San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office operates the San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm, located in San Luis Obispo, California. The jail and honor farm houses both adult males and females who have been arrested by local county or municipal law enforcement.

Inmate Search

To find out if your loved one is being held in the San Luis Obispo County Jail or Honor Farm, click here for inmate lookup. You can also call the jail at (805) 781-4600 and give the last name, then first name of the person you believe is in custody, or you can use VINE (see below). 

VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday)

Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) is a free and anonymous telephone service that provides victims of crime both information and notification. VINE monitors the custody status of offenders in the San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm and receives updated information every 15 minutes.

The Toll Free Number for California VINE is 1.877.411.5588. Anyone can call the California State VINE line to determine an inmate's custody status. To search for offender information, callers will need one of the following items:

• Offender name or alias
• Secondary search option (if there is more than one offender with the same name), such as:
  • Arrest date
  • Date of birth
  • Middle initial
  • Offender identification number

VINE will let callers know about the offender's current custody status, the location of the inmate, and their offender number. 

Posting Bail/Releases

Unless an inmate has a hold or has a "No Bail Status," bail may be posted by paying the full bail amount in U.S. currency, cashier's check, official bank check, certified check, or U.S. Postal Service money order made out to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office. Personal checks or credit cards are not accepted. Bail is the full amount listed for the crime. 

A bond can be posted in lieu of bail through a licensed bail bonds agency at a cost which is a percentage of the bail. To post a bond as bail, you must use a bail bond agency. 

For bail information on an inmate currently in custody call (805) 781-4600. Persons posting bail are released as soon as possible and are expected to make their own transportation arrangements.

A person who meets the jail's criteria for a cite release is released on fresh misdemeanor charges with a promise to appear in court on the date specified on their release paperwork. No bail payment is required.

Any person who was arrested for being under the influence or displays symptoms of being under the influence must remain in custody a minimum of four hours from arrest time, or longer if necessary until they are deemed sober. 

Persons who are eligible to be Cite Released after dark are required to have a ride waiting at the jail prior to release, otherwise they must stay in jail until daylight. 

Newly arrested persons are required to be arraigned within 48 hours of their arrest (excluding weekends and holidays). If an inmate is Cite Released or bailed out, a future court date is set.

Book & Release

Persons with a court order to be booked and released—and those who have been issued a citation in lieu of an arrest for a recordable offense—must be booked and released prior to the scheduled court appearance.

The San Luis Obispo County Jail offers two options for the Book & Release process. Both require that you bring:

• Court paperwork or
• CHP 194 form or the equivalent from another agency
• Copy of your citation

Option #1

Visit the San Luis Obispo County Jail at any time to be booked and released. This process involves coming into the jail facility and may take up to three hours.

Option #2

Make an appointment to be booked and released. Appointments are from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the County Jail Honor Farm. This process will take approximately 30 minutes and you will not be required to enter the jail facility.

If you choose the second option, you MUST make an appointment. No walk-ins will be accepted. To make an appointment, call (805) 781-4640 anytime and leave a message.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Once an inmate is placed in a housing unit, he or she may receive visitors during regularly scheduled visiting times. There are no men's visiting hours on Mondays. There are no women's visiting hours on Fridays.

Men's Visiting Hours

On-site visiting hours for the men's jail are as follows (visiting time for protective custody inmates only are listed in bold):

• Sunday         8:00, 9:00, and 10:00 am, 12:00, 1:00, and 2:00 pm
• Monday        12:00 pm, 1:00 pm
• Tuesday         7:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Wednesday   7:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Thursday       7:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Friday             8:00, 9:00, and 10:00 am
• Saturday        12:00, 1:00, and 2:00 pm, 7:30 and 8:30 pm

Women's Visiting Hours

Visiting hours for the female jail are as follows (visiting time for protective custody inmates only are listed in bold):

• Sunday        7:30 and 8:30 pm
• Monday       7:30 and 8:30 pm
• Tuesday       12:00 pm, 1:00 pm
• Wednesday  12:00 pm, 1:00 pm
• Thursday       12:00 pm, 1:00 pm
• Friday             no visiting
• Saturday        8:00, 9:00 and 10:00 am

General Visiting Guidelines

Appointments are required to visit any inmate at the San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm. To register and schedule appointments online, click here. The jail is currently transitioning to a HomeWav scheduling system. Visitors should also create accounts online at https://homewav.com. 

