Lorain Correctional Institution
Lorain Correctional Institution is a reception center for male inmates that is located in Grafton, Ohio. This facility houses all custody levels, is operated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, and has a population of approximately 1,450 inmates.
This facility was built to house around 1,000 inmates, and it has been called one of the most over-crowded prisons in the state of Ohio.
Prison Insights
Lorain Correctional Institution
Thank you for visiting us to better understand how inmates are treated while incarcerated at this institution. Please be sure to share this website with others so that we can spread the word and help to maintain rights for current and former inmates.
Please note that by checking the box below, you understand we will be contacting you via email to better understand how we can help you and where our data will be used.
After confirming by checking the box below and inputting your email address, please press "submit" and then click on "View Insights" for the area you'd like to reveal.
What Do Inmate Families Think?
What Do Former Inmates Think?
What Do Employees Think?
Visiting Hours and Rules
Visiting is limited to a maximum of four visitors per inmate at one time, including walking children, unless special arrangements have been made in advance. All inmates housed in the Restrictive Housing Unit are permitted visitation Tuesday through Friday only. Inmates housed in restrictive housing will receive a one-hour visit per month.
Hours
8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (Morning Session)
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Afternoon Session)
Visitation hours are the same for all inmates, regardless of assigned visiting day. To determine assigned visiting day, please see the appropriate section below.
Visitors must be processed in no later than 9:30 a.m. for morning visiting sessions and 1:00 p.m. for afternoon visiting sessions.
The facility recommends that visitors arrive 30 minutes prior to the start of the visiting session to complete registration paperwork and review documentation. Visiting is closed for all inmates on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Visiting hours are subject to change without notice. Please call the institution to verify visiting hours before planning a visit.
Reception Status Inmates (newly received from the county)
Tuesday – Friday (no reservation required)
- Reception inmates with numbers ending in an even number (0, 2,4,6,8,) may have visitation on even number dates.
- Reception inmates with numbers ending in odd numbers (1,3,5,7,9) may have visitation on odd number dates.
- Reception inmates may receive 4 visits per month, no more than 2 per visitor. Each session counts as a separate visit.
Visitors of reception inmates are permitted to download and bring the completed visitor application with them on their first visit. You may obtain the visitor application from our visiting page.
ALL VISITORS must prove relationship to the inmate.
Cadre and Mentor Inmates only:
CADRE/MENTOR VISITORS ONLY are required to make a reservation prior to visiting. Visits are permitted on Saturdays, Sundays, and all holidays except Christmas Day and New Year's Day. There will be no visits scheduled on Mondays regardless of a holiday.
- All visitors must be approved by Unit Staff prior to visiting.
- Cadre/Mentor inmates may receive 6 visits each month Each session counts as a separate visit.
- Reservations are required at least 24 hours prior to the visit and up to 14 days in advance.
- Approved visitors should make a reservation by calling 440-748-1049 and pressing "0" Monday through Friday between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
- Any cancellations must be made 24 hours in advance, or the visit will be counted as a visit for the month.
- Visitors may only make a reservation for one session and one offender during a call.
- Each visitor will receive a confirmation number which he or she will be required to bring the day of the visit.
Visiting Applications and Procedures
Each potential visitor must complete a Visiting Application and have it approved before visiting an inmate. This application may be sent through the mail, emailed, faxed, or dropped off in person. Visitation will not be allowed until your application has been processed and you have been approved and notified. For complete details, click here or here.
Dress Code
Appropriate clothing and undergarments must be worn (i.e., bra, slip, and underwear) to visit an inmate.
Inappropriate clothing includes, but is not limited to:
- See-through clothing of any kind.
- Tops or dresses that expose the midriff or have open backs or open sides (such as any sleeveless clothing such as halter tops, tube tops, cropped tops, tank tops, and muscle shirts).
- Low-cut clothing cut in a manner that exposes the chest.
- Any clothing that inappropriately exposes undergarments.
- Skirts, dresses, shorts, skorts, or culottes with the hem or slit above the mid-knee.
- Wrap-around skirts/dresses or break-away type pants.
- Clothing with any gang related markings.
- Clothing with obscene and/or offensive pictures, slogans, language, and/or gestures.
- Form-fitted clothing made from Spandex or Lycra or other similar knit material such as leotards, unitards, bicycle shorts, tight jeans, or tight pants.
- Clothing with inappropriate holes/rips, including shoulder cut-outs.
- No smartwatches or fitness monitors (such as fitbits).
