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Whānau/family, friends, prison visit updates, becoming an approved visitor, legal visits, travel assistance for visits.

Find out about visits to prison for work or to stay connected with whānau/family and friends.

Last updated: 09 Nov 2022

This section tells you how you can visit someone in prison and the process you will go through on the day of your visit.

Check which prisons are allowing face to face visits for whānau/family and friends.

This section tells you more about how you can visit someone in prison and the process you will go through on the day of your visit.

This page explains the process for arranging legal visits.

You may be eligible to apply for the Child Travel Fund if you have a child who is visiting a parent in prison or you are a parent traveling to visit a child under 18 years of age in prison.

Supporting someone in prison

If you know someone serving a prison sentence, you can support them by visiting, phoning or writing to them.

Visiting someone in prison

To visit someone in prison you need prior approval and a visit time booked. On the day, you’ll need to bring your approval letter and identification.

Visiting a prisoner

Sending mail and other items

Letters can be sent to people in prison, along with payphone cards and cheques. Contact the prison directly to check if other items can be sent.

Write to a prisoner

Making phone calls

The person in prison can make calls using payphones, but the phone number must be approved by prison staff.

Phone calls

If you cannot find a prisoner

If you want to contact someone in prison but do not know where they are, you can write to the Department of Corrections.

Find a prisoner

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Last updated 28 September 2020

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A visit to Napier Prison offers you the chance to connect with the story of our past. Built in 1861, Napier Prison played a key role in the New Zealand Penal system for over 130 years. It remains the most complete example of a purpose-built prison from the provincial government era (1853-1876).

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Home | Browse Topics | Prisoner's rights | Visits, phone calls and mail: Communicating with people outside prison | Visits

• Prisoner's rights

Chapters in this topic

Visits, phone calls and mail: Communicating with people outside prison

• Before prison: The criminal court process
• Housing and debt
• Family matters
• Starting your sentence
• Working, studying and other activities on the inside
• Health and disability
• Discipline and punishments inside prison
• Making complaints about your treatment
• Release from prison

• Phones, computers and internet devices

Who can visit me?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 69, 73 ; Corrections Regulations 2005, regs, 99, 100 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.01

Anyone who’s an approved visitor and on your visitors list can visit you.

It’s important that your visitors have the approved visitors card (this is a photographic ID) and that they book in their visits within the allowed visiting times. They’ll need to get their visitor card at least one day before they first visit. For how to get an approved visitor card, see below.

If a visitor breaks the rules for visits, they can be banned for between three and 12 months, depending on what it is they did.

If you’ve had an internal disciplinary charge against you, this may mean you lose privileges, and this could affect the number and type of visits you get – for example, you may only be allowed to have non-contact visits.

How does someone get approval as a visitor?

Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 99, 100 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.01

To get approval, the visitor will need to fill out an application form. They can get the form from the prison. Getting approval as a visitor is a bit like applying to get a passport: they need to provide a passport-type photo and they also they need to get someone who knows them to sign the application form.

It usually takes at least one week to be approved, so the visitor should apply for approval well in advance of their planned visit. If they know that you’re on remand (in prison while your court case in going on) or that you’re likely to be going to prison soon, they can start the process of applying to be an approved visitor in advance. If you need help, try calling Corrections on (04) 460 3000. If you are unable to get the help you need, you could try seeking advice from a Community Law Centre .

How often can a person visit me?

Corrections Act 2004, s 73 ; Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 103, 104, 182

Every prisoner is allowed at least one visitor each week for a minimum of 30 minutes. Every prison and unit has specific dates and times for visits and for specific types of visits. For example, the remand unit at Whanganui Prison (Kaitoke) currently allows visits on three days of the week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Often, if you’re in a reintegration-type unit, those units will have family days in addition to regular visiting – for example, on one Sunday every two or three months.

Can I my child visit me while in prison?