Approved visitors can make an appointment no more than seven days in advance, but no less than 48 hours prior to the desired visiting time. Each inmate is allowed two 1-hour visits per week. The visiting week is Sunday through Saturday.

Visitors must check-in no later than 45 minutes prior to their scheduled visiting time. For general visiting, only one adult per person is allowed into the visiting room at a time. Children may accompany the adult. 

All visitors 18 and older must show a valid government-issued photo ID (Driver's license, DMV identification card, a current military identification card, a current passport, or a valid immigration identification card).  Visitors without acceptable identification are not allowed to visit. 

Visitors under the age of 18—unless they are the legal spouse of the inmate—must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

All visitors must come dressed appropriately. Purses, backpacks, strollers, cell phones and other personal property will not be allowed inside the visiting areas.

The following items are specifically prohibited in the visiting room: purses, bags, drugs or alcohol, cameras, cell phones or other recording devices, cigarettes, food, beverages, pets, firearms, knives or other weapons.

If you are on parole or formal probation, have a pending or past felony court action, or have been in custody during the prior 6 weeks, you will need approval to visit.  For more information, contact the jail at (805) 781-4600.

All visitors must dress in appropriate attire and must wear shoes. Visitors who fail to comply with the dress code will be denied their visit. Visitors' clothing must not refer to gang affiliation, display sexual or lewd comments or pictures, or have the potential for being offensive to others. Clothing must cover the upper torso and lower/mid body parts.

Video Visits

One of the options to visit an inmate is video visits, which cost $0.20 per minute. Visitors should create accounts online at https://homewav.com. All visitors must be approved prior to any video visits and comply with rules of use. 

Visitors must have a smartphone (app available in the Apple App Store or Google Play store) and data service, or a computer/laptop with a camera, speaker and microphone, and high speed internet to conduct a video visit with an inmate at the San Luis Obispo County Jail. 

Honor Farm Visits

Visiting hours at the Honor Farm are on Saturdays and Sundays between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. If you are late, you will not be allowed to visit.  You must sign up for Honor Farm visits online at https://sanluisobispoca.gtlvisitme.com/app.

All Honor Farm visitors are subject to search. Appropriate photo ID is required for admittance into the Honor Farm visiting area. 

The dress code in the Honor Farm visiting room requires shoes and shirts. The following clothing items are not allowed:

• Strapless or spaghetti strap garments
• Halter tops, see-through clothing, low necklines, tube tops
• Bare midriffs
• Skin tight pants, skirts, or shorts.
• Clothing that displays obscene or offensive language or drawings
• Gang colors or gang affiliated clothing

Visitors are not allowed to bring anything into the visiting room without approval from the custody sergeant. All approved items must be left with a staff member at the reception window in the lobby when you sign in to visit. All items left for an inmate must be clearly marked with their first and last name.

The only items visitors are allowed to bring into the Honor Farm visiting room are a photo ID and car keys. All other items must be locked in your vehicle. 

Physical contact during visits is limited to a brief kiss and hug at the beginning and end of the visit. Holding hands on top of the table while seated across from one another is allowed.

For more information about Honor Farm visits, you may call (805) 781-4600.

Inmates are allowed a maximum of five paperback books (no hardback books), magazines, newspapers, and periodicals that are sent directly from the distributor or non-retail outlet and delivered by the U.S Postal Service. 

