Jodi Arias became a media sensation in 2008 when she was arrested for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. At the time, she was a blonde-haired vixen who smiled in her mugshot, flirted with officers, and sang O Holy Night while in police custody. She denied having anything to do with Travis’ murder, and claimed she was nowhere near the crime scene on the day it happened.
By the time she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — which happened in 2015 — she was a wispy-banged-brunette with glasses who claimed she was a victim of domestic violence and had killed Travis in self-defense.
“To this day, I can’t believe that I was capable of doing something that terrible,” Arias said at the time. “I’m truly disgusted and repulsed with myself. I’m horrified because of what I did, and I wish there was some way I could take it back.”
Because of Jodi’s good looks, she was quite popular during the seven years between her arrest and sentencing. The media couldn’t get enough of her, and she became a true crime superstar.
This made her a target for those who suffer from a condition known as hybristophilia — attraction and sexual interest in someone who commits crimes. In popular culture, this is known as, “Bonnie and Clyde syndrome.”
For the most part, hybristophiliacs are women who become attracted to male killers, but there are a few cases where it is turned around, meaning that men are interested in a female killer. This is the case with Jodi Arias. In some cases, hybristophiliacs actually marry the object of their affection, who will be in prison for the rest of their life.
Before she was convicted, Arias was reportedly receiving a ton of fan mail at the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona, and she has continued to receive a lot of mail since she was sentenced to prison. In 2016, a recording of Arias detailing her daily life behind bars was released by Radar Online.
“It’s all good. If this is what it is like to be hated, then keep hating!” Arias says in the recording. “I’ve had so much love coming in my direction I can’t even respond to it now.”
She may still get a ton of mail, but what about visiting the notorious killer? That’s the subject of today’s post: can you visit Jodi Arias in prison?
In today’s blog post I will cover the following topics:
- Benjamin Ernst and Jodi Arias
- Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville visiting application
- The Lumley Unit
- How to write Jodi Arias
Benjamin Ernst and Jodi Arias
We do know that Jodi received regular visits before the pandemic hit and shut down the visiting room. In January 2020, Radar Online reported that Jodi had been spending holidays and weekends with her boyfriend in the visiting room of the Arizona State Prison Complex- Perryville where Arias is currently held.
According to the visiting logs, Jodi’s boyfriend Benjamin Ernst was visiting her regularly in 2019 and they were spending hours in the visiting room together. In letters that Jodi wrote, she reportedly said she wanted to marry Ernst and get pregnant with his baby. However, since they don’t allow conjugal visits in Arizona, that could be quite difficult.
Ernst has apparently been in Jodi’s life since before she was convicted of murder. The two of them never tied the knot, but he was still regularly visiting the convicted murderer until visits were suspended due to COVID.
According to visiting logs, Jodi also gets regular visits from her mother Sandra, her sister Angela, and her brother Joseph.
Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville visiting application
Before you can visit Jodi Arias — or any other inmate who is in custody at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville — you must fill out a visitor application. You have the option of filling it out online or printing out a hard copy and mailing it in.
There is a $25.00 fee that must be submitted with each visitor background application. You can pay that fee online through JPay, Global Tel-Link, or Keefe. Or, you can send a money order or cashier’s check made payable to: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry – Visitation. The Memo Line must contain the Visitor Name and the Inmate’s Name and ADC Number (Jodi Arias 281129).
Properly completed visitation applications are processed and approved or denied within 60 days of receipt of the application and verified payment. Once a decision has been made about the visitor application, the inmate will be informed of the outcome. It is the inmate’s responsibility to inform the potential visitor of their visitation status.
This means that if you are applying for visitor status to visit with Jodi Arias, she will be notified of your application and whether or not you have been approved or denied.
If you are approved, that doesn’t mean you are guaranteed a visit. The inmates are not required to meet with visitors. They do have the right to refuse the visit. So, just because you get approved that doesn’t mean a visit with Jodi will happen.
The Lumley Unit
Arizona State Prison Complex- Perryville, or ASPC- Perryville, is an all-female facility. It has a maximum capacity of 4,382 and houses inmates of all security levels. As someone who was convicted of first-degree murder, Jodi was originally a closed-custody inmate. However, she has earned lower custody status due to good behavior.
Jodi is housed in the Lumley Unit, which is where the state of Arizona houses its female death row inmates. Jodi was placed in the Lumley Unit when she was first transferred to ASPC-Perryville, and that’s where she remains despite her lower custody status.
Her security status was lowered from closed-custody to maximum-custody, which means she now has a cellmate and can participate in programming outside of her cell.
Since she is housed in the Lumley Unit, that means that her visiting hours are on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Lumley closed-custody inmates are limited to two visits per week, and Lumley maximum-custody inmates are limited to one 2-hour non-contact visit per week.
For a complete list of visiting rules and regulations at ASPC-Perryville, click here. If you wish to talk to someone at the prison about visitation, call (623) 853-0304 Ext 24656.
How to write Jodi Arias
If you can’t get approval for a visit, you can write to Jodi Arias at ASPC-Perryville. Her address is:
ASPC Perryville, Lumley Unit
JODI A. ARIAS 281129
PO Box 3300
Goodyear, AZ 85338
United States
Have you ever written or visited a high-profile criminal behind bars like Jodi Arias? Let us know in the comments below.
Sources: Bonnie & Clyde Syndrome is a Real Thing https://web.archive.org/web/20171113222427/http://www.nerve.com/love/the-bonnie-and-clyde-syndrome-sex Conjugal Visits? Jodi Arias' Secret Prison Visits With Boyfriend Exposed https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2020/01/jodi-arias-prison-visits-boyfriend-killer-murder-exposed-benjamin-ernst/ Court Upholds Jodi Arias' murder conviction and life sentence https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/us/arizona-jodi-arias-appeal-trnd/index.html No Shame! Defiant Jodi Arias Slams 'Haters' In Bombshell Phone Call From Prison https://radaronline.com/videos/jodi-arias-prison-phone-call-audio-travis-alexander-murderer-talks-rapper-behind-bars-perryville/ Arizona State Prison Complex- Perryville https://corrections.az.gov/location/19/perryville Arizona State Prison Complex- Perryville https://prisoninsight.com/correctional-facilities/state/arizona/arizona-state-prison-complex-perryville/ Top Ten Non-Violent Marijuana Life Sentence Cases https://www.boulderdefenseattorney.com/top-10-non-violent-marijuana-lifelong-sentencing-cases/