How to Fill Out and Submit the KDOC Visiting Privileges Application

To visit someone in a Kansas state prison, you fill out the KDOC visiting application — officially the Application for Visiting Privileges attached to policy IMPP 10-113D — and mail it to the facility where the resident is housed. KDOC then runs a criminal background check and decides whether to add you to that resident’s approved visitor list. Allow four to six weeks for processing from the day your application arrives.¹

How to Get the Form

Most of the time, the incarcerated person starts the process. They request a blank application from their unit counselor and mail it to you along with a copy of the facility’s visitor handbook. You can also download the form yourself from the KDOC website at doc.ks.gov.²

Fill it out and mail it to the facility yourself. Do not mail a completed application to the resident.¹

One thing worth checking before you start: each resident can have no more than 20 people on their approved list. If it’s already full, your application won’t be processed until the resident removes someone.²

What the Form Asks For

The application is two pages, and every field must be completed. KDOC will not process incomplete applications.¹ You’ll need to provide:

Your full legal name, current address, phone number, and date of birth
Your Social Security number, which KDOC uses to run the background check against state and national databases
The issuing state and number of your driver’s license or state ID
Your relationship to the resident (spouse, parent, sibling, friend, attorney, clergy, or another category), which determines how the visit is classified
Whether you are currently on probation or parole
Whether you have ever worked for, contracted with, or volunteered inside the Kansas Department of Corrections
Whether you or an immediate family member was a victim of the person you want to visit

That last question matters. If the answer is yes, you don’t submit a standard application at all. You route the request through KDOC’s Victim Services instead.

The form does not ask you to list every arrest or conviction. KDOC pulls that information through the background check. What it does require is honest answers to the questions it does ask. Omissions or false answers can result in denial of visiting privileges.¹

What to Mail With the Form

A standard adult U.S. citizen does not need to send a photocopy of their ID with the application. The form only asks for the ID number. You will need a valid government-issued photo ID in hand every time you show up for a visit.²

Two groups of applicants have extra documentation requirements.

Non-U.S. Citizens

If you are not a United States citizen, include a photocopy of at least one of the following with your application: passport, visa, Resident Alien Card, Permanent Resident Card, or Employment Authorization Card. This applies at the application stage, not just at the visit itself.¹

Visitors Under 18

A copy of an official birth certificate is required for every visitor under 18. For newborns under 30 days old, a hospital certificate of birth works instead.¹ Children over 16 must also have their own photo ID to present at the facility.³

Who Can Actually Be Listed as a Visitor

Kansas limits who may visit under the age of 18. Under Kansas Administrative Regulation 44-7-104, a visitor younger than 18 may only visit a member of their immediate family — siblings, stepsiblings, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, stepgrandchildren, or a spouse.⁴

A minor must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or an adult holding power of attorney from the parent or guardian to transport and supervise the child on facility grounds. If no one holds power of attorney, a temporary caregiver may authorize the visit by providing an affidavit verifying their status and their relationship to both the child and the incarcerated person. The warden decides whether to allow the visit in those situations.⁴

Where to Send the Application

Mail the completed application and any required documents to the specific facility where the resident is housed. Address the envelope to “Attention: Visitation” at that facility’s mailing address.¹ The correct address appears on the KDOC facilities directory online and in the field at the top of the application itself.

Confirm the resident has not been transferred before you drop it in the mail. Sending the form to the wrong facility means starting over. Include the resident’s full name and KDOC identification number on both the application and the envelope so staff can route it quickly.

What Happens After You Mail It

KDOC asks you to allow four to six weeks for processing.¹ During that window, staff run the background check and verify what you submitted. Missing fields or illegible documents push things back further, and incomplete applications aren’t processed at all.

The resident typically learns the outcome first and relays the approval or denial to you, so stay in contact through whatever phone or messaging channels the facility provides.

Once you’re on the list, the approval travels with the resident between facilities and stays in effect unless the resident revises the list or KDOC removes you for an administrative reason. Kansas does not publish an expiration date for approved visitor status, which differs from some states that require periodic renewal. If you are ever removed from the list, whether at your request or the resident’s, you cannot reapply for at least 180 days.²

Approval Isn’t the Same as a Visit

Being approved doesn’t mean you can walk in whenever you like. Every in-person visit must be scheduled at least 72 hours before the facility’s visitation period begins for that week, through the ICSolutions website at icsolutions.com.⁵ Each adult facility offers two visitation time slots per day, with days and hours that vary by location. Check your facility’s visitor handbook or call ahead to confirm.

Approval is also a prerequisite for remote video visitation through the ICSolutions “Visitor” platform. The video option is not a shortcut around the background check: you still have to go through the standard application first.

Before your first visit, review the facility’s dress code and the list of items you can carry in. The visiting room officer can turn you away at the door for clothing that doesn’t meet the rules, and personal property beyond a short approved list (vehicle keys, up to $50 in coins for vending machines, limited infant supplies, and a few other items) is not permitted inside.⁶⁷

If You’re Denied

The shift supervisor on duty has authority to deny, suspend, or terminate visits. KDOC does not publish a detailed formal appeal process for visitors on its public-facing website. Contact the facility’s visitation department directly, or call KDOC’s Office of Victim Services toll-free at (866) 404-6732 for guidance on next steps.²

Visitors with disabilities who need accommodations, such as a wheelchair-accessible visiting area or permission to bring a service animal, should contact the facility in advance. Only trained service dogs qualify for access under the ADA; emotional support animals do not.⁸

1
Kansas Department of Corrections. Application for Visiting Privileges
2
Kansas Department of Corrections. Visiting
3
Kansas Department of Corrections. Visiting Rules
4
Cornell Law Institute. Kansas Administrative Regulations 44-7-104 – Inmate Visitation
5
Kansas Department of Corrections. Visitation In-Person
6
Kansas Department of Corrections. Visitor Clothing
7
Kansas Department of Corrections. Allowable Visitor Items
8
ADA.gov. ADA Requirements: Service Animals