The following items are not permitted in the San Luis Obispo County Jail and will not be accepted:

• Letters containing more than four pages of printed or photocopied 8 ½ x 11 pages (including photographs and internet pages)
• Photographs larger than 4" x 6"
• Instant (Polaroid) photographs
• Photos or pictures depicting nudity, including exposed genitalia, buttocks or female breasts, and depictions of sexual acts.
• Photos or pictures with sticky backings
• Embossed or raised-surface on letters or envelopes
• Publications containing or promoting obscenity, murder, arson, riot, racism, violence, or gambling
• Magazines, books, or periodicals not delivered through the mail from the distributor or non-retail outlet.
• Hardback books
• Used books
• Envelopes larger than 8 ½” x 11 ½”
• Greeting cards 
• Heavyweight cardstock
• Books larger than 6" x 10" x 2"
• Any type of sticker, glitter, glue, tape, whiteout or paint attached to an envelope or its contents, including photo stickers
• Letters or envelopes with any perceived biohazard, e.g. lipstick, lip impressions, gloss, perfume, etc.
• Cash, personal checks, money orders not issued by the U.S. Postal Service, two-party checks and Welfare/Social Security checks
• Postage stamps, blank greeting cards, envelopes or writing paper
• Packages of any type (without written approval of a correctional sergeant)
• Food or medication
• Staples and Paper clips

Email

Friends and family can now send letters and photographs via email, in lieu of the Postal Service. Here's how:

• Send email to: [email protected]
• Email Subject Line must contain the following information:
  • Inmate Last Name, First Name and Inmate Identification Number
    • For example: Doe, John ID# 8675309
• Acceptable attachments:  JPEG, GIF or BMP image formats and PDF, TXT or DOC(x) document formats.  We will NOT accept videos or non-standard file formats.
• No more than three emails per sender, per day
• No more than six pages per email
• No manuals, publications, song lyrics or memes

How to Call an Inmate

Inmates at San Luis Obispo County Jail cannot receive incoming phone calls. However, they have access to phones and can make outgoing collect or automated advance pay calls from the inmate housing area between 8 am and 10 pm.

California law has established the right of an arrested person to make at least three free local telephone calls when they are booked: one call to an attorney, one to a bail bond agent, and one to a relative or other personal contact. 

Phone calls are recorded and may be monitored at any time.

To set up an automated advance pay account so that you can receive phone calls from an inmate at the San Luis Obispo County Jail, you will need to create a new account at NCIC. Go to https://account.ncic.com/Registration or call 1 (800) 943-2189.

How to Send Money

Friends and family can deposit money into an inmate's account in person at the jail lobby kiosk or online at www.touchpayonline.com. 

When using TouchPay, friends and family must use the facility number 293405 to ensure the money is properly applied to an inmate’s account. There are applicable TouchPay fees for all deposits: $2.95 for deposits up to $200, and $3.95 for deposits greater than $200. 

Through a partnership with Aramark, friends and family may also purchase pre-packaged, commissary goods for their loved ones via the Aramark’s iCare website found here: https://shop.icaregifts.com/SanLuisObispoCA

US Mail

Funds sent through the mail must be in the form of cashier's certified check, official bank checks or U.S. Postal money order. Cash will not be accepted through the mail.

Honor Farm

Visitors of inmates at the Honor Farm may deposit money into an inmate's account at the main jail reception window on Kansas Ave. Only cash, cashier's checks and postal money orders are accepted. No personal checks, debit cards, or credit cards.

Programs For Inmates

Alternative Sentencing/Home Detention

The Sheriff's Alternative Sentencing Unit offers a Home Detention Program (HDP) for inmates who are sentenced to 20 days or more in the County Jail, and an Alternative Work Program (AWP) for inmates sentenced to 20 days or less. 

Home detention allows an inmate to serve their sentence at home while continuing to work at their regular job. Alternative work allows an inmate to perform eight hours of general labor in lieu of one day of jail time.

These programs are voluntary and are open only to minimum security/low risk inmates. Certain crime convictions are not eligible for participation, including but not limited to violent crimes, sexual crimes, crimes against children, and some drug related crimes.

Call the ASU Coordinator at (805) 781-4635 for further information.

Click here to complete the English application for either of these programs.
Click here for the Spanish application.

Pictures of San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm

Careers at San Luis Obispo County Jail and Honor Farm

If you are interested in a career with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department and would like more information about the job openings at the San Luis Obispo County Jail, click here.