California State Prison - Solano

California State Prison - Solano is a male-only facility located in Vacaville, California. It is adjacent to the California Medical Facility. Like most California prison, it is overcrowded, as it has a capacity of 2,610, yet houses over 3.500 inmates.

The institution sits on 146 acres and is comprised of four separate, semi-autonomous facilities, a 125-bed Administrative Segregation Unit (ADSEG), and a 16-bed Correctional Treatment Center.

The level II housing features open dormitories, while the Level III housing has individual cells. Both have secure fences and armed guards

California State Prison, Solano has a Friends Outside visitor center, called the Friendship House. It provides inmate family members assistance with a sheltered area for visitors who are waiting before and after visits, appropriate attire via a clothing exchange, childcare during visiting hours for visitors’ children, assistance with transportation between public transit terminals and the institution, information on visiting regulations and processes, and referrals to other agencies and services.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

The visiting hours at California State Prison, Solano are on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There are also visiting hours on New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has an 800 Visitor’s Information number that will give you detailed information about visits at CSP Solano. The number is 1-800-374-8474, and all you need to do is follow the directions on the recording.

You can also visit their website www.cdcr.ca.gov. First, click on Prisons, and then click on California State Prison, Solano.

Both the 800 Visitors’ Information number and website will give you detailed information on visits, as well as updates on lockdowns, medical quarantines, or other circumstances that affect visiting.

Before you visit an inmate at CSP, Solano, we suggest two things:

• Read the 28-page Visitation Guidebook put together by the CDCR so you understand what to expect when you visit an inmate, as well as what is expected of you.
• Schedule a visit in advance online using the VPASS system. This will reduce your wait time, and guarantee you a spot in the visiting room. On the day of your scheduled visit, you can check CSP Solano’s visiting status to make sure they are accepting visitors that day.

Getting Approved for a Visit

Before visiting an inmate at CSP Solano - or any other California state prison - you must first get on the approved visiting list. Start by asking the prisoner you wish to visit to mail you a signed visitor questionnaire. They must sign the questionnaire before mailing it to you because their signature is their consent to add you to their visiting list.

Be sure to fill out the questionnaire completely and accurately. The CDCR will conduct a background check for arrests and convictions when processing the application, and if you are not truthful on your questionnaire you will be denied.

• Mail the completed questionnaire to:

California State Prison, Solano
Visiting Sergeant
PO Box 4000
Vacaville, CA 95696-4000

If you are approved to visit, the prison will notify the inmate, and it is their job to notify you. When you are approved, you are listed in the CDCR computer as being an approved visitor for that specific prisoner, and you do not need to bring any proof of approval with you to the prison on the day of your visit.

If you are denied, the prison will send you a letter giving the reason for disapproval, and the prisoner will also receive notice, but will not be given the reason.

Contact, Non-Contact, and Family Visits

Most inmates are in general population, and they are allowed contact visits. At a contact visit, the prisoner is allowed to sit together with their visitors in a large visiting room, and they may have limited physical contact.

Contact visits are restricted to five visitors at a time.

Inmates in ADSEG or Intake are only allowed non-contact visits, which take place in a separate visiting room, and the inmates and visitors are separated by a glass partition. You must have an appointment.

Some prisoners are eligible for “family visits,” which take place in a private, apartment-like facility on prison grounds. These visits last approximately 30 to 40 hours, and are restricted to approved visitors who are immediate family members of the prisoner. The availability of family visits is restricted to one visit every three to five months.

An eligible prisoner must put in an application for a family visit with their assigned Correctional Counselor at the prison.

General Visiting Rules

All adults must have photo identification when being processed to visit.

Visitors are required to follow all rules, regulations, and laws while on institution grounds. You and your possessions will be searched before you are allowed to visit.

You must also go through a metal detector, and the items you bring will go through an X-ray machine.

You must fill out a pass each time you visit an inmate. The pass will require the prisoner’s name and CDCR number, your relationship to the prisoner (spouse, mother, friend, etc.), your name and address, and your signature.

If you are bringing in minor children, you must list the names of the children on the pass. The completed pass is then submitted to staff, and, using a computer, a staff member will check the prisoner’s file to make sure you are an approved visitor, and that the prisoner is eligible to visit on that day.

Staff will mark the pass with the prisoner’s housing and will note if the visit is contact or non-contact. The pass, along with your identification, is your “key” to get into and out of the prison.

The only items allowed into a visit without prior approval are:

• A $50 limit per adult and $20 limit per minor; only as dollar bills, dollar coins, and quarters
• A small (generally 6” by 8”) clear, plastic purse or bag
• Two keys on a ring with no other attachments
• Identification
• A comb or brush; non-metallic, no pointed end or detachable parts
• A small unopened pack of tissues or a handkerchief; no bandannas
• A pair of prescription glasses
• Ten Photographs, no larger than 8” by 10”; photos may be shown to the prisoner, but must be taken out by the visitor at the end of the visit. No Polaroids. No sexual or gang images
• Ten pages of documents, no larger than 8-1/2” by 11”

Visiting rooms have vending machines stocked with food and beverages that you can purchase for yourself and the inmate. You may not bring any food or beverage from the outside into the prison.

