Switzerland · St. Gallen · seat St. Gallen

St. Gallen canton: custody, eastern concordat, visits

St. Gallen is a large eastern canton, seated in the city of the same name, stretching to Rorschach on the lake, Wil, and the Rhine valley toward Sargans. It is a concordat anchor for smaller neighbours such as the Appenzell half-cantons and Glarus. That does not publish a roster, and it does not mean every eastern prisoner is in the city. Ask which establishment, and whether it is even in this canton or in Thurgau, Zürich or Graubünden.

St. Gallen: how this area actually works

The city is famous for the abbey library, which is not a prison and not a records office for detainees. Rorschach, Wil and Buchs are different towns. Courts in the city are not a gate in the Rhine valley. The cantonal authority will not confirm a name. German is the language. A conference at the university is not a visiting appointment.

If the papers name a St. Gallen establishment, use its directions and do not stay at the abbey quarter by default. If they name a Thurgau, Zürich or Graubünden facility, switch canton. Women’s placement may be Hindelbank in Bern, a long way west. Remand and sentenced regimes differ. “Eastern Switzerland prison” describes a concordat, not a door.

The canton is large enough that a Rhine-valley address and a city address do not share a casual afternoon. Probation in St. Gallen is not a cell. If the person has been moved to Zürich, the abbey hotel will not help. Recheck. Smaller cantons’ families often arrive here on a rumour that “everyone goes to St. Gallen,” which is sometimes true and often stale. The abbey quarter is not the establishment and not an archive of detainees. Use the canton’s directions, which may point to Rorschach, Wil, the Rhine valley, or another canton entirely.

Finding someone held in St. Gallen

Confirm through the lawyer or the holding canton. Police will not read a list. Bring the date of birth and case number. Embassies need the canton. A news item from Rorschach goes stale after a transfer. The library’s fame does not make the canton a national archive of prisoners.

Write the establishment and the town. Foreign visitors should separate St. Gallen from St. Moritz, which is Graubünden, and from Appenzell, which is two other cantons. If the person is at Pöschwies, use Zürich. If the person is in Chur’s canton, use Graubünden. The similar saint’s name is a bad compass. St. Moritz is Graubünden, not this city. The shared saint’s name sends people into the wrong Alps. If the papers say Chur or a valley in Graubünden, change the railway.

Visits and family practicalities

Book with the holder. No hours are printed here. Check the live page. A timetable for the eastern concordat in general is not an establishment clock.

Bring a passport. Children need permission and consent. Ask for an interpreter. Read the property rules. Do not pack a library visit and a prison visit into one bag without checking the sheet. The Rhine valley toward Sargans is a different axis from the city station. Do not sleep in St. Gallen if the gate is an hour up that valley.

Getting around St. Gallen

St. Gallen station connects to Zürich and to the lake line. Zurich Airport is the usual flight. The Rhine valley is a different rail axis toward Sargans. Use official directions. A pin on the abbey is the wrong landmark. Say the establishment’s name.

Add identification time. A Zürich landing and a Rhine-valley visit need a realistic clock. Stay in the holding town. If the person is in another eastern canton, change there rather than forcing a city base. The concordat explains cooperation. It does not meet you at the station. Appenzell families are often told “St. Gallen” as a rumour. Rumours are not placements. Get the establishment spelled by the lawyer before you leave Zürich.

Prison guides in St. Gallen

Facility articles for houses we have sourced in this canton. Empty coverage here is this site’s map, not proof that nobody is held in St. Gallen.

No named prison article for St. Gallen yet. Use Cantonal prison administrations / KKJPD on the official site, then come back when we add the house.

Questions families actually ask

Is the abbey library where records of prisoners are kept?
No. It is a historic library. Custody information stays with the cantonal authority and is not a public catalogue.
Do all eastern Swiss prisoners come to St. Gallen?
Some placements use this canton’s capacity, and many do not. Confirm the establishment. Appenzell, Thurgau and Graubünden are separate.
Does St. Gallen publish a roster?
No. Ask the lawyer or the holding canton.

