Facility Information

The Catawba County Detention Facility, is a county level jail facility in Catawba County, North Carolina.  The Catawba County Detention Facility is located on the Catawba County Government Campus.  Captain Boston is commander of the detention division, which is under the control of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department and Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid.

The Catawba County Detention Facility is a separate facility from the Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility, which is operated by the Burke County Sheriff’s Department and is located in Morganton, North Carolina.

The Catawba County Detention Facility is the local level jail facility for Catawba County.  It is a short-term holding facility, and it process those who have been arrested by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department, as well as other law enforcement agencies in Catawba County.  It serves multiple functions.  First, it holds those who have been recently arrested, until they can be charged and then released on bail, or released without charges.  Second, it serves as a pre-trial detention facility, holding inmates who have been charged and either have not been able to make bail or not offered bail, so they are in jail while they are awaiting trial.  Third, it holds inmates who have been tried and convicted and are awaiting sentencing.  Fourth, it holds inmates who are being transferred to other facilities or have been transferred from other facilities to the Catawba County Detention Facility, frequently so that they can attend court in Catawba County.  Finally, it holds inmates who have been sentenced to serve their time in the Catawba County Detention Facility.

Catawba County Detention Facility Addresses

Physical Address

Catawba County Detention Facility
100 Government Drive, Building E
Newton NC 28658

Mailing Address

Catawba County Detention Facility
P.O. Box 385
100 Government Drive, Building E
Newton, NC 28658

Inmate Mailing Address

Inmate Name
Catawba County Detention Facility
PO Box 385
Newton, NC 28658

Catawba County Detention Facility has fairly specific rules for inmate mail.  All letters, except for legal mail, must be written on white paper.  They should be written in plain ink or pencil; no glitter, crayon, or colored drawings are accepted. 

Inmates may get their mail in two ways.  Mail will be scanned and viewable by the inmate on the inmate kiosk.  Any greeting cards that are sent to an inmate will be scanned and viewable on the inmate kiosk.  Letters that comply with the facility mail policy will be delivered to the inmate, as well as made viewable on the kiosk.  However, all greeting cards will be placed in an inmate’s locker.  Inmates will not receive any of the envelopes for incoming mail.  Therefore, you should include return addresses in the body of the mail, not just on the envelope.

While the Catawba County Detention Facility does make it clear that inmates will only be able to view scanned images of some mail, and that mail is inspected, it does not provide an online list of the type of items that it considers contraband.  For general guidance, the following items are frequently considered contraband by detention facilities: stickers; stamps other than the stamp(s) used as postage; tobacco products; alcohol; inflammatory materials including racist or religiously bigoted materials; stamps; lipstick and other cosmetics; drugs; unknown substances on paper, envelopes, or photos; sexually explicit photos; nude or semi-nude photos; string; gang-related materials; perfume, cologne, or scented items;  ribbon; food items; tape; cardstock; confetti; post-it notes or other sticky notes; money; musical cards; books; glitter; labels; magazines; plastic; glitter pens; laminated objects; white-out; metal objects; paint; Polaroid pictures; cardboard; or construction papers.  If mail is sent on prohibited paper, such as cardstock or in a greeting card with prohibited items, the jail may or may not decide to scan it and make it available to the inmate on the inmate kiosk.

In addition to actual mail, inmates can be video messages.  To send a video message to an inmate, visit www.homewav.com.  There is a fee associated with video messaging.  Video messages are limited to one-minute in duration.

Phone Numbers

The Catawba County Detention Facility’s main information number is 832-464-5241.  You can reach Captain Boston, the Commander of the Catawba County Detention Division at 828-465-8999.  Inmates cannot receive incoming phone calls.  However, if you have an emergency and need to contact an inmate, you may call the jail and see if the officer on duty will arrange to have the inmate return your call.  Be prepared to verify that an actual emergency exists.

