About Prison

The White Pine County Jail is a local jail facility in Ely, Nevada.  It is a county jail facility, operated by the Ely County Sheriff’s Office.  Like most county jail facilities, the White Pine County Jail is a medium security detention facility that is designed for the short term detention of inmates.

The White Pine County Jail is a very small local jail facility.  It has 40 beds, which means that it has a limited capacity.  It usually is at capacity, and, given that the jail capacity is small and the rapid turnover in local jail facilities, this means it has about 800 bookings each year.  The White Pine County Jail holds inmates who have been arrested by the White Pine County Sheriff’s Department, as well as inmates who have been arrested by other local jail facilities.

Local jail facilities are short term detention facilities.  Their primary purpose is to hold detainees while the rest of the criminal justice system is determining the longer-term placement for those people.  For example, local jail facilities often hold arrestees, who may not even end up being charged with a crime.  They also hold pre-trial detainees.  Pre-trial detainees are inmates who have been charged with a crime and for some reason are being held in jail prior to trial.  Being held in jail prior to trial is actually not supposed to be the norm for most criminals and most crimes.  Because of the presumption of innocence, it is important to remember that the purpose of bail is not to punish an accused offender.  Instead, the purpose of bail is to ensure that a defendant appears for trial and complies with any conditions of pre-trial release.  While some inmates may be denied bail, many incarcerated pre-trial detainees are in jail because they have been given bail, but have been unable to pay the bail.

There are some post-conviction detainees that are in the local jail facility as well.  If an inmate has been convicted, but has not been sentenced, then the inmate will be waiting in the local jail facility until they have been sentenced and assigned to a correctional facility for the duration of their sentence.  This facility may change depending on the needs of the inmate and the changing conditions of the correctional facilities.  In addition, local jail facilities can hold inmates who have been convicted of crimes and sentenced to a sentence of less than a year.  If an inmate is convicted and sentenced to a year or more in prison, then they will usually be transferred out of the White Pine County Jail and transferred to the Nevada State Prison System if they were convicted of violating a state crime or the Federal Bureau of Prisons if they were convicted of violating a federal crime.  The White Pine County Jail may also house illegal immigrants.  Illegal immigrants who are charged with or convicted of state or federal crimes may have their charges resolved in that court system, but then may be transferred into ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) for deportation or other proceedings.

Most local jail facilities are designed as medium security facilities, even though they may be required to hold inmates who are in need of higher security facilities.  That is because they hold inmates who are charged with everything from misdemeanor offenses to violent offenses like rape and murder.  Therefore, the White Pine County Jail has to be capable of safely holding all of these different types of inmates, not only keeping the community safe from the people in jail, but also keeping inmates and staff safe from any inmates who may be dangerous.  In addition, like many jail facilities, the White Pine County Jail has to be able to handle inmates who are intoxicated, on drugs, suffering from physical health emergencies, and suffering from mental health emergencies.  As a result, while the White Pine County Jail is a local medium security jail facility, it has to be able to function as a high security facility for the most dangerous inmates.  The correctional officers at the White Pine Jail must be capable of dealing with potentially violent inmates.  To reduce the risk of serious injury or death to inmates or to staff, correctional officers are armed with mace and authorized to use physical force.

Although White Pine Jail has had to implement significant security measures, inmates who are in their regular population are usually able to enjoy a range of privileges.  That includes being able to place phone calls to friends and family, getting money on their inmate accounts in order to purchase items from the canteen/ commissary, sending and receiving mail, and getting visits from friends and family.

White Pine County Jail Addresses

Physical Address

The address for the White Pine County Jail is:

White Pine County Jail
1785 Great Basin Blvd.
Ely, NV 89301

Mailing Address

The non-inmate mail mailing address for the White Pine County Jail is the same as its physical address.  The mailing address is:

White Pine County Jail
1785 Great Basin Blvd.
Ely, NV 89301

Inmate Mailing Address

The mailing address for inmate mail at the White Pine County Jail facility is the same as the physical address and the mailing address for non-inmate mail.  That address is:

Inmate First and Last Name
White Pine County Jail
1785 Great Basin Blvd.
Ely, NV 89301

Although White Pine County does not publish its jail mail rules, all jail facilities have to have strict rules for inmate mail because of the concern that mail could be used to introduce contraband into the jail facility.  There are a number of different types of mail that are prohibited in jail mail.  Those items include things like: sexually explicit material, nudity, obscene material, materials that could be used to plan crimes, materials that could be used to promote violent, materials that can pose a threat to health or hygiene in the facility, any type of contraband, coded contents, personal checks, cash, Polaroid type photos, laminated items, card with moving parts, cards with audio parts, stickers, glue, stamps, envelopes, writing supplies, clothing, food, drinks, weapons, drugs, over the counter medications, prescription medications, alcohol, cigarettes, items containing nicotine, items that are bigoted or promote racial division or misogyny, and any items that an inmate can buy from the commissary/ canteen service.

Generally, inmates can receive publications and books while they are in jail, though they may be limited at how many they can receive at a single time or how many they can have in their possession.  Therefore, you want to check with an inmate before sending any books to ensure that they can still receive them.  In addition, you cannot send inmates books privately.  To send books and other publications, you need to send them through the publisher or through an authorized retailer, like a bookseller.  In addition, there are rules for publications being sent into the facility.  The content must follow the guidelines described for other inmate mail.  The books should be softcover and not have any hard or spiral bindings.  In addition, all published materials sent into the facility should be new and not used.  If you have any questions about whether a publication is acceptable to send to an inmate in the White Pine County Jail, you should contact the facility prior to sending it to an inmate.