Purses, handbags, and backpacks are not permitted. Diaper bags and infant carriers are allowed, but clear plastic bags are preferred. You may bring:
- A reasonable number of diapers and baby wipes
- Three plastic baby bottles
- Three plastic containers of baby food
- One pacifier
Visitors may purchase a vending card with a $5 bill to buy food items during the visit as no money is permitted in the visitation room. Visitors may also purchase tokens from the token machine for pictures during visit. The cost is $5 for two pictures with a maximum of five pictures and one frame.
Video Visitation
Lorain Correctional Institution maintains video visiting kiosks in its general population housing unit. The hours of availability for video visits are as follows: 6:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.; 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; and 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Visits are 30 minutes in duration.
Video visitation is not available to reception inmates.
Video visits must be scheduled on JPay at least 24 hours in advance of the time that they are requesting.
Physical Address
Lorain Correctional Institution
2075 South Avon-Belden Road
Grafton, OH 44044
Driving Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/1F1Q5hj7rAWQVoJL7
General Phone Number
440-748-1049
Inmate Mailing Address(es)
Inmate Name, DOC Number
Lorain Correctional Institution
2075 South Avon-Belden Road
Grafton, OH 44044
All inmate mail must include the offender’s name and DOC number on the envelope. You can find your inmate’s DOC number by calling Central Inmate Records at 614-752-1076, or you can use the online tool.
JPay Email Option
JPay allows family and friends to email their incarcerated loved one. Please visit JPay for additional information.
The Inmate Food and Sundry Package Program
Family, friends, and inmates may order food and sundry packages from approved vendors Keefe Group/Access Securepak, Union Supply Direct, and Walkenhorsts. Inmates have access to catalogs, flyers, and order forms for these programs.
How to Call an Inmate
Inmates at Lorain Correctional Institution do have access to phones, but they can’t receive incoming calls. For complete details on how to call an inmate in Ohio, please click here.
Newly received inmates do not have access to the phones for the first seven to eight days following their arrival at LorCI. After that reception inmates are permitted phone calls three times per week, at varying times, in accordance with their unit schedule.
How to Send Money
You can send money to your inmate at Lorain Correctional Institution through JPay or the ConnectNetwork only if you are an approved (or tentatively approved) visitor.
- MAIL - You can make deposits by U.S. Mail through JPay. Each money order must be accompanied by the Money Order Deposit form, found on the JPay Website and a copy of your driver's license (or state ID or passport). This will be used to match your name to the visiting list. The name on the money order must exactly match:
- the name on the driver's license, state ID, or passport; AND
- the name and date of birth used to register as a visitor with DRC
- Money orders may not exceed $200, unless approved in advance by the institution Warden.
- You will not be able to send any letters to the inmate with the money order. Any letters sent to inmates with the money order will be discarded.
- Please visit the JPay website for additional information.
- ONLINE - Send money through the ConnectNetwork website with deposits using credit or debit cards. OffenderConnect charges a transaction fee for using this service.
- TELEPHONE - Call 1-888-988-4PMT (4768), reference Site ID 86 when prompted by the automated attendant. Deposits can be made through the toll-free number using credit or debit cards. There is a transaction fee for using this service.
Programs For Inmates
Bee Keeping
Lorain Correctional Institution’s newest program and inmate group is the Bee Keeping Program. In an effort to increase cadre programming with a focus on green initiatives, Lorain adopted a well received Beekeeping Program in November of 2012. 100,000 bees were installed into hives in April 2013 and by the end of the year that number grew to over one million bees.
Classes are held once a week for two hours and cover honey bee biology, equipment and hive maintenance, pollination, and queen rearing, as well as entertaining guest speakers from the surrounding beekeeping community. All of the hives were designed and constructed by the inmates in the program.
The pollination benefits of having bees at this facility will positively affect the surrounding community within a five mile radius. A small harvest was experienced (as expected during the first year), however during the coming years they plan to donate honey to the surrounding food banks and local shelters. An added benefit to this program is the writing and editorial skills inmates gain by creating a monthly newsletter.
Reading Room
The reading rooms encourage family literacy by providing a pleasant and comfortable setting for both child and incarcerated parent. Each room is stocked with a wide variety of children’s books and has an inmate narrator who reads to the visiting children twice a day.
The role of the inmate narrator is to read picture books to the children in much the same manner that children’s hour would be done at a public library. A variety of arts and craft supplies for the children are also available in most of the rooms. Many of the supplies and books are donated by employees and service organizations.
Reception Reform and Mentors
The Reception Reform process addresses the needs of offenders and concerns of the community. This process allows offenders the opportunity to participate in programming starting when they enter the doors of LorCI.