Yes, your child can visit you through the usual visitors’ process. You can initiate the process by talking to your PCO. A form will be sent to the child’s guardian as all children (17 and under) need to get a letter from their guardian if they want to visit. If you are the sole legal guardian then your child can explain on the form that you are the guardian. If the guardian is not available, or the guardian is not appropriate to provide consent for the visit, then the form can be sent to any other person that would be appropriate to provide consent in the circumstances (this may mean the child can provide their own consent).

Approval for visits from children can take up to 6 weeks to be approved so you should start the process as soon as possible.

Can someone who has been a prisoner visit me?

Yes, but generally the visitor is more likely to be approved if they are your partner or a member of your immediate or extended family or whānau. They’ll need to get permission before they come. The prison will only approve the visit if they believe that the visit is likely to maintain family and social relationships in order to promote your reintegration into the community when you are released.

Can the police visit me in prison?

Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 107

Yes, but you don’t have to meet with them if you don’t want to. If a prison officer comes to get you and it’s not a visiting time for you, you can ask who the visitor is and if it’s the police you don’t have to go.

If you do meet with the police, a prison officer must be present at the beginning of the visit. If you change your mind and decide you don’t want to keep talking to the police, tell the prison officer and they’ll bring the visit to an end.

If you meet with the police you can tell them that you want a lawyer and they need to make one available to you.

You have the same rights when you speak to the police in prison as you do outside of prison. At no stage do you have to see or talk to the police.

When can my lawyer visit?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 73, 74

Your lawyer can see you about any legal business at any time while you’re in prison, but they must arrange the visit with the prison first.

A visit from your lawyer is in addition to your other visiting rights, so it doesn’t affect whether you can see other visitors.

The prison staff aren’t allowed to listen to what you and your lawyer say to each other. You also don’t have to tell the prison staff anything about what you and your lawyer discuss.

See “ Lawyers and legal aid ” in “ Before prison: The criminal court process ”

Can people be prevented from visiting me?

Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 114-116, schedule 4 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.03.03, 04

The prison can refuse to allow a person to visit you if they believe the visit could put prison discipline, security or your rehabilitation at risk, or if they break visiting rules or behave improperly during a visit. They will be given a written notice explaining the reason for the exclusion and a date when the exclusion will expire.

If the visitor isn’t happy with the reason for this decision, or if they’re not given any reason, they can complain to the prison manager, then the inspector or Ombudsman.

See the chapter “Making complaints about your treatment”

Do my visitors have to tell the prison who they are?

Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 99-101 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.01, V.03

Yes. Before visiting you in prison for the first time, visitors need to gain approval to visit, which means getting an approved visitor’s card (a photographic ID). For every visit, a visitor must give their name and address to the prison and they also need to have their visitors’ card with them to get into the prison.

When can I have visitors?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 69, 73 ; Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 175, 182, 187

If you’re not being punished for misconduct, you’re allowed visitors for at least 30 minutes each week. Visiting day is often Saturday, but this is up to each prison.

If you’re in prison on remand (that is, while your court case is going on), you’ll usually get more visiting days than other prisoners. The prison must ensure that visiting times for remand prisoners are as flexible as possible.

If you are under 18 or in a youth unit, you may get more visiting time. The prison must ensure that visiting times for prisoner’s under 18 are as flexible as possible.

Female prisoners who have given birth to a child while in prison or are the mother of a child less than 2 years old can apply to have daily visits from their child.

For more information, see “ Family matters ”

How many visitors can I see at each session?

Prison Operations Manual, V.02, F.10

Each prison decides how many visitors are allowed at each visit. You or your visitors can ask what rules apply. Often the limit is three adult visitors at a time. Sometimes up to three children can join them.

If you wish to see more members of your family at once, you may wish to work with your unit to arrange a family day. Each unit can have up to two whānau days a year, which are special days when the unit hosts whānau all together.

Where will I see my visitors? Is it private?

