Clothing, glasses and property
How clothes can be exchanged, what can be sent or brought, and what happens to someone’s property, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The short answer
Clothes can be exchanged with a clothing exchange form that the person agrees to; it can take several hours. Clothing, hygiene items and other personal property can’t be sent by mail; the exceptions are one pair of glasses and two boxes of contact lenses.
The Sheriff’s Department pages we checked on October 26, 2026 don’t say where or when clothes are exchanged, and don’t mention laundry. Ask the jail where the person is held: its number is on our phone numbers page.
Official: Custody FAQs; Inmate Mail (OC Sheriff’s Department), checked
Glasses and contact lenses
- One pair of prescription or reading glasses in a plain plastic frame may be mailed in. Eyeglass cases are not allowed.
- Glasses or contact lenses can be brought to the Central Men’s Jail Attorney Bonds Area; frames can’t contain metal.
- Contact lens solution and cases come from the jail dispensary, not by mail.
Official: Inmate Mail; Custody FAQs (OC Sheriff’s Department), checked
Property
- Property can be released between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. every day. (Theo Lacy; the other jails’ pages we checked give no property hours)
- Before a transfer to state prison, the person can release their property to someone they name; otherwise it goes with them.
- Money someone had when arrested goes into their property; they can ask the cashier, with an Inmate Message Slip, to move it into their account.
- Packages and mail can’t be dropped off at any jail.
Official: Theo Lacy Facility - Visiting Hours & Information; Custody FAQs; Inmate Services FAQs (OC Sheriff’s Department), checked
For money, see putting money on someone’s account.
Where to go next
- Putting money on an account Money for commissary.
- Daily life Mail, books and programs.
Sources
Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Every fact above links to the official page it comes from, with the date we checked it. We quote official wording only where the exact words matter. See how we check facts.