Ted's home visit

Ted had his first (and last) home visit on Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Minus the transportation time, he was able to spend three hours at home.


The following video shows Ted greeting his dog Cocoa, his stepfather Doug and his grandmother Joyce, who is 100% disabled.


Ted watched the movie 2012 with his family and ate pizza and ice cream cake before having to return to the work release center.


Ted will not get another home visit as he is scheduled to be released this coming Friday the 13th. Ted says he will not go out of the house on that day (because of the date!)

Visitation at Largo Residential Re-entry Center

Visitation at the Largo Residential Release Center takes place on weekends from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Just like at the regular prisons, visitors must successfully pass a background check.

Visitors must bring a picture ID. They can bring up to $50 to purchase food, car keys, decks of cards, cigarettes and a lighter. Cell phones are not permitted and purses and other items must be left in cars. Both visitors and the residents have a metal detecting wand run over them. They are not patted down like at the prisons. Visitors with children are allowed to also bring in diaper bags, bottles and toys.

Visitors park in an adjoining fenced-in, wood chip-covered parking lot. When it rains, visitors must wade through water (with floating wood chips) that is often ankle deep. If it rains hard, the water comes up to the knees.

Visitors meet with their loved ones in an L-shaped, high-walled outdoor courtyard. During the summer, the temperature reached 98 degrees and upward. Up until last week, there were three awnings that shaded approximately six round tables. The rest of the tables were in the sun. Last weekend, they added three more awnings. A number of tables remain in the sun.

When it rains, visitors are allowed to sit inside the air-conditioned cafeteria after the Center's residents have eaten lunch. Before the summer heat became unbearable, elderly relatives visited, but they haven’t been seen for awhile - undoubtably from the intense heat. There are approximately 15 round tables and three picnic tables crowded into the visitation area. Most of the tables are placed on crushed white shells. A concrete-floored section contains a small smoking area, two water fountains and a Coke machine. Two security cameras are mounted on the sides of the adjoining building.

Ted's mom and dad used to stay and visit with him at the Center for three hours or more, but the extreme temperature now makes it impossible to stay for more than an hour and a half at the most.

After 1:30 p.m., the last residents have finished eating lunch and the cafeteria is opened for visitors to purchase food. The food is actually very good and usually baked chicken, two types of pizza, and hamburgers are offered with sides of French fries, vegetables and potatoes. Sometimes they have other specialty items such as steak or Mexican dishes. Desserts consist of gourmet pieces of banana cream cheesecake, chocolate cream cake and baked cookies. The food is quite inexpensive and an entire meal can be purchased for $3.50. Bottled and can drinks are sold, as well as packaged ice cream. A long counter holds microwaves and free condiments such as ketchup, salt and pepper. (Prison inmates have to purchase condiments in small packets.) Some of the residents work permanently in the food preparation and service area instead of holding outside jobs.

The visitor line to purchase food is usually quite long. Once visitors have bought their food, they must proceed outdoors to eat in the stifling heat - unless it rains. Then they can stay inside the cafeteria (air conditioning!) to eat at long tables. A rec room adjoins the cafeteria and residents can relax on couches to watch the selected DVD-of-the-day or sit at one of four square tables to play games. Supervisors can oversee both the cafeteria and rec room through two glass-windowed observation rooms.

Even so, cell phones have been smuggled into LRRC. Two weeks ago, a resident was taken out in shackles during visitation in full view of the visitors. He had smuggled a cell phone into the facility and was being escorted back to prison.

Ted’s classification officer initially received his home visit paperwork on June 1st. (The paperwork was mailed out on May 24th.) Today he was approved to get a home visit to his mother’s house, but not his father’s. A reason for denying his father wasn’t provided. Ted will not be able to come home this weekend, as he must submit a form a week in advance once the paperwork has been approved by the classification officer, warden and the release center. It took 51 days for the home visit paperwork to be approved by all three. (From the time the paperwork was mailed until the home visit will be 67 days.)

Ted will get his first home visit less than two weeks before his release on August 13th. The first home visit is four hours, the second home visit is six hours and additional home visits are eight hours. Home visits are either on Saturday or Sunday and begin at 10 a.m. The family member must have a land line (not cell phone) so that the facility supervisors can call to check to see if the LRRC residents are indeed at home and haven't gone anywhere else.

Home visits

I know I go home in 50 days or so, but still I can’t wait to be approved on a furlough. It’s the same thing as a home visit.

The classification officer claims she had my paperwork since June 1st, but it’s now July and she is taking her time.

I’m just really getting excited to go to my house. I haven’t been there in so long.

My first home visit is four hours, then the next one is six hours and the third one on is eight hours a week. I just can’t wait.

I’m hoping for my papers to be approved sometime this week so I can go home the following week. It’ll feel so good just to be there with family. Also I can’t wait to eat some BBQ! Mmmm…..

Home pass

On May 24th, I submitted paperwork so Ted could get his first home pass.

During home visits, inmates have to remain at home near a telephone land-line, so the work release center authorities can check up on them.

Inmates can get a home pass once a week (presumably on weekends, since they have jobs). The first visit home lasts four hours. The second visit lasts six hours and every visit thereafter is eight hours.

On the home pass, inmates are forbidden to consume alcohol or drugs. Someone has to personally take responsibility for the inmate and provide proof of car insurance, car registration, a copy of his or her driver’s license, two passport photos and a copy of a home phone bill. This approved person drives them from the Center to home and back again within the allotted time period. The inmate has to call in to the Center as soon as they arrive home.

I called Ted’s classification officer – who works out of the St. Pete C.I. – last week to find out the status of my home pass application. She said she received it from the work center on June 1st and it takes 4 – 6 weeks to process. A background check needs to be completed. Never mind that I already went through a background check in order to be able to visit Ted in the other four prisons. The warden, classification officer and work release center all have to approve another background check.

So I guess Ted won’t be coming home for the 4th of July after all. By the time the home visit is approved, he will have less than one month of time to go.

One step closer

This entry arrived in the mail on Friday, but was written over two weeks ago.

Finally. I’m one step closer to home. I’ve been transferred from Lancaster C.I. to Lake Butler Reception and Medical Center (RMC). I’ll wait here for about a week or so until either I go straight to work release or I go to the Orlando Reception Center for a few days. I’m not really sure which, but either way, I’ll be at a work release in two weeks at the most.

It almost doesn’t seem real. I’ll get to work a real job on the streets! Also when I leave the gates, I can wear my own clothes. Best of all though is after I’ve held a job for a month, I’ll start getting eight-hour home passes on the weekend! This will help me get readjusted to the outside. That’ll be a big help.

If I would’ve just got out from a normal prison, everything would be overwhelming and make me more likely to relapse, but now that I’m going to a work release center, I can get used to it a little bit at a time. Plus it’ll get me in the habit of holding a job.

Sure, I’ll still be incarcerated, but at least it’s one step closer to home.