Harnett County Jail: Recent Arrests, Visitation, Bail, Send Money (2024)

About Prison

The Harnett County Detention Center, located in Lillington, North Carolina, is the county-level detention facility for Harnett County. It is operated by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office. In fact, the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office and the Harnett County Magistrate’s Office both have locations at the Harnett County Detention Center. The Harnett County Sheriff is Wayne A. Coats.

The Harnett County Detention Center is a 106,562 square foot facility. It has 324 beds for inmates. If you are a visitor to the detention center, you can enter through either the Sheriff’s Office Lobby or the Detention Center’s Lobby. In the Detention Lobby, visitors can opt to speak with a magistrate. There are also video visitation centers for those who want to visit with inmates. Inmates do not enter through the lobby; they enter into a vehicular sally port, and are then transported into a secure pre-booking area.

The Detention Center has seven housing pods. The design of the pods is not uniform. There are three direct supervision pods that offer medium security housing for male inmates. There is one direct supervision pod offering minimum security housing for male inmates. There are two indirect supervision pods offering maximum security housing for male inmates. Finally, there is only one housing pod for female inmates; it is an indirect supervision pod that provides both minimum and maximum security housing. In addition to the housing wings, the Detention Center has dedicated facilities for medical, laundry, and the kitchen. Each housing pod, whether direct or indirect supervision, also has multi-purpose rooms, outdoor exercise areas, and video visitation booths. The housing pods are designed so that natural light can enter the facility through window-walls.

All housing pods in the Detention Center are monitored from a master control center, which is staffed twenty-four hours a day. The master control center is able to monitor and control inmate movement throughout the entire complex. It also has the ability to monitor radio, fire, medical, and security alarms from throughout the complex.

The Harnett County Detention Center, like most local jail facilities, is primarily a pre-trial detention facility. This means that it holds inmates who have been charged with a crime and are: awaiting a bail determination; have received a bail determination but are unable to make bail or were denied bail and are awaiting trial; have had a trial and are awaiting sentencing; have been convicted to a sentence of less than a year; or are serving their sentences at other facilities but have been moved to the local jail facility in order to attend court or for other administrative reasons. Like most other local jail facilities, the Harnett County Detention Center may accept inmates from other jurisdictions, including inmates from the U.S. Marshal Service or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), if it has available space.

There are some advantages to county jails, generally, when compared to state prisons. Generally, inmates who have been sentenced to county jails are lower-level offenders, which translates into greater freedoms in the jail environment. This may mean access to jail programming such as work release, furloughs, and “good time” sentence reductions.

Harnett County Detention Center Addresses

Physical Address

Harnett County Detention Center
175 Bain Street
Lillington, NC 27546

Mailing Addresses

Harnett County Detention Center
P.O. Box 399
Lillington, NC 27546

Inmate Mailing Address

Inmate’s Full Name
Harnett County Detention Center
P.O. Box 399
Lillington, NC 27546

While inmates are not only allowed to send and receive mail, but actually encouraged to correspond with friends and loved ones outside of the facility, inmate mail is subject to some stringent rules. You want to make sure and comply with those rules because mail that is not in compliance may be returned. Furthermore, if you attempt to send contraband to an inmate, not only will the inmate not receive that mail, but it could open you up to prosecution.

The first rule you need to follow is ensuring that you address the mail correctly. You need to include the inmate’s name, as it appears on the booking roster. This is important because you should not use nicknames, aliases, or other versions of the inmate’s name. Include the inmate’s booking number if is it available. Your return address should include your entire name as well as your mailing address. The return address should match the sender of the mail. Mail should not be sent to or from third parties.

Mail cannot be hand-delivered to the jail, but must come through a recognized delivery service. Harnett County Detention Center does not publish a list of its accepted carriers. Some jails allow inmates to receive mail from FedEx, UPS, or other third-party delivery services, but not all will permit that. All jails, including the Harnett County Detention Center, will accept mail from the United States Postal Service (USPS).

All incoming and outgoing mail, except for legal mail, is subject to screening prior to being delivered to the inmate or being sent out of the jail facility. Mail that violates any of the jail’s rules may not be delivered. In addition, legal mail may be inspected for contraband or for rule violations, as well, but these inspections may occur in the presence of the inmate.

Generally, mail should be on plain white paper and written in blue or black ink. It should not include anything extra on the mail. Prohibited items in letters include, but are not limited to: lipsticks, perfumes, bodily fluids, unknown substances, and paint. In addition, mail should not have stickers, unused stamps, or other items. If the mail contains a greeting card, it should be a standard greeting card without any music makers, metal parts, wooden parts, pop-ups, plastic, or other moving parts. Greeting cards should be standard size. No mail should include glitter.

Inmates may be able to receive photos in their letters. Each jail has its own rules about photos, including limits on the number of photos that an inmate can receive. The jail may also have rules about the number of total photos an inmate can have in his possession. Generally, inmate photos must be limited to 4x6 in size or smaller. They should be printed on regular photo paper. Inmates cannot receive Polaroids or similar instantly processed film. The content of the photos is also limited. Inmates are prohibited from having photos that are sexually explicit or that contain nudity, even if that nudity is not sexually explicit.

Inmates are prohibited from receiving contraband. Contraband not only includes items that are illegal for inmates to possess, but also items that inmates may be able to possess, but must get from the jail. Examples of contraband items include: weapons, drugs, alcohol, prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, food, drinks, cash, metal, cloth, wire, and batteries.

Inmates can get books and other publications, but they cannot be sent from an individual or from a non-approved source. Generally, these printed materials must be new and must be sent either directly from the publisher or from an authorized book seller such as Amazon.

