Prison Visiting Hours South Africa

Jail visiting days and hours in South Africa are set by each correctional centre, not by one national timetable. The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) publishes the national visitation process and the visiting privileges linked to an inmate’s security classification, while individual centres decide their own visiting sessions. Use this page to understand the DCS rules, then open the page for the specific centre you plan to visit.

Find a Correctional Centre

Pick the centre from the directory below. Each centre page covers what has been verified for that facility and what still needs to be confirmed directly.

Facility pages for this section are being verified and will appear here as they are published. In the meantime, use the hospital visiting hours directory.

Frequently searched centres include Pollsmoor, Westville, Kgosi Mampuru, Sun City, Modderbee, Boksburg and Krugersdorp.

Others include Leeuhof, Goodwood, New Lock, St Albans, Polokwane, Baviaanspoort, Kroonstad, Mangaung, New Pietermaritzburg, Kokstad, Modapi and Wellington Mthatha. Lindela is not a DCS correctional centre, but visitors can find it at Lindela Repatriation Centre.

DCS also keeps an official Find a Centre list with each centre’s telephone number, address and Head of Centre. Only some listings include visiting notes, and those that do differ from one another. For example, the Calvinia listing gives separate visiting days for remand detainees and sentenced offenders and says no booking is needed, while the Voorberg Medium A listing sets out booking times. Do not assume one centre’s arrangement applies anywhere else.

Who May Visit

The Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 (section 13) requires DCS to encourage inmates to keep contact with the community. It says inmates must be given the opportunity, under supervision where necessary, to communicate with and be visited by at least:

• their spouses or partners
• next of kin
• chosen religious counsellors
• chosen medical practitioners.

The Act also states that at least one hour must be allowed for visits each month, and that an inmate who cannot receive visits from a spouse, partner or next of kin is entitled to a visit from any other person each month. Foreign nationals must be allowed to communicate with their diplomatic or consular representative.

On the day, DCS’s visitation process notes that the offender or remand detainee may decide whether or not to see the visitor. DCS does not publish national rules on visits by children on its visitation page, so ask the centre before bringing anyone under 18.

How to Arrange a Visit

DCS’s Offender Visitation menu links to an online Book a visit system. Whether a booking is required, and how far ahead, depends on the centre, so follow these steps:

• Confirm which centre the person is held in. DCS says in its FAQs that it can trace a person in its facilities if you provide their name, and date of birth or ID number where possible.
• Get the inmate’s case number or registration number. DCS asks for this when you register at the gate.
• Check the centre’s visiting days and whether a booking is needed, using the centre’s page, the DCS Find a Centre listing or the centre’s telephone number.
• Book through the DCS online booking system or the centre’s own process where that applies.

For general enquiries or complaints, DCS runs the Tshegetso call centre on 0860 000 327 ([email protected]) during office hours, which DCS lists as 07:15–15:45. The DCS head office switchboard is 012 307 2998 or 012 307 2999.

ID & Registration Requirements

According to the DCS Visitation Process, you must produce one of these forms of authorised identification when you arrive:

• a South African ID, or
• a passport.

At registration you give your personal details and the case number or registration number of the offender you are visiting. You then receive a visitor tag, which must be visible at all times and handed back at the main gate when you leave. Your details and the inmate’s details are checked again on the way out.

Contact and Non-contact Visits

Whether you can sit with the inmate or must speak through a barrier depends on the offender group (A, B or C) and security class. DCS publishes the following visiting privileges:

Group	Security class	Visit type	Duration	Visitors per visit	Visits per month
A	Minimum	Contact	60 min	Not more than 2	5 visits
A	Medium	Contact	60 min	Not more than 2	5 visits
A	C-Max / Super Maximum	Non-contact	30 min	Not more than 2	Listed as “3 hrs”
B	Minimum	Contact	45 min	Not more than 2	4 visits
B	Medium	Contact	45 min	Not more than 2	4 visits
B	C-Max / Super Maximum	Non-contact	30 min	Not more than 2	2 visits
C	All classes	Non-contact	30 min	Only 1	2 visits

DCS also lists yearly totals of 45 visits for Group A minimum and medium, 36 for Group B minimum and medium, and 24 for all other categories. Ask the centre which group and class applies to the person you are visiting, as this decides the visit type and how often you can go.

Visitor Searches & Prohibited Items

Expect to be searched more than once. The DCS process says visitors are searched on arrival, again before being taken to the visiting area, and again in the waiting room before being escorted back to the main gate. DCS also states:

• No unauthorised items, such as firearms and knives, may be brought in.
• Leave valuables at the main gate and claim them back when you leave.
• No offender may take anything back into the correctional centre after the visit.
• Visitors may buy delicacies from the tuck shop for eating in the visiting area. DCS’s table shows delicacies allowed in the visiting area only for Group A minimum-security offenders.

Items handed in for inmates are covered by DCS’s separate Parcels Allowed list. It states that no food is allowed other than food provided by DCS or bought at the prison kiosk, and it names items that are not allowed, including private television sets, hand-held games, and mattresses or sleeping bags. Allowances for items such as reading and hobby materials are stricter at higher security levels.

Visiting Privileges and Session Length

How long visiting hours in prison last depends on the inmate’s classification: 60 minutes for Group A contact visits, 45 minutes for Group B contact visits and 30 minutes for all non-contact visits, according to DCS. Under the Act, the minimum is one hour of visits a month.

During the visit, DCS says all visits are monitored and must take place within sight and earshot of an official. Misbehaviour, such as unbecoming conduct or disturbing others, ends the visit immediately. Visitors and inmates are told five minutes before time is up, and the inmate is called out first while visitors stay seated.

Before You Travel

• Confirm the inmate is still at that centre, as transfers happen.
• Check the visiting days for remand detainees or sentenced offenders at that centre, and whether you need a booking.
• Take your South African ID or passport and the inmate’s case or registration number.
• Leave weapons and unnecessary valuables at home. Anything valuable you do bring stays at the main gate.
• Allow time for registration and repeated searches before the visit starts.

Sources & Last Verified

Last verified: 13 September 2026. This page gives national DCS rules only. Visiting days and times for individual centres were not verified here and must be confirmed with each centre.

• Visitation Process, Department of Correctional Services
• Find a Centre, Department of Correctional Services
• Parcels Allowed, Department of Correctional Services
• Tshegetso call centre, Department of Correctional Services
• FAQs, Department of Correctional Services
• Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 (section 13), Department of Correctional Services

Related: VisitingHours.co.za home · Public Hospital Visiting Hours · Hospital Visiting Rules