McFarland Female Community Reentry Facility

Visiting McFarland Female Community Reentry Facility

Getting approved first

You have to be an approved visitor before you can book anything. Approval starts with a Visitor Questionnaire, CDCR Form 106.

How to get the form: You cannot download it and send it yourself. The incarcerated person has to send the form to you, and they must sign it first — that signature is what confirms they want you added to their visiting list.

Filling it in: Fill it in completely. The questionnaire asks for every criminal conviction AND every arrest, including arrests that never led to a charge. CDCR runs a background check and will deny approval if the check turns up something the form left out, so list everything. If you cannot recall the details of an old arrest, give the approximate date and the reason as precisely as you can.

Where to send: Mail the completed questionnaire to the Visiting Sergeant or Lieutenant at the institution where the person is housed, addressed to the attention of “Visiting”.

Warning: Most prisons use a DIFFERENT address for mail to staff than for mail to an incarcerated person. Use the staff address. A questionnaire sent to the inmate mail address does not reach Visiting.

What not to do: Do not send the questionnaire to the incarcerated person. It will not be accepted.

How long: Processing time varies by institution, depending on how many forms it receives and how many staff are cleared to review them. CDCR publishes no standard turnaround.

Non-contact and restricted-housing visits

Non-contact visiting is not a choice — it is what applies while someone is in reception (newly admitted to CDCR, or just transferred between prisons) or is segregated.

Who: Reception status, Administrative Segregation, Security Housing Units, Adjustment Centers, someone pending specific rules-violation charges, or anyone assigned to a Behavior Management Unit.

Conditions: The visit happens through a glass partition. Staff escort the incarcerated person in handcuffs, and the handcuffs come off only once they are secured on their side of the booth.

With children: If you would rather a child did not see someone in restraints, wait away from the booth until they are settled.

Limits: Three visitors, not five. Length is limited — usually one to two hours, depending on the prison and on why the visit is non-contact.

Source: CDCR — How to Get Approved to Visit an Incarcerated Person · CDCR — Types of Visits

Inside the institution

How it is laid out

Historically a 300-bed dormitory-style female community reentry facility; it is now closed.

Security levels

Closed/inactive; no current custody designation applies.

Source: CDCR · CDCR

Programmes and release

Education, training and work

Historical only: the former facility offered basic education/GED, office-technology CTE, and college through a voluntary education program. No current programming exists because the facility is closed.

Preparing for release

Historical only: the former facility provided pre-release, substance-use, anger-management, family-relationship, criminal-thinking, education, and vocational programming. It is closed.

Source: CDCR