How do you get in touch with the chaplain?

Getting married while a partner is incarcerated is more achievable than most people expect, and the chaplain is exactly the right person to start with. Most correctional facilities, including county facilities, have a chaplain or religious services coordinator on staff whose responsibilities include facilitating religious programming, counseling, and in many cases officiating or coordinating marriages for inmates.

The most direct route is calling Luzerne County Correctional Facility and asking to speak with the chaplain or to be directed to the religious services department. If the chaplain is not available immediately, leaving a message with your name and the inmate's name and housing unit will typically result in a callback. The chaplain can walk you through the specific requirements the facility has for inmate marriages, which vary but commonly include paperwork submitted in advance, approval from the facility administration, a limited guest list, and scheduling within designated times.

From the inmate's side, your fiance should make the same request through an Inmate Request to Staff form, sometimes called a cop-out, addressed to the chaplain or to the warden's office. Having both parties initiate the request demonstrates mutual intent and can move the process along more efficiently.

Pennsylvania also has civil marriage license requirements that need to be met separately from the facility's internal approval process. A marriage license must be obtained through the county clerk's office, and the chaplain or an outside officiant must be authorized to perform the ceremony. The chaplain can often advise on how other inmates have navigated that process at that specific facility.

It is worth starting this process early as administrative approvals inside correctional facilities rarely move quickly, but it absolutely can happen.