Inmate Video Visitation in Missouri

If someone you love is locked up in Missouri, video can save you a long drive across the state, but how it works, and what it costs, depends on which kind of facility they're in. So the first thing to nail down is whether your person is in a state prison, a county jail, or federal or immigration custody, because that determines the vendor, the cost, and the rules.

Missouri splits custody three ways, and each handles video differently. The state prison system (Missouri DOC) runs its institutions across the state. County jails, run by sheriffs, handle people awaiting trial and serving shorter sentences. And federal and immigration custody play by their own rules, with Missouri holding a federal medical prison and several county jails that have taken on hundreds of ICE detainees. Figure out which bucket your person is in first, because everything else flows from that.

Do Missouri state prisons offer video visitation?

Yes, at participating facilities. The Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) offers video visits through its contracted vendor, Securus, alongside in-person visits. Video isn't offered everywhere, though, it's available at select facilities, so the first step is to confirm your person's prison actually hosts video visits.

There are two kinds, and the cost difference is the whole point. Onsite video visits happen at the facility, using the provider's equipment there; these are no-contact visits and are free, scheduled in two-hour blocks. Remote video visits are the ones you do from home on your own device, and those are paid (a fixed charge per 30-minute block). Either way, you set up a Securus account, and visits must be scheduled at least 72 hours in advance through Securus, which shows the available times. Attorney-client confidential visits don't use video, those stay in-person.

In-person visiting is the backbone of the state system. You must be pre-approved, and a criminal-history check is part of the application. A visit is generally limited to three visitors per incarcerated person (plus up to three additional children age five and under). The number, length, and schedule of visits vary by facility based on space, and weekends may be reserved for immediate family or one designated person. If your application is denied, you can appeal within 30 days, and denied applicants can reapply after a year.

To get on the approved visitor list, complete the DOC visiting application thoroughly and honestly. You may visit only one incarcerated person unless you're an immediate family member of more than one.

One Missouri-specific note that trips people up: the DOC no longer accepts physical mail at its prisons. Personal mail is sent to a digital processing center (in Tampa, Florida), scanned, and delivered electronically to the person's tablet or media player. So when you write, you're mailing it to the scanning center, not the prison, and your person reads a digital copy.

County and city jails

Missouri's county jails are run by sheriffs, and each picks its own vendor, so cost and platform vary, and many have moved to video-only for friends and family.

A couple of examples of the range: the Jackson County Detention Center (Kansas City) conducts all public visits through its video system, both onsite and remote, with no in-person contact visits. The Greene County Jail (Springfield) likewise runs video visitation. Across the state you'll find Securus and other providers at various jails. The only way to be sure is to check the specific jail's page or call.

The vendor is facility-specific, so the company that works for one county won't necessarily be the one next door. One warning that saves people money and grief: accounts do not transfer between vendors. If your person moves from one jail's vendor to another (or into the state system, which uses Securus), your funds and account don't follow. You set up fresh with the new vendor.

How county jail video visitation usually works

There are two flavors, and the difference is the whole ballgame for your wallet.

Onsite (or "onsite video") means you drive to the jail and sit at a video terminal in the lobby to talk to the person, who's on a screen inside. Onsite video is frequently free or low-cost (some jails give a set number of free onsite visits per week).

Remote video means you connect from your own phone, tablet, or computer at home. That convenience is what you pay for. Remote sessions are charged per session or per minute, you typically prepay into a vendor account, and you usually reserve a slot in advance (often 24 hours ahead at jails, 72 hours for the state).

Missouri jail video rates shift around, partly because the FCC has been capping these rates through 2024 to 2026 and partly because every facility prices differently. I'm not going to print a per-minute number here, because by the time you read it, it'll be wrong. Look up the rate on your specific jail's vendor page before you pay. What's stable is the structure: onsite is often free or cheaper, remote tends to cost, and there are usually advance-registration rules.

Setting up a video visit

The steps are roughly the same whichever vendor you're dealing with:

1. Find the exact facility first, then confirm it offers video. For the state, that means a participating DOC facility on Securus. For a county jail, check the sheriff's site for the vendor. Don't guess.

2. Create your account and verify your identity, usually with a government photo ID. For the state and many jails, that's a Securus account.

3. Add your inmate and get on the approved list. You'll need the correct name and DOC or booking number, and the person generally must have you on their approved list.

4. Schedule your visit, choosing onsite (free at the state and many jails) or remote (paid), and pay if it's a paid remote session. Mind the lead time: 72 hours for the state, often 24 hours at jails.

5. Test your device and log in early. Get on about 15 minutes ahead. Check your camera, microphone, speakers, and internet. A failed connection on your end usually still burns the visit slot.

Federal and immigration custody

If your person is in federal Bureau of Prisons custody, Missouri's one BOP institution is the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP) Springfield, an administrative medical facility that provides major medical, mental-health, and dental care to male federal inmates from around the country. Because it's a medical center, visiting may be affected by a person's medical condition; the BOP runs primarily in-person visiting with only limited video (through its TRULINCS system), so use the BOP inmate locator to find the institution and check its specific visiting rules. If someone was recently arrested on a federal charge and isn't in the BOP locator yet, they're likely still in U.S. Marshals custody during the designation period, often held in a county jail under contract.

Immigration custody in Missouri has grown sharply and recently, so be careful with older information. Missouri does not have a large standalone ICE detention center; instead, ICE contracts with several outstate county jails to hold detainees, and those populations rose substantially through 2025. The jails most commonly identified as holding ICE detainees are Greene County (Springfield), Phelps County (Rolla), and Ste. Genevieve County (in southeast Missouri, about an hour from St. Louis). Because nearby Illinois bans immigration detention, people arrested across the Midwest, including the Chicago and St. Louis areas, have been routed into these Missouri jails. Detainees are often moved quickly between facilities and toward deportation, and advocates have raised concerns about access to attorneys and conditions, so confirm where your person actually is before making plans. To locate someone in ICE custody, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator, which needs the person's A-Number (the nine-digit alien registration number) or their name plus country of birth. Each jail sets its own visiting and video rules, so confirm directly with the facility, and remember immigration bonds are handled through ICE, not posted at the jail. Note that ICE detainees in Missouri jails are generally overseen by ICE's Chicago field office.

A note on staying connected

Video is good for one thing money can't really replace: seeing a face, watching a kid wave, reading an expression. When your person is held hours away across Missouri, or shuffled between jails, that matters more, not less. And where onsite video is free, in the state system and at many jails, you can get that face time without paying, so use it.

But be honest with yourself about what carries the weight day to day. Mail is the steadiest line there is. It doesn't drop the call, doesn't need a scheduled slot, and the person can hold it and read it again at 2 a.m. when the walls close in. (In Missouri's state prisons that mail now arrives as a scanned copy, but it still lands, so write anyway.) Phone calls are the backbone of staying in touch, the thing you'll actually do most weeks. Video is the bonus on top, the face-to-face when you can get it. Build your routine around mail and calls, and treat video as the thing that makes the distance feel a little smaller.

Related pages:

/prisons/missouri

FCC 2026 call and video rate caps guide

Arrest Record Search (affiliate)