The Central Florida Reception Center in Orlando

The CFRC resides in the middle of Florida scrubland in the middle of a large expanse of trees and not much else. During the two-hour drive to visit Ted, I passed exits for the Orlando Airport and the Disney amusement parks. Driving down the winding road to the Reception Center, I drove by two groupings of mobile homes (presumably housing for the COs), three small lakes and lots and lots of trees.

Signs pointed different ways to CFRC-East and CFRC-West, but my destination was CFRC-Main.

I noted several fences around the complex including one with electrical wires and one covered from top to bottom in rolls of barbed wire.

Entry to visitation was pretty straightforward. A patting down in a side room and walking through a security metal detector. A visitor needs a pin number - proof that they've passed the background check and are approved for visitation. I entered my pin number, hit Enter, and placed my hand in the slots for verification of my ID - but I definitely wasn't going into Disney World.

Two sliding electronic doors provided access to the large visitation room. A colorful mural of a Florida lake complete with a flying bald eagle and alligator was painted on the wall as a background for photos. Two canteens were positioned at opposite ends of the room – one for COs and one for inmates and visitors. A padlocked door housed a CO barber shop according to the painted sign above it. Children’s books, Bibles, jigsaw puzzles and games were displayed on a long table. Another small table had microwave ovens for the frozen pizzas and sandwiches. Twenty-nine tables and chairs were lined up in neat rows inside the room.

Another door led outside to a small covered area with cement picnic tables and benches – not enough outdoor seating for the group that was visiting the 28 inmates there that day.

No inmates in wheelchairs were in sight. Evidently the CFRC was just a reception center - not a medical center - although I did spy one young man with an ace bandage around his wrist.

Through the fence, I could see a large group of blue-clad inmates with red hats marching in formation – the youthful offenders. They were heading back to their cellblock from the dining hall and sounding off. I asked Ted what they were saying. “Barumph,” he said. Just noises like that. The adult inmates just walked normally to their destinations – no marching. Also in view – a basketball court and a blue mailbox. Ted said they mailed their letters there – there were no blue mailboxes at the other facilities where he’s been.

One building had windows covered in horizontal slats. You probably couldn’t see much out of them, I thought, and asked Ted if his cell’s window was the same. He laughed. His cellblock building was different. He had a large window, but the top was blacked out and the bottom was blacked out. The viewing area was about 1mm high, maybe not even that. He described it as the width of the side of a playing card – just a line. He was able to see that trees were outside his cell though.

He also said the lighting in his cell did not work – that’s why he couldn’t read after the sun set.

The food was the same as at all of the other facilities, but he said there seemed to be more of it at the CFRC. They provided an iced tea dispenser in the dining hall.

As for the canteen – the youthful offenders visited the canteen only once a week. Ted had requested I come on Sunday so he would not miss the canteen. Naturally, his cellblock went to the canteen while I visited him. We saw through the fence what appeared to be a group leaving the canteen. I told him I would leave early and left an hour before the visit was to end. The COs took awhile to let him back into the compound – and naturally he missed the canteen visit. No extra food for him this week.

Ted did tell me that Martin was transferred to Brevard on Friday.

Photos: Google Earth aerial of the entire CFRC complex and CFRC-Main. Click photos to enlarge.