Whos in Jail Catawba County

The Catawba County Detention Facility maintains an inmate roster, which is called Who’s in Jail.  This roster provides an overview of all inmates currently detained in the Catawba County Detention Facility.  Inmates are listed in alphabetical order.  The overview of each inmate provides: the inmate’s first, last, and middle names; the date confined; the detainee’s address; the inmate’s age; the charge against him or her; the bond amount (if applicable); upcoming court dates; court docket number; writ information (if applicable); and the agency that detained the inmate.  It also has an option for you to click on the inmate’s photo to pull up a picture of the inmate’s booking photo/ mugshot.  If the inmate has multiple charges, then each charge will be listed along with the information that relates to that charge.

Inmate Bookings / Recent Arrests

The Catawba County Detention Facility does not maintain a list specifically dedicated to recent arrests.  However, it does provide the detention dates for inmates booked into its facility, as well as complete listing of who is in the facility on its inmate roster.  Searching by date, you can find all of the jail inmates who were booked on a specific date.  You can simplify this process by clicking on the “date confined” tab to get the inmates listed in order of date confined, rather than the default alphabetical order.   

Mugshots

While the Catawba County Detention Facility does not have a dedicated booking photo or mugshot database, you can find mugshots for each detainee on the inmate roster.   

Visitation

The Catawba County Detention Facility has a fairly open visitation policy.  However, visitors must schedule their visits at least 24 hours in advance.  In addition, visitors must be registered with -Homewav.  To register with Homewav or schedule a visit, you can contact Homewav by phone at 844-394-6639, online at www.homewav.com, or using the homewav app.  Inmates have to approve of the requested visit prior to the visit.  Visitors who fail to arrive prior to their scheduled time will forfeit their weekly visit, and visitors who fail to appear multiple times may lose their right to visit.  Visitors must provide photo ID in order to visit.  Each inmate gets one fifteen-minute visit each week.  Attorney visits are not counted in social visits; attorneys can visit any day, between the hours of 7:00am and 9:00pm. 

Visitation hours are:

Monday 2:30pm- 4:30pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm;
Tuesday 2:30pm- 4:30pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm;
Wednesday 2:30pm- 4:30pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm;
Thursday 2:30pm- 4:30pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm;
Friday 2:30pm- 4:30pm;
Saturday 9:00am- 11:00am and 2:30pm- 4:40 pm; and
Sunday 9:00am – 11: 00am and 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

In addition to these in-person visits at the jail, inmates can also receive remote visitors.  For a fee, visitors can visit inmates remotely, anytime that an inmate is out of the cell on rec time.  You can schedule these visits on www.homewav.com. 

Inmate Phone Privileges

The Catawba County Detention Facility contracts with Pay-tel for inmate phone privileges.  Inmates cannot receive incoming phone calls, and the Catawba County Detention Facility will not take phone messages for inmates.  Inmates are allowed to make outgoing phone calls, either collect or through the Pay-tel service.  You can visit www.paytel.com to set up an account.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

The Catawba County Detention Facility uses Jail Pack Store to service its inmate trust accounts.  You can find them online at www.jailpackstore.com.  Inmates can use the money in their trust accounts to purchase items through the jail’s commissary services.  This is also known as canteen.  This allows inmates to purchase items that are not supplied by the jail.  The items that are available may vary, but generally include hygiene items, recreational items, snacks, and soft drinks.

To deposit money into an inmate’s account, you can go online to www.jailpackstore.com; deposit money in the ATM in the Detention Facility lobby using credit cards or cash; or mail a U.S. Postal Service money order to the jail for deposit into the inmate’s account.  Please note that the jail only accepts U.S. Postal Service issued money orders, not money orders from any other source.

You can also order commissary for an inmate from home, rather than making a deposit into an inmate’s trust account.  To do that, go online to www.jailpackstore.com.

Unlike some jail facilities, you can bring some items to inmates at the Catawba County Detention Center.  You may bring an inmate prescription medication that is in its original prescription container, as well as prescription glasses.  You may also bring inmates up to one book per day.  However, all books must be softcover and reasonably sized.

Inmates can release property to people, but not their clothing.  Inmates must sign a release prior to the jail releasing property.  Inmate property is only released between 9:00am and 12:00pm.

