Santa Cruz County Men's Rountree Facility

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department operates the medium-security Santa Cruz Men's Rountree Facility in Watsonville, California. The other jails in the county are the Blaine St. Women's Facility and the Santa Cruz County Main Jail. 

Inmate Search

To find out if your loved one is being held in the Santa Cruz Men's Rountree Facility, call the facility directly or 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 Santa Cruz Men's Rountree Facility 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. 

Property Release

Upon the request of an inmate or officer, excess personal property may be released.  Releases occur Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

The visiting days and hours for the Men's Rountree Facility are as follows:

• Visiting days for “S” Unit Inmates are Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
• Visiting days for “R” Unit Inmates are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
• Visiting days for “T” Unit Inmates are on Saturday and Sunday.

Visiting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  

Visiting is by appointment only and visitors must be approved in advance. Inmates must be in custody for at least 72 hours prior to having any visits.  

Visiting Clearance and Scheduling

To schedule a visit, you must call (831) 454-7873, Monday – Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Visits may be scheduled up to one week in advance.

Inmates at the Santa Cruz County Men's Rountree Facility are responsible for submitting a clearance form for each potential visitor. They will need each visitor's full name, address, phone number, date of birth, and the number from a government-issued ID.

The inmate must submit the completed form to the Jail Staff for visiting clearance before a visit is allowed. Anyone who has been in custody within the past 60 days, is on parole or formal probation, has a warrant or restraining order prohibiting contact, may not visit.

Inmates are limited to two 1-hour visits per week (Sunday through Saturday), and they must be on separate days.

Visiting Rules

Visitors must arrive and register 15 minutes prior to their scheduled visit to avoid cancellation. Any visitor canceling or missing a total of three visits may be banned from visiting for 30 days.

Each visit may include either two adults or one adult and two minors. Adult visitors must present a valid photo ID (i.e. Drivers License, Passport, Matricula).  A parent or legal guardian must accompany visitors under the age of 18. 

Visitors are not allowed to bring any property into the visiting room (i.e. cell phones, purses, pagers). Only one key is allowed. Lockers are available for 25 cents. 

Allowable items may be left for the inmates on visiting days.

Dress Code

All visitors must be appropriately dressed. Clothing that is revealing, offensive, gang related or distracting to others is not allowed. Shoes and shirts are required. Your visit will be canceled and you will be denied entry into the facility if these rules are not followed. 

THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT ALLOWED:

• Dresses, skirts, skirts with slits that are more than 2 inches above the knee
• Clothing that exposes any part of the back, shoulders, chest or midriff
• Visible undergarments
• Transparent clothing, strapless, halter, spaghetti straps, bare midriff clothing, tank tops
• Unfastened buttons and zippers (they must remain fastened)
• Clothing that resembles jail / inmate clothing
• Law Enforcement or military patterned clothing
• Clothing or footwear containing metal
• Hats
• Medical attire (scrubs)
• Attire displaying obscene or offensive language or drawings
• Visitors with tattoos of an offensive nature, or visible gang-associated tattoos or clothing, will not be allowed to visit

All visitors entering the secure area of the jail are subject to being searched. Any person refusing to be searched will be denied the visit and escorted from the facility.

All inmate mail is opened and checked for contraband. You may send a maximum of five photos (4"x6" or smaller). All mail is scanned and available for viewing by the inmate on their tablet or at the kiosk in their housing unit.

All mail sent to the facility is destroyed 30 days after it is scanned into the system. Do not send postage stamps for inmate use. Do not mail originals of important documents like marriage certificates, birth certificates, and social security cards. 

Greeting cards must be single layer (no plastic coating).

Books/Magazines/Newspapers

You may send soft cover books to your inmate via the publisher or an internet distributor like Amazon. Publications that are obscene, pornographic, intended to incite murder, arson, riot, racism, violence or material concerning gangs, or gambling will not be allowed.

Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are allowed, but must be prepaid and mailed directly from the publisher.

Athletic Shoes

Athletic shoes must be shipped to the inmate directly from the distributor. Shoes must be new and undamaged, no gang-colors or inappropriate graphics, no hidden compartment.

How to Call an Inmate

Inmates at the Santa Cruz Men's Rountree Facility cannot receive incoming phone calls. However, they have access to phones and can make outgoing calls from the inmate housing area. Phone calls are recorded and may be monitored at any time.

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.

How to Send Money

Friends and family can add money to an inmate's account via the kiosks located in the Men's Rountree Facility Lobby. Reception staff cannot accept inmate deposits. Lobby kiosks accept cash and credit cards. 

Credit card and debit card deposits can also be made online at www.inmatedeposits.com or by phone at (866) 345-1884. Money orders (payable to the inmate) can be sent via US mail and must be addressed as follows:

Inmate Name, Inmate S#
Santa Cruz County Jail
259 Water Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Care Packages

Programs For Inmates

This information is not publicly available.

Pictures of Santa Cruz County Men's Rountree Facility

Careers at Santa Cruz County Men's Rountree Facility

If you are interested in a career with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department and would like more information about the job openings at the Santa Cruz Men's Rountree Facility, click here.