Corrections Regulations 2005, regs 112, 113 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.04

Your visits will be in an area supervised by prison officers, but you can expect to have a reasonable amount of privacy. Prison officers won’t be right next to you and your visitors – they’ll usually be watching from the edge of the room, which can be quite large.

The area itself depends on which prison you’re in and your security classification. Visits can be held in the church or recreational hall, or sometimes even outside the prison.

Can I hug my family?

Yes, you are allowed physical contact with your visitors, but there are limits. You need to take guidance from the officer supervising your visit.

Will there ever be glass between me and my visitor?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 69, 73 ; Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 158

Yes. Some people are only allowed non-contact visits. You will be taken into a booth with glass between you and your visitor. You will be able to hear each other and see each other, but not touch each other.

The prison should explain to you why you are not allowed contact. Often it is if you have tested positive for drugs.

Can my visitors bring me things, such as food or presents or money?

Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 34 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.03.06

Visitors can’t bring you anything at all without the prison’s permission.

Visitors are usually allowed to take phone cards and money to put in your P119 Trust Account.

Your visitors should give anything they’ve brought for you to the prison officer when they arrive at the prison. They can’t pass you anything during a visit without permission.

If your visitor has a baby with them then they can usually take:

• a drink bottle with made-up formula (which may be heated with hot water provided)
• a nappy bag with spare nappies, wipes and extra clothing (nappy bags have to be see-through plastic).

Toys are not permitted.

Can my visitors be searched?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 99, 101, 141 ; Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 111 ; Prison Operations Manual, V.03.06

Yes. Visitors should expect to be searched when they come to visit. They can be searched with an electronic “scanner” or they can be given a rub-down search. If they don’t agree to be searched, they won’t be allowed to visit you. All prisons now have at least an electronic scanner that visitors have to walk through.

Sometimes a prison will conduct random car searches as visitor cars enter the prison grounds. This can include dog searches. The drug dogs are often present when vehicles and visitors are coming and going, and they can put the dogs through your car to search for illegal or banned items. Visitors can refuse to let their car be searched, but if they do refuse they’ll have to leave.

If a banned item is found during a search, the visitor will be banned from visiting and won’t be able to enter any prison for a certain period, usually at least 12 months. The visitor may also face criminal charges.

Can I be blamed if a visitor brings a banned item?

Corrections Act 2004, ss 128, 141

Yes, you can. You could face either internal disciplinary charges or criminal charges if you’re caught with the visitor trying to give you a banned item, or if your previous communications with that visitor (as shown by a recorded phone call) indicate that you encouraged the visitor to bring the item in or knew that it was coming in.

You can face internal charges if it’s tobacco; if it’s an illegal drug you could face criminal charges. Internal prison charges can result in your visits being limited to non-contact ones, or in you losing privileges. If criminal charges are brought and you’re found guilty, this could result in you having a longer prison sentence to serve.

Can the prison tell my visitors to leave before visiting time is up?

Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 114

If the prison officer supervising the visit thinks you or your visitors are behaving badly, the officer can end the visit.

Visitors will also be asked to leave in an emergency, such as an earthquake.

Can the prison use physical force to make my visitors leave?

Corrections Regulations 2005, reg 115

Yes, if a visitor refuses to leave the prison officers can use only the amount of force that is reasonable in the situation to remove a visitor.

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Thousands of prisoners denied visits due to Corrections' Covid policy

Critics argue the rules are a breach of prisoners’ human rights.

As Covid-19 restrictions continue to ease nationwide, including no longer needing to wear a mask in most places, thousands of families are still being forced apart at many of the country's prisons.

One law expert says it could have legal implications.

Face-to-face visits at prisons were stopped during the August lockdown last year and during an outbreak of Covid cases in January. But while restrictions were eventually relaxed for the public, a ban on face-to-face visits remains for almost two thirds of prisoners.

June figures show a total prison population of 7728 across 18 prisons. Of that figure 5073 prisoners at 10 sites are still not allowed visitors.