Dress Code

There is no limit on the number of people who may correspond with the prisoner or the number of mail items a prisoner may receive.  All inmate mail is opened and reviewed by staff.

The restrictions on content are:

• May not contain anything that is a threat or potential threat to another 
• No discussion of a future criminal act
• No discussion of an escape
• No discussion of disrupting the security of the prison
• No coded messages
• No maps depicting the area in which the prison is located
• No gang-related comments or photographs
• No photographs of nudity or sexual conduct

You may send prisoners letters (not more than 10 pages in one envelope), cards (without embellishments such as stickers or glitter), photographs (limited to 10 per envelope and not larger than 8” x 10”), drawings, children’s schoolwork, articles cut from newspapers or magazines, etc.

You can not send the following directly to a prisoner: books, magazines, newspapers, or packages. Instead, they must be sent through approved vendors.

All mail should be addressed to the prisoner with their full name, their CDCR number, and the address of the prison.

You may enclose a money order or check in an inmate’s letter. Mailroom staff will take the money order or check out of the envelope when the mail is inspected, and they will send it to trust accounts, where it will be credited to the prisoner’s account.

How to Call an Inmate

Unfortunately, you can’t call prisoners directly, they must call you. The prisoners have access to phones that make collect calls to a landline or cell phone. 

You are responsible for paying for the calls. Calling cards cannot be used. For complete details on how to call an inmate in California, please click here.

How to Send Money

To send money to an inmate first:

• Lookup the inmate’s CDCR number using the Inmate Locator
• Make sure the inmate is located at CSP, Solano by using the Facility Locator

3 Ways of Sending Money:

1. Lock Box
2. EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)
3. Mail funds directly to the institution

​Programs For ​Inmates

CSP-Solano focuses on providing a comprehensive work/training program with academic education, vocational training, and industries assignments geared towards providing inmates with work skills and education. The institution also provides inmates the opportunity to develop the life skills necessary for successful reintegration into society.

Prison Industry Authority (PIA)

• Book Bindery, Laundry, Metal Fabrication, and Optical.

Vocational

• Carpentry, Fiber Optics (electronics), Masonry, Building Maintenance , Office Services and Related Technology (OSRT), Computer Literacy, Residential Electrical, and Welding

Academic

• Adult Basic Education,GED, Literacy Program, College Program, Voluntary Education Program

Inmate Leisure Time Activity Groups (ILTAG) Programs

• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
• Al-anon
• Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP)-Reinforcement
• Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP)-Workshops (Basic, Advanced, T4F)
• Insight Garden Program
• Pop Tops for Ronald McDonald House Charities
• Veteran's Re-Entry Preparation
• Youth Diversion Prisoners’ Outreach Program (POP)

Inmate Self Help

• A Step Closer
• American Sign Language
• Anger Management
• Art Development
• Artists Serving Humanity (ASH)
• Art Technique
• Asatru 9-Step
• Breaking Barriers
• BRIDGES
• Celebrate Recovery
• Child Support Services
• Cleansing Stream
• Coffee House
• Conflict Recognition and Resolution
• Creative Conflict Resolution
• Criminals and Gangs Anonymous (CGA)
• Cultural Awareness Organization
• Denial Management
• Domestic Violence
• Dysfunctional Families
• Dysfunctional Families Support Group
• Emotional Maturity
• Entrepreneurship
• Epictetus Club
• Facilitator Training
• Facilitator/Coordinator Training Workshop
• Flight of the Phoenix
• Framework for Recovery
• Friday Night Lights (FNL)
• Get on the Bus
• Getting Out by Going In (GOGI)
• Going for the Gold
• Growing Up Male
• Helping Men Recover
• In-Building Self-Help Programs (IBSHPs)

Leadership Development

• Insightful Books Club
• Katargeo
• Languages
• Learning Through Languages
• Lifer Crochet Group
• Locks of Love/Wigs for Kids
• Man to Men Process Group
• MAN UP
• Men of Purpose
• Millati Islami: Islamic Pathway Recovery
• Motivational Musicals
• Music (Band Practice)
• Music Innovators
• Music Program
• Music Theory
• Parenting
• Passport to Purpose
• Passport to Purpose Alumni
• Pathways to Sobriety
• Partnership for Re-Entry Program (PREP)
• Purpose Driven Life/40 Days of Community
• Purpose Driven Life/40 Days of Purpose
• Qualified Applicators Course (QAC)
• RAGE
• Real Talk
• Recovery
• Relapse Prevention
• Self-Help Book Groups
• Speak Easy
• Tawheed/Changing Faces
• The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI)
• The Victims’ Voice
• Transcending Reflections
• Transformational Meditation
• Truck Driving Courses
• Veteran’s Assistance
• Victim Awareness Phase II
• Victims Impact
• Victims Voice
• Visual Art Class
• Yoga

Religious Groups

• Apostolic, Asatru/Odinism, Assembly of God, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Christian Science, Druid, Episcopal, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Islam, Jehovah’s Witness, Jewish, Latter Day Saints/Mormon, Nation of Islam, Native American, Protestant, Rastafarian, Seventh Day Adventist, Sikh, Wicca, Yahweh Messianist

Pictures of California State Prison - Solano

Careers at California State Prison - Solano

If you are interested in a job at California State Prison, Solano please visit the CalCareers website to view available positions.