General visitation hints and tips

[Silva]

With the rash of cancelled visitations currently, I thought we could compile a few tips on having a successful visit wherever you are. Please add any others you think would be helpful!

*If you are making a special journey to visit someone in prison (ie, you are travelling out of your usual location) you should always call the facility either the day before or on the morning you intend to travel. Visitation can be (and often is) cancelled at very short notice, so check before you leave home.

*Make yourself aware of the restrictions on what visitors are permitted to take into the facility / visitation area. DO NOT assume that you can bend the rules. Taking prohibited items into visitation is considered trafficking contraband and results in a felony charge for you and the inmate.

*Be prepared to have to wait in line. This could be outside in any weather conditions.

*Make yourself aware of the clothing restrictions on visitors, and always have a change of 'safe' clothes in your car, just in case. Remember belts, jewellery, hair pins etc can all set off metal detectors and cause delays for you and others.

*If visitors are required to remove their shoes on entry for search purposes, try and put children in footwear that is easy to slip on and off.

*Make sure your ID is current and that your details match what is on the inmate's visitation list.

*If you are visiting with children, keep a drink and some snacks in the car for afterwards, and work out where the nearest public toilet is to the prison! It might also be an idea to find a nearby park to let the kids run around for half an hour after being confined to their seats during the visit.

*Keep tissues in the car - you will need them afterwards!

*Smile at the staff and be polite. They are there to do a job, no matter what your opinion of them. If you have a problem, get the name, number and rank of the officer and request to speak to the Duty Warden or Family Liaison Officer BEFORE you leave the facility.

*If you are intending to give the inmate bad news at a visit (eg, a bereavement in the family) try and contact the prison Chaplain before you go, explain the situation, and request that the inmate be kept an eye on for a few days.

*Dont feel bad if you cannot visit. Sometimes it is just not possible, either because of the DoC, or your own circumstances. There are many other ways to show inmates support, and they will understand if you cannot be there with them.

[DLA]

Silva, this is awesome! Thank you!!!

[WatchDog]

good stuff,
ive been going so long i know there names and just say hi ms so and so as i enter with a smile and have a nice day a small chit chat.. thats if you go often enough..

and you are right there just doing there jobs and at times we like them are unawear fo problems we had before we got there

[BJRey]

Your list of things we need to do is wonderful but it seems that for South Carolina it isn't complete. Here the entire visitation program is just one rule on top of another, and at the current prison that my spouse is at the rules just keep changing to suit some fancy, or perhaps it is just some desperate hope of some that we won't come back. I have seen the guard come out and site the rules sometimes but then it one guard will allow some woman in with a skirt way to short and the next week a woman with a long skirt on and the liner only up to her knees be told that it was not allowed, parent told the child had to have on a belt and children before had gone in without a belt on. Key rings with lots of keys and fobs and then only one key and no fobs, and please don't ask me about jewelry because I can't even Begin to determine what is or is not allowed to be worn. Oh here is the really horrid part, you can't return if you have been turned away by a guard in this state. It is nearly impossible to know for sure what you can or can not wear. Then once we are allowed in to see our loved ones, we are forced to wait, it could be the count hasn't cleared just recently it took 2 hours to clear the count, or there is someone for some reason just refuses to tell the inmate that they have a visitor or this one is my favorite the inmate is told by public announcement to report to visitation but the guard won't write up the pass. Here in SC we can greet each other hugging and kissing but it can't be for to long or to intimate, who decides that? no touching while visiting, we can walk to and from the vending area, or the trash but we can't walk around, no reason you just can't do it. We must sit with the females and males opposite each other not next to each other and all the inmates must set on the same side of the table that we are assigned to sit at. Visitation is suppose to be for a set duration of time but I have been told that visitation was over up to 15 minutes before it was over and nearly escorted out of the room for protesting. I guess what I am trying to say is Here in the Great State of South Carolina the rules are just there, how they are enforced or when they are enforced it totally subjective

[Silva]