Bail Information

On the inmate roster, you can find out information for whether or not an inmate is eligible for bail, and, if so, the amount of bail set for each of the inmate’s offenses.  You can also find out court docket information.  If you need additional information on court dates, you can go to http://www1.aoc.state.nc.us/www/calendars/CriminalQuery.html, where you can search for court dates in any North Carolina county.

You can make payments at the jail, as well as at two other locations, the Catawba County Courthouse and the Catawba County Satellite Office, located at 111 Main Avenue, NE in Hickory, NC.  Visit the cashier’s office to pay in person.  The cashier’s office accepts the following types of payment: cash; credit card or debit car including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover; money orders; and certified checks.

You can pay the full amount of a cash bond in person.  The purpose of bail is not to penalize an accused, but to ensure that an accused shows up at trial or for other court hearings.  Bond is refundable to the person who paid it, as long as a defendant appeared at all scheduled court days.  Failure to appear at a court hearing or comply with the terms of bond can result in the bond being forfeited.

If you are unable to pay the full amount of a cash bond, then you may want to seek the services of a bail bondsman.  A bail bondsman acts a surety, and guarantees that an accused will show up for all scheduled court dates and otherwise comply with conditions of bail.  If the accused fails to appear at court, then the bail bondsman must pay the entire amount of the bond to the court.  In exchange for acting as a surety, the bail bondsman charges a fee, usually a percentage of the total bond amount.  This fee is non-refundable.  In addition, the bail bondsman may ask for a guarantee for his services, and may be able to take action for any collateral that one posts in exchange for the bail bond.

If you are looking for more detailed bail information for a specific inmate, you may want to contact one of the following Catawba County local government offices:

Magistrate’s Office: 828 695-6119 (Newton) 828 327-9093 (Hickory); District Attorney’s Office: 828 695-6110; Clerk of Court: 828 695-6100; Probation: 828 466-5653; Catawba County Sheriff’s Office: 828 464-5241; Burke/Catawba District Confinement Facility: 828 438-5435; Newton Police Dept: 828 465-7430; Hickory Police Dept: 828 328-5551; Conover Police Dept: 828 464-4698; or the Claremont Police Dept: 828 459-7865.  Depending on the arresting agency, the charges, and other information, an inmate may not be bond eligible, or may not be being held pending bond.  Instead, the inmate may be released.

Inmates who are scheduled for release will be told the date of their release.  However, the Catawba County Detention Facility cannot guarantee a release time.  Release times will vary depending on how many releases are scheduled for that day and what other activities are occurring at the Catawba County Detention Facility.  There is a telephone in the jail lobby that inmates are able to use to contact you once they have been released and are in the lobby.  You do not have to be present when an inmate is released in order to pick up an inmate who has been released.

The Catawba County Detention Facility will not recommend the services of a particular bail bondsman.  However, you can locate bail bondsmen online or in the Yellow Pages.

Conclusion

The Catawba County Detention Facility is the local jail facility for Catawba County, North Carolina.  It is operated by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department, which is run by Sheriff Coy Reid.  The Detention Department supervisor is Captain Boston.  The Catawba County Detention Facility is located at 100 Government Drive, Building E in Newton, North Carolina.  You can call the jail at 832-464-5241.  You can reach Captain Boston at 828-465-8999.

The Catawba County Detention Facility uses a number of service providers to provide services to the inmates at the jail.  It uses Home Wav to provide services including visitation and jail video messaging.  Home Wav also provides remote video visitation services.  If you want to visit with an inmate at the facility, then you want to preregister an account.  You can do so in a number of ways, but the easiest way is to go online and visit www.homewav.com.

The Catawba County Detention Facility uses Pay-tel for inmate phone privileges.  Inmates cannot receive incoming phone messages or phone calls, though they can receive incoming video messages.  Inmates who want to use phone services must place collect calls or use Pay-tel services.  You can set up an account at www.paytel.com.

The Catawba County Detention Facility uses Jail Pack Store to provide commissary/canteen services for its detainees.  You can put money on an inmate’s account or order commissary directly for inmates at www.jailpackstore.com.