Lawyer Nigel Hampton KC believes the issue raises concerns over a breach of human rights.

“I think it is. It's so fundamental,” he said.

“The severity of the restrictions that are being imposed on face-to-face contact is I think a breach of the rights on either side, both prisoner and family.”

Leigh Marsh, Deputy National Commissioner for Corrections, says he disagrees.

“I don’t think it’s a human rights issue, we’re not denying connection between prisoners and their family.”

Marsh says staff are doing their best to provide alternative options such as phone and video calling.

“It's very difficult for both prisoners and our staff that are wanting to make that happen. But it's the reality of what we're dealing with at the moment,” he said.

But families argue it’s unfair.

New Plymouth woman, Friday Doughty, lost her baby girl in July when six months pregnant.

She wasn't able to grieve with her partner who was in Auckland Prison at the time which hasn't allowed visitors in over a year.

“It's just a loss that we couldn't experience together or have anything to do with each other, it's actually really horrible. I don't wish anyone to go through this,” she said.

With no temporary release or video calling, the cremation service for baby "Poppy" was tough.

“Basically, it was just pushed aside to a phone call - a ten minute phone call -so I had to have him on speaker phone at the funeral and so he just had to sit there in his cell obviously and think about how that funeral would go down.”

Covid-19 restrictions are now largely non-existent after the Government removed the traffic light system this week. It also dropped vaccine mandate requirements for prison officers back in July.

Asked if it were time Corrections moved on from the non-visiting policy, Leigh Marsh said it was already underway.

“We're doing that right now and that's what we're seeing at the prisons we can do where we have the staff to do that safely,” he said.

Those staffing issues are what lay at the heart of the current challenge.

1News can reveal there are currently around 1,600 vacancies across the Department of Corrections - including 533 prison officers.

But Marsh denies families are paying the price for major staffing shortages.

“I disagree with that. I think that we are doing a large amount of new initiatives to try and connect prisoners with their families,” he said.

However, the department still cannot provide prisoners and families with a timeline on when they can expect to resume visits at all prisons.

“We could do it in the past, why can't we do it now? Get on with it,” Nigel Hampton KC said.

As for Friday Doughty, her partner is now at another prison where visits have resumed.

And while she has since been able to visit him over the last few weeks, she still believes other families deserve the same opportunity.

“It's just unfair, it's purely unfair.”

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Whānau visits off for some prisoners until 2023

• Mihingarangi Forbes

Watch: Whānau visits off for some prisoners until 2023. Credits: The Hui

Corrections says it won't be able to resume whānau visits for all prisoners until the beginning of next year.

It's blaming a shortage of more than 400 prison staff for halting in-person visits for almost half of the prison population. More than 3500 inmates are affected by the ban, which began under COVID-19 in 2021.

Prisoners in Auckland, Mt Eden, Spring Hill, Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Rimutaka and Arohata prisons currently have to rely on phone cards and occasional video calls to catch up with whānau, including their tamariki.

However one of the prisons might re-start visits by the end of this week.

More from Newshub

Topia Rameka, the deputy chief executive - Māori at Corrections, told The Hui more than 1500 people had applied to work at Corrections, but hiring successful candidates and training them would take months.

"We are turning on prison visits week by week and I know there is another one opening this week."

Rameka said all prisons should be open again for visits by early next year.

The suspension of prison visits has been strongly criticised by advocacy group Pillars and the Human Rights Commissioner.

It also appears to breach Corrections' own strategy document Hokai Rangi, which is designed to achieve better outcomes and intergenerational change with Māori and their whānau. 

"Whānau must have timely, tailored access and support ... to access the best pathway and services for effective rehabilitation, holistic wellbeing and reintegration to prevent future re-offending," Hokai Rangi said.

Rameka denied the Hokai Rangi strategy was a failure and said Corrections has actively engaged with prisoners and whānau through the pandemic. Prisoners in most facilities could make video calls once or twice a week.

