Missouri Laws 217.265 – Visitors, regulation of — clergymen’s privileges
1. Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3 of this section, no person shall be permitted to enter a correctional center except by special permission of the chief administrative officer of the facility, the division director, the department director or under such regulations as they shall prescribe.
2. The following persons shall be authorized to visit the correctional centers of the state at any time: all authorized employees of the department, the governor, lieutenant governor, members of the general assembly, judges of the supreme court, courts of appeal, and circuit courts, attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer, secretary of state, director of public safety, adjutant general, commissioners of elementary and secondary and higher education, and circuit and prosecuting attorneys. The assistants of all above-named officers shall be authorized to visit correctional centers at any reasonable time as specifically authorized by their superiors and in accordance with regulations established by the department.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 217.265
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Chief administrative officer: the institutional head of any correctional facility or his or her designee. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- Correctional center: any premises or institution where incarceration, evaluation, care, treatment, or rehabilitation is provided to persons who are under the department's authority. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- Department: the department of corrections of the state of Missouri. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- Director: the director of the department of corrections or his or her designee. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- Division: a statutorily created agency within the department or an agency created by the departmental organizational plan. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Offender: a person under supervision or an inmate in the custody of the department. See Missouri Laws 217.010
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
3. All clergymen of every recognized denomination shall have access to the correctional centers and may visit any offender confined in a facility, subject to such rules as may be deemed necessary for maintaining security and safety in the correctional center. Such clergy may administer the rites and ceremonies of the church to which they belong, if such offender desires it and it is in compliance with department rules.