The days of offenders just sitting waiting to be transferred to their parent facilities are gone. They are now participating in programming and have offender mentors who help to guide them through the process of reception and incarceration.
These mentors encourage compliance with institution rules, exhibit prosocial behaviors, assist unit staff with clerical needs and provide unit programs to reception inmates. Mentors live within the reception units and are there to help reception offenders learn how to cope with institutional living as well as answer general questions such as how to use the inmate phone system or how long it will be before they receive a visit from a loved one.
Reception Reform has not only provided programming and meaningful activities to reception offenders, it has allowed for other offenders to share their personal experiences. By doing so mentors provide guidance to newly received offenders in hopes of correcting negative behavior. This can ultimately reduce crime in Ohio by beginning the rehabilitation process immediately upon incarceration.
Lorain County Community College
LorCI has teamed up with Lorain County Community College (LCCC) through the Positive Reentry for Ohio Prisoners (PROP) Grant. PROP Second Chance program offers a very unique opportunity for offenders, formerly incarcerated, and convicted individuals to advance themselves academically through post-secondary, college level educational courses.
This grant allows Reception Reform mentors and staff to take college courses in Coaching and Mentoring for college credits at no cost to them. Offenders will be provided with a student ID from the college and upon their release, may go back to the college for additional classes should they so choose.
Cage Your Rage
Examines what anger is, explains its causes, and offers ways of managing it – a valuable tool for both offenders serving time within an institution and parolees entering the community.
Inside Out Dads
Connects offender fathers to their families, helping to improve behavior while still incarcerated and to break the cycle of recidivism by developing pro-fathering attitudes, knowledge, and skills, along with strategies to prepare fathers for release. Incarcerated fathers get the tools they need to become more involved, responsible, and committed in the lives of their children – providing increased motivation for them to get out and stay out.
Victim Awareness
A six-week educational program that examines the impact of various crimes on the offender and victim(s), and discuss the recovery process for the victim(s). It is an opportunity to take personal responsibility for one’s actions.
Money Smart
An 11-week financial education program created by the FDIC which includes topics such as banking basics and terminology, borrowing basics, savings, consumer protection laws, credit cards and credit reporting agencies, and owning your own home.
TOPUCU- The Only Person “U” Cheat is “U”
These members follow the TOPUCU motto to transform their thinking and actions following seven lessons for transformation. These lessons are taught in the TOPUCU program.
Roots of Success
An Environmental Literacy program designed for youths and adults with limited academic skills and aims to prepare them with successfully accessing good green jobs.
Medina County SPCA - Dog Program
Lorain Correctional Institution has teamed up with the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Inc., which is a non-profit 501(c)3 humane society. The mission of the Medina County SPCA is to protect and care for animals in their community from abuse, cruelty, neglect, injury, and abandonment.
Dogs are brought into the facility and provided to selected offender handlers who care for, rehabilitate, and do basic obedience training with them under the direction of a correlation of our trained staff and Medina SPCA staff. Once the dogs complete training they are made available to the community for adoption through the Medina County SPCA.
Supreme Valley Jaycees
The Supreme Valley Jaycee are an affiliate of the Ohio Jaycees. This group gives young people between the ages of 21 and 39 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections. The group benefits its membership and the general population with leadership, job skills and apprenticeship training and programming. They donate to various organizations throughout the year and promote prosocial activities within the facility and sponsor family events on a regular basis.
Community Services
- LorCI/Medina County SPCA Dog Foster Program
- Fox 8 Stuff the Bus
- "Lives Matter" Campaign - Cleveland Heights Public Library
- Freedom and Hope Through Art - St. John's Episcopal Church
- Berea Guidestone
- Because I Said I Would - Promise Cards
- Cleveland Catholic Diocese - Holiday Place-mats and Christmas Cards
Academic
- Adult Basic Education (ABLE)
- Pre-GED
- GED
- High School Options
Apprenticeship Programs
- Animal Trainer
- Baker
- Carpenter, Maintenance
- Cook (any industry)
- Health Care Sanitary Technician
- Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
- Janitor
- Maintenance Repairer, Building
- Material Handler
- Plumber
- Recovery Operator
Education Services
- Computer Aided Instructional Laboratories (CAIL)
- Correctional Education Association (CEA) Tutor Training
- Ohio Reentry Connections
- Special Education Services
- Library Services
Pictures of Lorain Correctional Institution
Careers at Lorain Correctional Institution
If you are interested in a career with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections — and would like to apply for a job at the Lorain Correctional Institution — you can find out more information about available jobs by clicking here.