Hokai Rangi also aimed to increase the number of Māori working for Corrections both in jails and in the community. But since 2015, the number of Māori staff has only gone up 1.6 percent - it currently sits at 22 percent.

Rameka said the number of specialist kaupapa Māori practitioners within Corrections had increased significantly over the past couple of years.

"What's important is that we have Māori in key positions that are relevant to the mahi at play and I see a large group of kaupapa Māori practitioners who are working tirelessly ... in the community and in custodial operations."

He said recruiters were using social media, marae, and community facilities to attract more staff into Corrections.

Made with support from Te Māngai Pāho and the Public Interest Journalism Fund.

New Zealand Law Society - New children prison visit rules from 1 September

New children prison visit rules from 1 September

• 31 August 2016
• 1 MINUTE READ

This article is over 3 years old. More recent information on this subject may exist.

The Department of Corrections has issued a reminder about the new rules for children visiting prisoners, effective from 1 September 2016.

The new rules require that all visits to prisons by children under 16 are pre-approved by their guardian and Corrections.

From 1 September the rules require a prisoner wanting visits from a child under 16 to initiate the visitor approval process. As long as there are no court orders prohibiting contact, permission will be sought from the child's guardian. If they agree, each child visitor application will then be reviewed individually by Corrections.

If certain arrangements need to be put in place to ensure safe and appropriate contact happens, the Department will do that. If it is determined, however, that contact may place a child at risk of harm, it will also take the necessary action to keep that child safe.

"Corrections supports safe and appropriate contact between parents and their children, however, it has a duty of care to ensure that the interests of children are protected while they are visiting prisons," Chief Custodial Officer Neil Beales says.

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PRESS RELEASE: Imagination Library of Washington Brings Transformative Literacy Initiative to WA DOC State Prison Visit Rooms

Released: April 8, 2024 Updated January 1, 2017

Photo Curtesy of Dolly Parton's Imagination Libary

TUMWATER – This week is National Library Week . The 2024 theme is “Ready, Set, Library,” and what better time to announce a unique prison partnership between Imagination Library of Washington, the statewide partner for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) to bring an innovative and exciting early literacy program to prison visit rooms.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails high quality, age-appropriate books each month to children between the ages of birth up to five years old, at no cost to the family.

However, DOC’s partnership looks a little different. This unique partnership began in fall 2023, with the goal of bringing the Imagination Library to the state’s 11 prisons to put books into the hands and hearts of children visiting their incarcerated parent.

“We know that strong bonds between parent and child are crucial for successful reentry,” said DOC Secretary Cheryl Strange. “This partnership allows us to promote healthy relationships and positive memories that will last a lifetime and also promotes literacy at an early age, when it is most important to foster a love for reading.”

The goal of this partnership is to promote enrollment in the Imagination Library, highlight the importance of building early literacy skills at a young age, and offer incarcerated individuals the unique opportunity to build a strong, healthy relationship with their children and families through the magical wonder of books.

“Imagination Library of Washington is thrilled to partner with the Washington State Department of Corrections to creatively enhance literacy opportunities for children as they are visiting incarcerated loved ones. Collaboration is key in creating meaningful engagement and impact, and we believe this partnership will bring families together and inspire a love of reading, bringing light to perhaps a dark time for Washington families,” stated Imagination Library of Washington Executive Director, Brooke Fisher-Clark.

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Waikato prison to resume in-person visits for first time since start of pandemic.

Waikato prison Spring Hill Corrections Facility will resume having in-person prison visits from 13 May, Corrections says. Photo: Corrections / Chai Patel

Close to 700 prisoners at one of the country's biggest jails will soon be able to receive in-person visits for the first time since the pandemic started.

Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato is one of three prisons still closed to outsiders, but Corrections says it intends to restart limited visits this Saturday 13 May.

