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Familes Oppose Tighter Florida Prison Visitation Rules
April 4, 2018
Proposed changes to visitation at Florida prisons are drawing pushback from families, friends and supporters of the state’s 100,000 inmates.
Under a current rule, visitation is allowed every weekend as well as on state holidays. But the Florida Department of Corrections is moving ahead with a rule change that could cut visitation in half, a plan that critics say ignores research showing frequent visits with family and friends lowers recidivism and aids prisoners’ reentry.
Under the proposed rule change set to go into effect Saturday, visits would be limited to a minimum of two per month, for two hours at a time, on alternating weekends, depending on the inmate’s corrections identification number.
About 100 people, many of them friends and family of inmates, appeared at a public hearing about the proposed rule in Tallahassee Tuesday.
Corrections officials maintain the change will help prison staff manage the number of visitors coming on a given weekend and prevent overflow crowds.
Richard Comerford, the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Institutions, said the changes are also needed, at least in part, because of an increase in people trying to introduce contraband into prisons as well as staff shortages.
“The number of recovered weapons, cell phones, and illicit drugs continues to rise across the state, within our facilities. Many of these incidents of contraband have been linked to visitation,” said Comerford, a former warden at Century Correctional Institution.
But Melba Rios, whose fiancé is currently incarcerated, said family visitors are not the source of the contraband. Cutting back on visitation could have unintended consequences, Rios warned. “There is no way that by reducing the visits, that you will stop the introduction of contraband,” Rios said. “What you are doing is actually inciting violence and you are upsetting family members.”
Several family members and former inmates who spoke at the hearing contend contraband is often brought behind prison walls by correctional officers who feel they are overworked and underpaid.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, visitors are responsible for just 2.5 percent of contraband brought into Florida prisons.
The “drastic cuts are unjustified and will undermine public safety,” the SPLC said in a letter to corrections officials. The proposed change is slated to be reevaluated after 90 days.
There will be no changes to the normal weekend visitation schedule until after the rule making process is complete.
by The News Service of Florida with contribution from NorthEscambia.com.
Comments
14 Responses to “Familes Oppose Tighter Florida Prison Visitation Rules”
I’ve had relatives in prison whom I visited many times. I do believe visitation helps with their emotional and behavioral outlook in prison. I also agree with previous
comments that contraband is going to find its way into prisons irregardless of decreased visitation. There’s money to be made by drugs and there are people willing to take a chance on getting caught to make it.
First we need to update our definition of immediate family. All these fiances/fiancees and baby mommas/baby daddies want tax payers to pay for additional security needed during their weekly visitation. It would be interesting to see how important a visit would be for these folks if they had to pay for the cost out of their own pocket. (God forbid if they had to forfeit a movie or sacrifice a night out!)
REGARDING:
“I support my military. Both sons currently serve. However, they are getting paid. There are other payoffs for serving also. I don’t get your analogy. The same way I didn’t get those whining mother’s after 9/11.”
The idea is that those who hurt society are in this regard being treated better than those who honorably serve and defend this nation. The writer believes this to be unfair. (It IS of course, but life ain’t fair.)
David for better lives
@Jack Osborne–You sir, are a diamond in the rough. If people all over (not just gaurds) thought like you, we would have a much better community. That it logic. Most just want to make decisions based on emotion.
I’m a retired correctional officer who worked in the visiting room for a number of years. Contraband comes in through staff, venders, and visitors. You will never end it completely, but you can slow it down. I got a lot of satisfaction in seeing women visitors being escorted out in handcuffs by police for bringing in drugs. Dirty officers don’t last long. Prisoners rat them out. Visits are an important part of rehabilitation and improve behavior on the inside. Most offenders will get out some day. Should one move in next to you, do you want one who was treated with the respect due any human, or one who has a chip on his shoulder because he was treated poorly?
I support my military. Both sons currently serve. However, they are getting paid. There are other payoffs for serving also. So I don’t get your analogy. The same way I didn’t get those whining mother’s after 9/11. It’s all cool to serve and get all the benefits but when it’s time to stand up and fight, they wanted to cry “it ain’t fair”. I’m pretty strict on punishment but I hate when people wanna add all this extra crap. So being away from your loved ones locked up isn’t enough ? Guards bring in waaay more contraband than inmate family members. Believe it or not.
The contraband is being brought in by corrections staff.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is not a reliable source of information. They have been designated a hate group as they no longer fulfill their original purpose and are a paid leftest organization for hire.
Don’t like the plan? Stay out of jail. .
Amen Justice! I agree with you 100%!!
Yea lets make sure the convicted behind bars get their 3 hots and a cot/cable tv, plenty of visitation, while service men and women risking their lives are unable to see loved ones for months into over a year at a time. ITS PRISON- serve the time for the crime – expect nothing for your criminal actions.
Maybe if they would have stayed home and visited they would not be in prison!
Maybe they need to start searching employees.
I think that establishing video visitation from specialy designated kiosks would be the best solution. This keeps families from bringing in contraband, and saves the families the expense of travel to have their visits. They could still use some type of faceting or Skype to see the inmate and talk to them. Many other institutions across the country do this already and it’s proven to be a good tool. I do agree that getting to see family and friends does help keep the inmates mental health in check because they don’t feel forgotten by their loved ones. However, just with any situation if the privilege is being abused and contraband is being introduced that causes a safety risk to everyone (the inmates, the family, and the staff). And as the old saying goes one bad apple spoils the bunch. So eliminate the in person visitation and go modern. Save the families the monetary and physical burden of traveling, save the amount of staff needed to work visitation and eliminate the possibility of inappropriate conduct by visitors.
Identical to when package permits were taken away. They stated that “it was causing too much contraband to be introduced into the prison”. In actuality, the department realized inmates families were spending millions of dollars per year on items for their loved ones and they weren’t getting a piece of it. So they change the rules, buy cheap crap, inflate the price 4-500 % where inmates are forced to buy.
Oh well. And they wonder why prisons are violent. There have been years (yes years) where assault on staff was rare. But that was before the greed and idiotic rules.