Visits and Appeals

Maintaining personal connections with social and family networks and support systems is critical to improving outcomes both during confinement and upon reentry. Visitation with friends and family plays an instrumental role in a person in custody’s ability to maintain these connections and should therefore be encouraged and facilitated by the Department of Correction. Minimum Standard 1-09

The Minimum Standards regulate:

• Visiting and waiting areas
• Visiting schedules
• Initial visit
• Visitor identification and registration
• Contact visits
• Visiting security and supervision
• Restrictions on visitation rights
• Appeal procedure for visitation restrictions.

For information on visiting a person in custody, see the Department of Correction's Visit an Inmate page.

Visit Restriction Appeals

People in custody and visitors have the right to appeal visit restrictions to the Board of Correction.

If the Department of Correction has denied, revoked, or limited your visits or the visits of a friend or family member currently in jail, you have the right to appeal the DOC decision to the Board of Correction.

To appeal the restriction, you must send the Board of Correction a written notice of your wish to appeal. You may submit any relevant material for the Board's consideration.

Send your appeal via:

Mail:
Board of Correction
2 Lafayette Street
Room 1221
New York, NY 10007

Email:
boc@boc.nyc.gov

Fax:
212-669-7980

The Board will make a decision within five business days of receiving the request. Where necessary, the Board may extend its deadline up to an additional ten business days.

If you have any questions about your appeal, call the Board of Correction at 212-669-7900 or email boc@boc.nyc.gov.

Visit Reports

For more information on DOC visit restrictions and BOC visit appeals, see our monthly visit restriction reviews on the Reports page.