Nashua Street Jail and the Suffolk County House of Correction: Visiting, Mail, Money, and Calls

If someone you know was just arrested in Boston, you probably have three questions and no good way to answer them: where is he, can I see him, and how do I get him money.

Here are the answers, verified against the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department’s own published rules as of August 2026. Where the department does not publish something, this guide says so instead of guessing, because a wrong visiting hour means a wasted trip and a wrong mailing address means a returned letter.

First: which building?

Suffolk County runs two facilities, and the split is not what most people assume.

Nashua Street Jail, at 200 Nashua Street in Boston, holds people awaiting trial. Roughly 700 people. Main number (617) 635-1100.

The Suffolk County House of Correction at South Bay, at 20 Bradston Street, holds people serving sentences, generally up to two and a half years, with an average daily population around 840 and an average sentence of about fourteen months. Main number (617) 635-1000.

Here is the part that trips families up. Nashua Street holds pretrial men only. The House of Correction holds both sentenced and pretrial people, and both men and women. So a woman arrested in Boston and held before trial goes to South Bay, not to the jail. If you are calling around looking for a woman, start at 20 Bradston Street.

There is no online inmate search

This surprises people, and a lot of websites imply otherwise.

Suffolk County does not publish an online inmate lookup. Not on the homepage, not on the facility pages, not on the resources page. The department’s own answer to “how do I know if someone is being held there” is to call the Records Division:

• Nashua Street Jail Records: (617) 635-1100 ext. 3005
• House of Correction Records: (617) 635-1000 ext. 2017

Have the person’s full legal name and date of birth ready. The department does not publish what Records requires, but those two things are what any facility will ask for first.

Visiting Nashua Street Jail

Visiting runs seven days a week in four blocks: 8:00 to 10:30 a.m., 1:00 to 2:45 p.m., 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 to 8:45 p.m.

The limits are strict. Three visits per week, one per day, and one person per visit. The visiting week runs Monday through Sunday. A visit may last up to an hour. Arrive thirty to sixty minutes before the block starts.

The jail’s page does not say whether you need to be on an approved list or make an appointment first. That is a real gap in what the department publishes, so call extension 3001 before you go.

There is no parking at the jail. Take the Green Line to the Museum of Science stop; the jail is across the street.

Visiting the House of Correction

South Bay works completely differently, and this is where most wasted trips happen.

Visits are by appointment, scheduled by housing unit. The department’s instruction is blunt: do not come to the House of Correction without having scheduled an appointment in advance. Arrive a full hour before your scheduled time for processing.

We are deliberately not reproducing a visiting timetable here. The Sheriff’s Department currently has two different visiting schedules posted, an undated table on its website and a PDF revised in December 2023, and they do not match each other. Call (617) 635-1000 ext. 2294, give them the housing unit, and confirm the day and time before you drive anywhere.

What is consistent: up to three visits per week and one per day depending on status, each up to an hour. In the contact visiting room, a maximum of two adults and two children, and one of those children has to fit on your lap. In non-contact rooms, one adult and one small child up to age five, for half an hour. No kissing of any kind; both people stay seated with hands visible. Anyone who appears intoxicated is refused entry, and everyone is subject to search.

Getting on the approved visitor list

For the House of Correction, this process starts inside, not with you.

The incarcerated person receives a Visitor Selection card and names up to three adults they want visits from. Each of those people then fills out a Request to Visit Questionnaire, available on the department’s site or at the South Bay lobby registration desk, which hands them out daily between 3 and 11 p.m. only.

Mail the completed form to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, 20 Bradston Street, Boston, MA 02118. It must include a copy of your ID and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Processing takes up to ten days and you are notified by mail. The form says plainly: no telephone calls. It also warns that photocopying the application will get you automatically denied.

Be ready for what it asks. The form requires your Social Security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, driver’s license, prior felony convictions, current probation or parole status with your officer’s contact information, your relationship to the person, and consent to a criminal records check.