Other Cantons in Switzerland

canton · AarauAargauAargauAargau sits between Zürich, Basel and Lucerne, seated in Aarau, with Baden, Brugg and the towns of the Aare. Lenzburg prison is the closed men’s establishment associated with the canton, in the town of Lenzburg, not in Aarau’s old town. It is cantonal. It does not publish names. It is not Pöschwies and it is not a Basel prison. Families who know only the big-city gates miss Lenzburg, and families who know only Lenzburg miss a remand unit somewhere else.Open this area →canton · HerisauAppenzell AusserrhodenAppenzell AusserrhodenAppenzell Ausserrhoden is the outer half-canton, seated in Herisau, not in the famous village of Appenzell. That village is Innerrhoden, a separate canton. The mix-up is so common it should be the first line of any travel note. Neither half publishes inmate names. Small eastern cantons place many sentenced people with concordat partners, often toward St. Gallen. Ask which canton holds the person before you photograph a village square.Open this area →canton · AppenzellAppenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell Innerrhoden is the inner half-canton, seated in the village of Appenzell. It is one of the smallest cantonal territories in Switzerland. It does not publish inmate names, and it does not operate a large closed prison for every sentence. Concordat placement elsewhere is ordinary. Families who arrive for the square and assume the gate is beside it are in the wrong kind of building. Ask where the person is actually held.Open this area →canton · LiestalBasel-LandschaftBasel-LandschaftBasel-Landschaft is the cantonal countryside around the city, seated in Liestal, not in Basel. It is a full canton with its own authority. It does not publish inmate names. People assume every prisoner from the region is in the city canton because that is where the hotels and the station are. Sometimes the papers say otherwise. Sometimes they place the person in Aargau, Solothurn or Bern. Liestal is the capital you should be able to say aloud before you book.Open this area →canton · BaselBasel-StadtBasel-StadtBasel-Stadt is the city canton, a few square kilometres on the Rhine, seated in Basel. Basel-Landschaft is the other half, a different canton with its capital in Liestal. Families merge them, and they merge both with Germany and France because the tram crosses borders. Prisons do not merge. There is no national Swiss roster, and a German or French police desk will not read you a Swiss one. Ask which canton holds the person: the city, the countryside canton, or somewhere else entirely.Open this area →canton · BernBernBernBern is a bilingual canton and the federal city, which makes foreigners ask the federal government where a prisoner is. The federal government does not run a national inmate index. Prisons are cantonal. Hindelbank, in the east of the canton, is the women’s prison German-speaking Switzerland treats as the default, and it is still only the right door if the papers say so. Thorberg, in Krauchthal, is a men’s closed prison in the same canton and not a wing of Hindelbank. Neither publishes names.Open this area →canton · FribourgFribourgFribourgFribourg is a bilingual canton, French and German, seated in the city of Fribourg, between Bern and Lausanne. Both languages appear in official life. That does not split the prisons into two countries, and it does not publish a roster. The German name Freiburg is the same canton, not the German city. Families who search the wrong Freiburg waste a day in the wrong country. Ask which language the holding establishment uses, and ask which canton it is.Open this area →canton · GenevaGenevaGenèveGeneva is a canton as well as a city, wrapped by France, and Champ-Dollon is its remand and local prison. The establishment is cantonal. It is chronically discussed in public and still does not publish a list of names. It is not Pöschwies in Zürich and it is not Bochuz in Vaud. International organisations in the city do not run a prison index and cannot tell you who is held. This page will not invent visiting hours.Open this area →canton · GlarusGlarusGlarusGlarus is a small valley canton south of Lake Zürich, seated in the town of Glarus. It does not publish inmate names, and it does not pretend to warehouse every sentence locally. Concordat placement in a larger partner canton is an ordinary outcome. Families who take the short train from Zürich and expect a gate in the valley may be in the wrong canton. Ask. The mountains at the end of the valley are not a prison wall.Open this area →canton · ChurGraubündenGraubündenGraubünden is the large alpine canton, seated in Chur, with German, Romansh and Italian in different valleys. St. Moritz, Davos and the Engadin are not the capital, and they are not a prison district you can guess. Custody is cantonal and unpublished. A person arrested in a resort may be held in Chur’s arrangements or in another canton entirely. Ask before you buy a holiday week and call it a visit.Open this area →canton · DelémontJuraJuraJura is the youngest Swiss canton, seated in Delémont, French-speaking, along the mountains north of Bern and beside Basel’s world. It does not publish inmate names. It does not keep every sentenced prisoner in a large local closed prison. Concordat placement in other Romandy cantons, or cooperation with neighbours, is something you confirm rather than resent. Families who look for a prison in Porrentruy or Delémont because the canton is small may be aimed at Neuchâtel, Vaud or Geneva instead.Open this area →canton · LucerneLucerneLuzernLucerne is a central Swiss canton, seated in the city of the same name, with Emmen, Kriens and the rural districts around the lake. Prisons are cantonal. There is no national roster, and a postcard of the chapel bridge is not a gate. People held on Lucerne cases may be in a local establishment or, under the central Swiss concordat, in another canton’s facility. The reverse is also true. Ask which canton holds the person this week, not which canton issued the charge.Open this area →

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Source

Confirm location, visits and hours on the official service. This site does not list who is in custody.

Official locatorCantonal prison administrations / KKJPDOpen official site →