Inmates cannot get mail that could disrupt the orderly operation of the jail. Examples of prohibited mail include: escape plans, blueprints of the jail, maps of the area surrounding the jail, details about jail employees or their families, racially inflammatory materials, materials that incite violence, sexually explicit materials, and materials discussing or promoting crimes.

Phone Numbers

The Harnett County Detention Center’s main phone number is 910-893-0257. The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office’s non-emergency number is 910-893-9111.

Inmate Roster

The Harnett County Detention Center has a Current Confinement Roster, which is updated at 8:00am each morning. This roster contains a complete alphabetical list of all people confined in the jail. Each person confined in the jail has basic details on the roster. This information includes the person’s name, confinement date, their address at the time of booking, date of birth, docket number, court date, the statute that the person is charged with violating, the bond type (if any), the bond amount (if any), the reason for confinement, and a mugshot/booking photo.

Harnett County Arrests

In addition to having a Current Confinement Roster, the Harnett County Detention Center also has a list of Inmate Incarcerations for the Last 24 Hours. This list is not a complete roster of the jail’s inmates, but an alphabetical list of the inmates who have been detained within the last 24 hours. These files have similar information as the information on the inmate roster including: person’s full name, confinement date, release status, address at the time of booking, date of birth, court date and time, the charges against the defendant, the bond type, the bond amount, the reason for the confinement, and a mugshot or booking photo.

Mugshots

Both the Harnett County Detention Center’s Current Confinement Roster and the Inmate Incarcerations for the Last 24 Hours list contain mugshots/ booking photos in addition to other information on the inmates in the facilities. While there is no booking photo database, you can find booking photos for all inmates in the facility by looking at these two sites.

Visitation

Visitation at the Harnett County Detention Center is non-contact and must be conducted through a glass partition. Visitors must schedule visits. You can call the jail to schedule visitation at 910-893-2614. Visitation hours are Monday through Friday, from 9am to 6pm. However, you should call to schedule the visits, because visitation hours may be limited to Sundays from 8:30am to 4pm, Mondays from 9:30am to 5pm, Tuesdays from 9:30am to 5pm, and Thursdays from 9:30am to 5pm. Inmates may also have different times for legal visitation.

Inmates are allowed up to two visitors per day, but each visitor may only visit once per week. Visitors are subject to search when visiting the facility. Visitors must sign in at least 15 minutes prior to a scheduled visit. Failure to show up for a visit or showing up late for a visit will result in not being able to visit for the rest of the week. Repeated no-shows may result in termination of your visitation privileges.

There are special rules regarding minor visitors. Visitors under the age of 18 should be accompanied by a parent or guardian, unless the inmate they are visiting is a parent. Minors who are visiting parents must show a copy of the birth certificate showing that the detained inmate is a parent. Minor visitors must stay with a parent/guardian during the visit. All visitors have to have identification. Adult visitors should have a picture i.d., including a driver’s license, military ID, or other government-issued i.d. Visitors who do not have a photo i.d. can bring three pieces of non-picture i.d. instead.

Visitors must comply with the Harnett County Detention Center’s dress code. All visitors must wear shoes and shirts. Visitors are prohibited from wearing: miniskirts, low-cut shirts, revealing necklines, clothing with obscene or offensive language, short-shorts, or midriff-bearing shirts. Visitors cannot bring any of the following items into the visiting area: weapons, backpacks, purses, handbags, diaper bags, baby bottles, pictures, books, drinks, food, gum, toys, pens or pencils, strollers, baby carriers, cell phones, pagers, cameras, or other electronic devices.

Inmate Phone Privileges

As with most local jail facilities, inmates at the Harnett County Detention Center cannot receive incoming phone calls. In addition, the jail staff will not take calls for inmates and relay messages to them. The jail staff may decide to make an exception to that general rule if you have a verifiable emergency. Whether or not a message will be relayed to an inmate is based on the discretion of the jail staff on duty at the time and you may be required to verify the emergency.

However, inmates are allowed to make outgoing phone calls. Inmates have access to phones in their pods. They can make collect calls. In addition, they may be able to use phone accounts and phone cards to make their calls.

You should contact the jail to see if the Harnett County Detention Center has adopted a jail calling program. If so, you can sign up for an account with that service for cheaper jail phone calls.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

Jails use commissary accounts, also known as canteen accounts, as a way to let inmates purchase items that are not provided by the jail. These items may include snacks, hygiene products, medications, recreational materials, clothing, beauty products, writing materials, and sodas. Canteen/commissary items may rotate and not all items may be available at all times.

Inmates can use money in their inmate trust accounts to purchase items from canteen. You can make deposits into an inmate’s trust account in several ways. You can deposit money at the jail, you can make deposits online, and you can make deposits on the phone. You should contact the jail for up-to-date information on inmate trust accounts.

Bail Information

In Harnett County, whether or not a defendant has had bond set is available on the jail’s different rosters. Once a defendant has been arrested, he or she goes before the magistrate. The magistrate sets the bond. Bond may be paid in full in cash. However, if the defendant cannot pay a cash bond, then they may be released on a bail bond secured by a third party known as a surety or bail bondsman. Surety bonds require the person guaranteeing the bond to promise that the defendant will appear in court. If the defendant fails to appear, then the surety pays the entire amount of the bond to the court, and the person who secured the bail bond may then be liable to the surety for the amount of the bond. While cash bonds are refundable if a defendant appears at all court dates, the bond is completely refundable, surety bonds charge a non-refundable fee, usually a percentage of the bond.

Conclusion

The Harnett County Detention Center, located in Lillington, North Carolina, is the county-level detention facility for Harnett County. It is operated by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office. It is a large facility that holds both male and female inmates. It is a short-term facility, holding pretrial detainees and inmates who have been sentenced to prison terms of less than a year. The address is: 175 Bain Street, and its phone number is 910-893-0257.