Originally Posted by BJRey

Your list of things we need to do is wonderful but it seems that for South Carolina it isn't complete. Here the entire visitation program is just one rule on top of another, and at the current prison that my spouse is at the rules just keep changing to suit some fancy, or perhaps it is just some desperate hope of some that we won't come back. I have seen the guard come out and site the rules sometimes but then it one guard will allow some woman in with a skirt way to short and the next week a woman with a long skirt on and the liner only up to her knees be told that it was not allowed, parent told the child had to have on a belt and children before had gone in without a belt on. Key rings with lots of keys and fobs and then only one key and no fobs, and please don't ask me about jewelry because I can't even Begin to determine what is or is not allowed to be worn. Oh here is the really horrid part, you can't return if you have been turned away by a guard in this state. It is nearly impossible to know for sure what you can or can not wear. Then once we are allowed in to see our loved ones, we are forced to wait, it could be the count hasn't cleared just recently it took 2 hours to clear the count, or there is someone for some reason just refuses to tell the inmate that they have a visitor or this one is my favorite the inmate is told by public announcement to report to visitation but the guard won't write up the pass. Here in SC we can greet each other hugging and kissing but it can't be for to long or to intimate, who decides that? no touching while visiting, we can walk to and from the vending area, or the trash but we can't walk around, no reason you just can't do it. We must sit with the females and males opposite each other not next to each other and all the inmates must set on the same side of the table that we are assigned to sit at. Visitation is suppose to be for a set duration of time but I have been told that visitation was over up to 15 minutes before it was over and nearly escorted out of the room for protesting. I guess what I am trying to say is Here in the Great State of South Carolina the rules are just there, how they are enforced or when they are enforced it totally subjective

Hi and welcome to PP
What you describe sounds very much like TX. The best thing to do is to get a copy of the rules as they are published, either on the DoC web site or by requesting them from the Administration before you go for a visit. Read them thoroughly and dress within them. Then if you are given any kind of grief when you visit, ask politely and calmly to see the highest ranking officer in charge that day - have the dress rules in your pocket, or at least write the page and paragraph number on your hand. Explain the issue and ask for clarification (and get the officer's name and number). If they have rules, they need to stick to them just as much as visitors do. We have to make them be consistent.

You say there is no reason why inmates cannot walk around. Actually, there is a good reason: security. If inmates are moving around a room, staff cannot keep track of where everyone is or who they are talking to. Inmates moving around a room can easily start a fight (although for most I know it would be considered very bad to take disagreements with another inmate to the visitation room). And inmates heading towards a door can generally run faster than the staff watching them.

Who decides what is too intimate when hugging and kissing? You do. You know the difference between a hug and a grope, or between a kiss and a full-on make out session. If the staff have to tell you to stop, then you have gone too far or held on for too long. TDCJ is exactly the same on that, and yes we've been told a couple of times to sit down or that I need to leave "now", and at that point the worst thing you can do is argue with them over it. Just take it for what it is - they are doing their job, it is rarely personal against you or the inmate. When I see Hubby again, we wont have had any physical contact for 10 months, so I know it is going to be so difficult to let go and sit down, but we also know we have to. We have too long to do to risk losing contact visits for anything.

[BJRey]

thank you for the reply, at least someone told me why, for some of the rules it would have been better if the reasons had been given but the rulers instead but something is better than nothing.

[johanna]

Yeah i kinda have to agree the rules can change from time to time. I have been told I can't go in to see my fiance because my shirt was too ''low cut'' but than I noticed another girl , who I thought would surely get turned away. Go right in. I have also been told I can't face my boyfriend when sitting with him, we have to sit side by side. I mean it's definately nothing like what they other states are or may be. It can be very frustrating at times because they impose some of the most ludicrous ''rules''. My fiance put his hand on my lap to get up to talk to another inmate and as he was coming back , a guard had a ''talk '' with him and told him next time he put his hand on my lap, visit was over. Than later on I happen to see an inmate slap his girlfriends ass. Wha the hell, and it was a loud smack too. LOL !

[Silva]

See, this is where there is just no consistency at all in any state - in TX, we are not allowed to sit next to each other, it has to be face to face across a table. I would give much to be able to sit next to Hubby sometimes.

[vmontelongo1]

Hello Silva, I know what you mean, in Oregon where my husband is we also have to only sit accross from each other but I feel very lucky that there is one guard who will let us sit next to eachother only if hes the only guard watching which is not to often but when we do it is so awsome!