You will be denied if you have been confined in a penal facility in the past six months, have a criminal complaint pending, are barred by probation from associating with felons, are a victim or witness of anyone held there, or have an active restraining order against anyone held there. If you have a prior felony or were previously incarcerated with the department, you can write to the Superintendent to ask anyway, and a denial can be appealed in writing to the Superintendent within thirty days.

ID, children, and what you can wear

Every adult visitor needs a current, valid government photo ID: a driver’s license, state ID, or passport.

Children. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent, and must have an original birth certificate, not a photocopy. At the jail, a maximum of two children per visit, no children on Saturdays, and none after 6 p.m. At the House of Correction, children are allowed on the property only until 6 p.m., and a legal guardian may bring a child with proper documentation or a minor consent form, which the department references but does not publish. Ask for it at extension 2097.

Dress code. The two facilities publish different rules and both are stricter than people expect. At the jail, skirts and dresses must fall six inches below the knee. At South Bay, skirts must be below the knee, nothing may be worn in the hair, and hats and scarves are barred.

Prohibited at both, in various formulations: shorts, sweats and sweatsuits, fatigues, hooded shirts, uniforms, halter and tube and crop tops, anything see-through, bare shoulders, mini skirts, hip-huggers, shower shoes, bare feet, and outerwear of any kind including coats, jackets, sweaters and ponchos. Hats, kerchiefs, bandannas, headbands, barrettes, clips, pins, and belts are out.

Jewelry. At the jail you may carry in only a wedding band, a medical alert bracelet, a handkerchief, and a locker key. At South Bay, one wedding ring and one religious medallion.

South Bay has lockers in the main lobby for your wallet, bag, and phone, and nothing but the orange locker key goes into the visiting room. The jail’s rules mention a locker key but the department does not actually say lockers are available there, so do not count on it.

One warning the department prints in capital letters, and it is not decorative: bringing drugs or unauthorized articles to someone in custody is a felony carrying up to five years.

Mail: the rules are unusually strict

Address it exactly like this, with the person’s ID number:

Nashua Street Jail
Name and ID Number
Suffolk County Jail, 200 Nashua Street
Boston, MA 02114

House of Correction
Name and ID Number
20 Bradston Street
Boston, MA 02118

Now the part that gets mail rejected. Letters must be typed or written in black ink or non-colored pencil. The paper must be white and free of stains or discoloration. Drawings follow the same rule. Greeting cards must not be multi-layered. Your name and return address must be on the envelope. All mail is searched before it is forwarded.

In practice that means a card with glitter, a letter in blue gel pen, or colored stationery will not reach the person. Use plain white paper and a black pen.

Books, magazines, and newspapers are accepted from publishers or retailers only. You cannot mail your own paperback.

The department publishes nothing about whether it scans or digitizes incoming mail through an outside vendor, as many jails now do, and nothing about a separate legal mail address. Attorneys should call Inmate Legal Services at (617) 635-1100 ext. 3085.

Money: money orders only

This is the opposite of what most jail guides tell you, so read it carefully.

Cash is not accepted. Personal checks are not accepted. Travelers checks are not accepted. The department publishes no online deposit option and names no payment vendor. As published, the way to get money to someone is a money order or bank check made out to the person, brought to the facility.

Drop-off windows are daily: at the jail, 8:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. and 3:00 to 9:00 p.m.; at South Bay, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 to 9:00 p.m.

There is a $500 limit. The House of Correction describes it as a per-transaction cap; the department’s FAQ describes it as an account balance cap and says money orders that would push the balance over $500 will not be accepted. Assume the stricter reading.

Before assuming you can pay online, call Accounts: jail (617) 635-1100 ext. 3147, House of Correction (617) 635-1000 ext. 2132.

Phone calls are free, and that is state law

Massachusetts is one of a small number of states where calls from jails and prisons cost nothing, and it is a statute rather than a policy a sheriff can change.