National commissioner Leigh Marsh said staff were working incredibly hard to resume visits as quickly as possible.

"We understand that regular contact and support from family and friends has a positive effect on a person's behaviour and mental health while they are in prison and can play an integral part in their rehabilitation."

Two other North Island prisons also remain closed to visitors. Corrections aimed to resume visits to Auckland's Mt Eden Corrections Facility in late June, Marsh said, but there was still no confirmed date on when prisoners at Wellington's Rimutaka Prison would be able to receive visitors.

The latest figures, from March, showed the three prisons collectively held about 28 percent of the country's prison population.

Each prisoner is legally entitled to a 30-minute weekly visit, meaning the paused visits have seen more than 2300 prisoners denied their rights.

In March, Marsh told RNZ reinstating in-person visits was a priority, but the organisation was balancing Covid precautions and staff shortages.

Copyright © 2023 , Radio New Zealand

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El Chapo asks federal judge to reinstate his phone calls, visits in Colorado prison

The notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín " El Chapo " Guzmán has asked a federal judge to reinstate his telephone call and visiting privileges at the supermax prison in Colorado, where he's serving a life sentence.

"Sorry to bother you again with the request that I have asked you before with regards to my wife, Emma Coronel," Guzmán wrote to federal judge Brian Cogan in a letter dated March 20 and filed Tuesday in a New York district court.

"I ask that you please authorize her to visit me and to bring my daughters to visit me, since my daughters can only visit me when they are on school break, since they are studying in Mexico," he wrote.

The Tuesday filing includes a handwritten envelope sent to the judge from Guzmán, who was convicted in 2019 of running the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico.

In November 2021, Emma Coronel Aispuro was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiring to distribute cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana for import into the United States. She was also ordered to pay almost $1.5 million in fines.

Aispuro was also accused of conspiring with others to assist Guzmán in his July 2015 escape from Altiplano prison, and prosecutors said she also planned with others to arrange another prison escape for the drug kingpin before his extradition to the U.S. in January 2017. She was released from her California halfway house in September 2023.

In the March 20 letter, Guzmán writes that his wife is the only person who can visit him in prison because she lives in California, and other relatives would require visas to visit him.

"I also bother you to continue giving me the two 15-minute calls a month that you authorized me (one call every 15 days), since in May of 2023, the facility stopped giving me calls with my daughters," he wrote. "And I haven't had calls with them for seven months."

"I have asked when they are going to give me a call with my daughters and the staff here told me that the FBI agent who monitors the calls does not answer. That's all they've told me," he continued. "I ask you to please continue giving me the two calls that you authorized me per month. I don't understand why the prosecutor who is in charge of the SAMs Rules stopped authorizing calls with my daughters."

Guzmán said what is being done to him is "unprecedented discrimination" and is asking the judge to intervene.

Guzmán was convicted in 2019 of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, including large-scale narcotics violations and a murder conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracies, unlawful use of a firearm and a money laundering conspiracy. A federal appeals court in January 2022 upheld the conviction  after Guzmán sought to overturn it in Brooklyn federal court on 10 grounds. The appellate court determined that "none of these claims has merit."

Under Guzmán's leadership, the Sinaloa cartel imported more than 1 million kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of kilograms of heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the U.S. Trial evidence proved the cartel used murder, kidnapping, torture, bribery of officials and other illegal methods to control territory throughout Mexico and to subdue opposition.

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New life for trade link plan as McClay visits China

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A long-gestating proposal to place New Zealand at the centre of a trade route between Asia and South America may be given new life, with Trade Minister Todd McClay seeking fresh advice on the concept’s merits.

McClay told Newsroom of his interest in the Southern Link plan before a trip to China this week – the first by a minister under the new Government, just over six months after last year’s election.

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Florida woman is sentenced to a month in jail for selling Biden's daughter's diary

A Florida woman was sentenced Tuesday to a month in prison and three months of home confinement for stealing and selling President Joe Biden’s daughter’s diary four years ago to the conservative group Project Veritas.

