand is a felony, which has led to a trial. Your inmate will have to stay in jail throughout the trial period. However, the court may allow you to bail your loved ones so that they can attend the court for their trial. This is also a privilege, and the court may decide that the patient doesn't deserve bail. If your inmate has been granted bail, the following things are what you can do:
â— Ask how much the bail money is
â— Ask how you can pay it. The court usually doesn't allow you to use personal checks, so you have to use a money order.
â— Wait for 48 hours for your bail request to be effected. Sometimes, it could be announced on the day of the first arraignment.
â— Do you need an agent or a lawyer to pay the bail? Sometimes you may not need a lawyer. However, there are occasions where the bail amount is too high for you, and you have to plead with the court to bring it down. You're going to need a lawyer to do that for you.
If you have done all the above, asked the necessary questions, and gotten appropriate answers, you can move on to the next phase, which is paying the stated amount.
There are three known ways to pay the required bail amount, and they are:
If you're satisfied with the bail amount and you are ready to bail out your loved one, you can simply pay in cash at the court or just go to the jail where the inmate is being held. It is even faster when you go to the jail because if you make the payment at the court, you would still have to wait till it is sent to the prison for approval. If you don't have cash, you can use a money order, but you can't use your check.
It is possible that you don't have the exact amount to foot the full bail money but you need your inmate to be out of jail as soon as possible. You can simply employ the services of a bail agent with the agreement that he will pay the money for you in full or partially so that you can repay it with a premium, usually around 10 to 15%.
If you don't have cash, you don't have money in the bank, and you're not sure you'll be able to raise the fund to repay an agent, you can simply request to use your land as collateral for the bail. But you have to note that any land that will be used for this purpose must be inside the St. Charles parish for it to be a valid payment option.
Those are the three simple ways to pay off a bail in the St. Charles parish jail. Note that the option for bail may not be given by the court, depending on the circumstances surrounding the case or the gravity of the crime.
People sometimes communicate with their loved ones in jail through mails because they can't afford the high fees of phone calls. However, you must know that mails are very slow. If you want to speak with your loved one in jail about urgent matters, mails are not the best choice for you. Emails are also way faster than regular letters. So, if you're choosing a communication platform, it should depend on your finances and how quickly you want to get a response.
Healthcare is one of the essential things that are provided at the prison and your loved ones will enjoy these amenities as long as they have the necessary funds for it. St. Charles parish jail is filled with adequately trained personnel in the fields of healthcare, security, and clerks. Your inmate will have everything sorted out for them.
In the aspect of healthcare, the doctors at the prison are trained medical practitioners who have worked in government hospitals and clinics in the free world that got reassigned to the prison. Treatment is a sure thing for every inmate in the St. Charles parish prison.
If you have a family member, a friend, or a colleague in the St. Charles parish jail, then with all the information here, you should already know what to do, especially concerning bail, sending money, and visitation.
Remember that you can visit the prison physically, on their website, or you can call them if you have any question that you think was not answered in this article. You'll always get answers as the prison is open for service 24 hours every day. If you need to hire a criminal defense attorney that defends clients in St. Charles Parish, contact Carl Barkemeyer, Criminal Defense Attorney.
H. Taylor - Baton Rouge, Louisiana