Phone Number

The main phone number for the White Pine County Jail is 775-289-8808.  The fax number for the White Pine County Jail is 775-289-1468.

White Pine County Jail Inmate Roster

The White Pine County Jail does not have an online inmate roster.  To find out information about detainees located in the White Pine County Jail, you can call the White Pine County Jail at 775-289-8808.

Jail Bookings / Recent Arrests

The White Pine County Jail does not maintain an online roster of recent bookings or arrests.  To find out if someone has recently been arrested, you can contact the jail at 775-289-8808.

Mugshots

There is no online database for mugshots or booking photos for White Pine County. 

Jail Visitation

Inmates at the White Pine County Jail are allowed to have visitors.  Inmates can have up to two visitors per day.  All visits are non-contact visits. These visits are conducted through a glass partition.  In addition, there may be some ability to have video visitation, including remote visitation.  Even if that is not a possibility at this time, most jail facilities are moving towards video visitation.  You can contact the jail to find out if video visitation is now an option at the White Pine County Jail.

Visitation hours at the White County Jail facility are:

Monday from 9am to 6pm; Tuesday from 9am to 6pm; Wednesday from 9am to 6pm, Thursday from 9am to 6pm; and Friday from 9am to 6pm.  There may be additional visitation hours available; you can contact the jail to ask whether additional visitation hours are available.  This may depend on the number of inmates who are in the facility at a particular time.

Visitors are only permitted to visit one inmate per day, even if the visitor is approved to visit multiple inmates in the same facility.  Visits may be canceled without notice; to reduce the risk that you will be visiting when visitation has been canceled, contact the jail prior to visiting to ensure that visitation is still continuing.  In addition, inmates may lose their visitation rights.  That is because visitation is a privilege, not a right, and inmates who are disruptive will not be allowed to continue their visitations.  Disruptive visitors can lose their right to visit people in the jail, or result in having their visits terminated.

All visitors have to be approved before they can visit an inmate at the White Pine County Jail.  You can find the inmate application at the White Pine County website, which is available at: https://www.whitepinecounty.net/312/Jail-Information.  You can download this application form and fill it in so that you can be approved before you get to visit.  The questions on the application form are basic.  The application form asks for the application date, the inmate’s name, the visitor’s name, the visitor’s relationship to the inmate, the visitor’s date of birth, the visitor’s social security number, any aliases or maiden names for the visitor, and the visitor’s residence address.

Inmate Phone Privileges

The White Pine County uses Securus Tech to provide phone services for inmates.  You can access Securus Tech at https://securustech.net/ and you can call them at 1-800-844-6591 or from a cell phone at 972-734-1111.   You can also mail them at:

Securus Correctional Billing Services
PO Box 1109
Dallas, Texas 75001

and mail check payments to:

Securus Correctional Billing Services
PO Box 650757
Dallas, Texas 75265-0757

Inmates at the White Pine County Jail are not allowed to receive incoming phone calls.  In addition, the jail will probably not relay messages to an inmate, though they may make exceptions if there is a verifiable emergency.  Instead, calls from the jail are outgoing.  These calls may be collect calls, which can be very expensive, or you can arrange different types of accounts with Securus, which will either allow the inmate to make calls to a variety of numbers or prepay inmate calls to your number.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

The White Pine County Jail has commissary or canteen service.  This commissary or canteen may also be known as the jail store.  This is how inmates are able to purchase items that are not provided by the jail.  Some types of items that may be available through the commissary include things like clothing, underwear, over the counter medications, health and hygiene items, snacks, drinks, feminine hygiene products, entertainment items, and books.

Funds for commissary/ canteen are held in inmate trust accounts.  This is because inmates are not permitted to have money on them.  To put money into an inmate account, you can visit the jail to deposit that money.  You may also be able to mail deposits or make deposits by phone.  For more information, contact the jail at 775-289-8808.

Bail Information

You may be able to pay inmate bail at the White Pine County Jail.  It is important to keep in mind that the jail does not set an inmate’s bail or make the determination about whether an inmate is eligible for bail.  Bail is set by the court.  Bail may be cash bail, which has to be paid in full, or may be payable by a bail bond.  Bail bonds are handled through a third party, which promises to pay the full amount of the bail if the inmate does not appear at trial or does not comply with the conditions of release.  If you hire a third party to pay the bond, then the fee you pay to that third party is non-refundable, in contrast to cash bail, which is refundable even if the inmate is convicted at trial, as long as the defendant complies with all pretrial conditions of release.

Conclusion

The White Pine County Jail is a local jail facility located in Ely, Nevada.  The White Pine County Jail services White Pine County and receives inmates from the White Pine County Sheriff’s Office as well as from other local jail facilities.  Most inmates at the White Pine County Jail are short-term inmates, which can include recent arrestees, pre-trial detainees, convicted defendants awaiting sentencing, sentenced defendants who are awaiting transfer to a jail facility, and defendants who have been sentenced to serve their sentence in a local jail facility.

While incarcerated at the White Pine Jail, inmates may have some access to pretrial services.  However, it is important to keep in mind that local jail facilities, especially small facilities like White Pine Jail, do not have the resources or staffing to provide the type of services inmates may be able to access in long term jail or prison facilities.  In addition, because inmates are not in the jail for extended periods of time, they do not have the same opportunity to use jail services as they would in long term jail facilities.

It may be possible for inmates to work as trustees while detained in the White Pine County Jail.  Trustees are detainees who work while they are in the jail facility.  They may work in the facility as cooks, cleaners, orderlies, in the laundry, or in the commissary.  Trustees may also work outside of the jail facility doing work for the community.