Aimee Harris was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who called the Palm Beach, Florida, woman’s actions “despicable.”

Harris  pleaded guilty  to a conspiracy charge in August 2022, admitting that she received $20,000 of the $40,000 that was paid by Project Veritas for personal items belonging to the president’s daughter Ashley Biden.

Project Veritas,  founded in 2010 , identifies itself as a news organization. It is best known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.

A tearful Harris apologized for enabling Ashley Biden’s private writings to be sold after she found the diary and other items at a friend’s Delray Beach, Florida, home in 2020, where prosecutors said Ashley Biden believed her items were safely stored after she temporarily stayed there in spring 2020.

“I do not believe I am above the law,” Harris said after a prosecutor urged a prison sentence following her failure to appear at numerous sentencing dates on the grounds that she was consumed with caring for her two children, ages 8 and 6.

“I’m a survivor of long-term domestic abuse and sexual trauma,” she told the judge.

With a lawyer for Ashley Biden observing from the courtroom’s spectator section, Harris apologized to the president’s daughter, saying she regrets making her childhood and life public.

In announcing the sentence, Swain noted that Harris and a co-defendant, Robert Kurlander, of nearby Jupiter, Florida, had first tried unsuccessfully to sell Ashley Biden’s belongings to then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.

The judge said that Harris, besides being motivated by greed, had hoped to impact the nation’s political landscape.

Kurlander, who has not yet been sentenced, and Harris, had each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines.

Defense attorney Anthony Cecutti urged no prison time, citing his client’s traumatic life and her efforts to care for her children while recovering from abuse and violence.

“She carries the shame and stigma of her actions,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman urged a prison sentence, saying Harris had exhibited a “pattern of disrespect for the law and the justice system.”

“Ms. Harris is not the victim in this case,” Sobelman said. “Ms. Biden is the victim in this case.”

He said Harris in the summer of 2020 had stolen Ashley Biden’s diary, a digital storage card, books, clothing, luggage and “everything she could get her hands on” in the hopes she “could make as much money as she could.”

“She wanted to damage Ms. Biden’s father,” he said.

Harris was told to report to prison in July. As she left the courthouse, she declined to speak.

The lawyer for Ashley Biden also declined to comment, though he submitted a letter to the judge on his client’s behalf a day earlier that was not immediately put in the court record.

The Associated Press

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Woman Sentenced to Month in Prison Over Theft of Ashley Biden’s Diary

Aimee Harris sold the diary to Project Veritas, a right-wing group, in what prosecutors said was a brazen plot to damage Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 election.

By Adam Goldman

A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced a Florida woman on Tuesday to one month behind bars for her role in a brazen scheme to steal the diary of President Biden’s daughter and sell it to a right-wing group in the hope of disrupting the 2020 election.

The conduct of the woman, Aimee Harris , “was despicable and consequently very serious,” Judge Laura Taylor Swain of Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York said before handing down a punishment.

Ms. Harris, 41, tested the patience of prosecutors and the judge overseeing the case, missing repeated sentencing dates and jeopardizing what otherwise appeared to be a likely path to probation. In August 2022, she pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport the stolen diary to New York, where she met with employees of the group, Project Veritas, and sold it for $40,000 just weeks before the election.

The judge also sentenced her to three years’ probation, along with three months of home confinement, and ordered her to pay back the money she earned from the sale.

The sentencing of Ms. Harris reflects the seriousness of the government’s efforts to deter people from interfering in elections. That includes former President Donald J. Trump, who is awaiting federal trial in Washington on charges of trying to subvert the outcome of the 2020 race.

In a statement provided to the court, Ms. Biden described what happened to her as “one of the most heinous forms of bullying.”

Initially federal prosecutors had recommended Ms. Harris face up to six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release, while her lawyers had requested probation. But her sentencing was pushed back repeatedly — a dozen times — in part because Ms. Harris claimed she had child care issues or was sick.