G.L. c. 127, § 87A requires the Department of Correction and sheriffs to provide people held in any state prison or county facility, including a jail or house of correction, with voice communication services free of charge to both the person calling and the person receiving the call. It also bars facilities from offering less phone access than they did on July 1, 2023, and says free calling cannot replace in-person visits.

Subsection (c) matters too: if a facility adds video or electronic communication, those services also have to be free, and they cannot replace voice calls.

The provision was added by the state budget signed August 9, 2023, and took effect sixty days later, with the phase-in running over the following months.

The Sheriff’s Department does not publish which vendor handles its calls, how someone inside sets up calling, or whether calls are recorded. Assume that anything other than a properly registered attorney call may be recorded and monitored, and confirm with the facility. For help setting up calling, Social Services is (617) 635-1100 ext. 3146 at the jail and (617) 704-6542 at South Bay.

Court clothes and property

You generally cannot drop off belongings. The exception is clothing for a court appearance.

At the jail, court clothes may be dropped off daily, 7:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. and 3:00 to 9:00 p.m., and you can bring them the calendar day before the court date. For Suffolk Superior Court appearances, do not drop off until after 4:30 p.m. Socks, underwear, t-shirts, bras, and sneakers are no longer accepted and must be bought from the canteen. Also refused: boots, heels, sweats, hooded shirts, fatigues, and clothing with excessive pockets or with writing or pictures.

At South Bay, court clothes are exchanged Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 11:15 a.m. and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., with ID. One set, swapped for everything in the person’s property bag. Nothing is accepted on weekends or holidays, and no food of any type is ever accepted.

To pick up property from the jail: Monday through Friday only, 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., with photo ID and a property release form signed by the person in custody. If they have already been released, you need a signed, notarized letter from them. Property is held only thirty days after release. Questions: extension 3035.

Bail after hours

A bail commissioner is available at the jail after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on call on weekends. Get names and numbers from Jail Records at (617) 635-1100 ext. 3005.

A scam that targets these families specifically

The Sheriff’s Department has issued a public warning about people impersonating its officers. The callers use real employee names and spoof the department’s phone numbers, then demand money over a supposed missed court date, missed jury duty, or a “no-show fee,” payable in gift cards, prepaid cards, wire transfer, cashier’s checks, or cryptocurrency.

No sheriff’s department collects money that way. Never send funds or give out a credit card number, bank routing number, Social Security number, or date of birth to someone who calls you. If in doubt, hang up and call the department’s published main number yourself.

Common questions

Is there a Suffolk County inmate search online?

No. The Sheriff’s Department publishes no online lookup. Call Records: (617) 635-1100 ext. 3005 for Nashua Street Jail, or (617) 635-1000 ext. 2017 for the House of Correction.

Where are women held in Suffolk County before trial?

At the House of Correction at South Bay, 20 Bradston Street, not at Nashua Street Jail, which holds pretrial men only.

How many times a week can I visit?

Up to three visits per week and one per day at both facilities, depending on the person’s status, with each visit up to an hour.

Do I need an appointment?

Yes at the House of Correction, where visits are scheduled by housing unit. The jail does not publish an appointment requirement; call extension 3001 to confirm before traveling.

Are jail phone calls free in Massachusetts?

Yes. G.L. c. 127, § 87A requires the Department of Correction and sheriffs to provide phone calls free to both parties at state prisons and county jails and houses of correction.

Can I send money online?

The department publishes no online option and names no vendor. As published, money orders and bank checks only, with a $500 limit. Call Accounts to confirm before assuming otherwise.

Can I mail a book?

Not directly. Books, magazines, and newspapers are accepted from publishers or retailers only.

Can I bring my kids?

Yes, with an original birth certificate and a parent. No children on Saturdays at the jail, none after 6 p.m. at either facility, and a maximum of two.

Verified against the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department’s published rules in August 2026. The department’s own pages state that these rules are subject to change, and several of its operational pages are undated. Always call to confirm before you travel. This is general information, not legal advice.