At a scheduled hearing in late January, Ms. Harris called the court from a hospital emergency room, prompting Judge Swain to describe the situation as “highly irregular.” At a hearing in February, the judge told Ms. Harris that the reasons she had cited in seeking a delay were “matters of great concern for the court.”

Prosecutors, exasperated, asked the judge this month to impose a sentence of four to 10 months in prison, saying Ms. Harris had “repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay this proceeding.” They accused her of misrepresenting the nature of her child care, failing to get an identification card so she could travel to New York and flouting the court’s rules.

Judge Swain finally threatened to have her arrested and brought to New York by U.S. marshals if she did not comply with the court’s orders.

After her guilty plea in August 2022, prosecutors said that Ms. Harris was later arrested and charged with driving under the influence with property damage and had tested positive for marijuana. The judge ordered her to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse.

Ms. Harris claimed that the diary had been abandoned, discarded at a friend’s house where she had been staying. But prosecutors said that in August 2020, she stole the diary, which President Biden’s daughter Ashley Biden had left at the house to store along with other personal items.

Ms. Harris then enlisted the help of a friend, Robert Kurlander, to sell the diary. Eventually, the pair found a buyer in Project Veritas, with each making $20,000. The two later returned to the house, taking other items belonging to the president’s daughter to confirm she was in fact the diary’s author.

Mr. Kurlander, 60, who also pleaded guilty and has cooperated with the Justice Department’s investigation into the theft, is scheduled to be sentenced later this year. On Friday, prosecutors asked for a six-month delay. Mr. Kurlander was previously convicted of fraud in a federal court in Florida. He also faces prison time but unlike Ms. Harris decided to cooperate with prosecutors.

As part of its investigation, the F.B.I. searched the homes of three former employees of Project Veritas, including its founder, James O’Keefe, but so far none of them have been charged. All three have since left the group.

Mr. O’Keefe was pushed out of Project Veritas after employees denounced his management style and questionable spending. Hannah Giles, who succeeded him as chief executive, laid off employees.

But she abruptly quit in December. She wrote on social media that she had “stepped into an unsalvageable mess — one wrought with strong evidence of past illegality and past financial improprieties.”

In December, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors could review hundreds of documents related to the theft of the diary. Project Veritas had claimed that the materials were protected under the First Amendment and that “disclosure to the government would violate their constitutional rights, constituting irreparable harm.”

Lawyers for Mr. O’Keefe and the two other former operatives of Project Veritas — Spencer Meads and Eric Cochran — asked the judge to temporarily halt that order as an appeal moved forward. But the judge denied the motion in January, noting that additional delay could “frustrate the investigation and raise concerns about witness recollection, evidence availability and statutes of limitations.”

Mr. Meads has appealed the ruling. The status of the investigation remains unclear but Mr. Kurlander’s delayed sentencing until October most likely means prosecutors have not ended their pursuit of Mr. O’Keefe.

Over the course of the inquiry, investigators obtained evidence that indicated that Ms. Harris hoped not only to profit from selling the diary to the group but also to hurt Mr. Biden’s chances of defeating Mr. Trump.

“Stealing personal belongings of a candidate’s family member, and selling them to an organization to exploit them for political gain, was wrong and illegal no matter the political agenda,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo. “Such criminal conduct does not merely harm the victim, but seeks to undermine the political process.”

The memo added, “The calculus must be clear that criminal conduct of this sort will not be tolerated regardless of one’s political affiliation, ideology or motivation.”

Text messages obtained by prosecutors showed that Ms. Harris and Mr. Kurlander knew that they were stealing Ms. Biden’s diary and her other belongings and that the group planned to publicize the contents of the diary, which she had kept while she was recovering from drug addiction.

Olivia Bensimon and Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.

Adam Goldman writes about the F.B.I. and national security. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about Adam Goldman