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.

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.

RMC-Main at Lake Butler

Ted currently resides at RMC-Main in Lake Butler, FL. He’s supposed to be there for only a brief period of time before being transferred to a work release center near his home.

At RMC-Main, the first thing a visitor notices is the intimidating guard towers on either side. Ted had told me on the phone that he was in a two-man cell with a young Hispanic 19-year-old and they got along well.

Lake Butler is an adult prison, but also a medical center. RMC stands for “Reception and Medical Center”. So even though the visitation room looked similar to Lancaster’s, the differences were immediately apparent. The large room contained many small tables with chairs. A door led to an outdoor area with a sheltered pavilion and open areas with concrete tables and benches. Inmates of all ages were visiting their families. Many inmates were in wheelchairs and another man used crutches for his broken leg.

Inmates dressed in white with blue stripes down the sides were permanent residents. Ted talked to one man who had been incarcerated for 37 years and was due to be released in a couple of years. Others were dressed in blue and were due to be sent to various institutions. Ted was still wearing the dirty thermal long undershirt under his blue uniform. It looked like it hadn’t been washed in a year. He said they could only change clothes three days a week. During one period outside, it started to pour as they were walking back inside. Even though their uniforms were soaked through, they were not given any dry clothes.

The compound’s comprised of many buildings. (There’s actually also a RMC-West, as well as a RMC work camp.) There are four wings in Ted’s building. Two of the wings house youthful offenders. Ted is housed with some other youthful offenders on the end of an adult wing. The adults are free to walk around a lot during the day. The youthful offenders are kept locked up while the adults are out. Consequently, there’re not many opportunities for Ted to use the phone.

Each wing of the building contains three floors. Offices make up the first floor. Cells comprise the second and third stories. Ted said each floor has one row of cells and an aisle. On the other side of the aisle are windows. He also has a window in his cell. The view is limited, however, because apparently there is a wall of concrete squares on the outside. You can only see through the space in the middle of these squares.

I asked him if he got to go outside. He said for three days the youthful offenders were outside sweating for three hours straight in the hot sun. I asked if they had access to water and he said, “Yes, if they let us near it – which they didn’t.” The handicapped inmates go outside with the other adult inmates. The youthful offenders do not go out on the yard with the adults.

He told me he joined in one day in a game of soccer. There’s also an indoor basketball court somewhere and a track in the back that inmates can walk around. In another outside area, there is a covered pavilion with picnic tables and a TV.

For most of the day, he’s kept locked up. He plays cards with his cellmate, reads (he has two books left that he hasn’t read), sleeps and writes. Too bad his letters aren’t getting mailed.

They evidently go to a chow hall for meals. I asked if his current cell was filthy and crawling with bugs. He said that “there aren’t as many bugs this time.” Probably because of the cooler weather.

A couple of people asked if they could write to Ted at the RMC address. It might be best to wait until he arrives at the new work release center, otherwise it may take weeks for letters to be forwarded to him. Hopefully that will be soon.

Photo: Google Earth aerial of RMC-Main. Click photo to enlarge.

Hard Times

They call it “Hard Times”. Well it’s true I guess. Being incarcerated gets depressing. I’d rather be in any other situation than this. Well almost. There’re those Korean labor camps I heard about. That would suck way more than this.

Actually this is one of the easiest camps I’ve ever been to. I haven’t seen nearly as many fights at this camp as I’ve seen elsewhere. Although it’s strict, that’s probably why.

All in all, though, it still gets depressing. Visitation is the worst. Sure you get to see your family, but it always come to an abrupt end and you’re forced to say good-bye. Whenever you give your family the last hug, you never want to let go. Then finally you let go and think about how nice it would’ve been if you could’ve gone home with them. To me that’s “Hard Times.” It’s not something I would wish on my worst enemies.

Work release

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I’ve been approved for work release [camp]. Now that I’m approved, I can’t wait. Every week I hope they’ll come and get me so I can go back to my county and be near my family.

It’s so hard being far away from the ones that love me. Plus, once I get to work release, I can get a job and start making money for when I’m released. That will help so much, considering I have nothing when I get out and I have to start over from scratch.

I can use the money to pay off my fines ($2,000) so I can get my driver’s license back and put some of it toward a cheap car. Even if I don’t make enough money at work release for a car, it’s all right. The little bit of money I do make can still make all the difference.

At a work release camp, inmates leave the camp and work at a regular job for eight hours, returning to the camp after work. I’ve heard that 45% of their pay goes toward the cost of housing and food, and if they owe restitution (which Ted does), 10% of their paycheck goes toward paying that off.

I did talk to Ted tonight. He saw a dentist. In addition to the wisdom tooth pain, he has a huge hole in another tooth and the nerve is exposed. He is given Ibuprofen (500 mg) at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. It doesn’t help, he says. He mentioned he would see a dentist to fix the hole on Tuesday hopefully.

A day to remember with my dad

Today is a day I’ll remember forever. Today is the first time in 15 months that I saw my dad in person.

For the last month, all I’ve been looking forward to is getting a visit from him and when he finally walked into the visitation room today, I was filled with so much excitement.

One thing that really hurt me though – I noticed that since the last time I saw my dad, he looked like he got older and it really made me realize how much I’m really missing while I’m here in prison. Other than that though, I had a great visit.

For some reason, I’m always really quiet around him, but I hope he knows that I was really happy to see him. He always has the corniest jokes that I can’t help but laugh at. Even when he’s not telling jokes, he has this funny mannerism about him.

I really love spending time with him. I just wish I knew how to tell him. Even though I can’t express my feelings like I want to, I still had a great time today. We played cards, ate food and talked about the old times when I was younger.

I just can’t wait until the next time he comes to see me. Better yet, I can’t wait ‘til I get out so I can spend time with him without looking at razor wire fences and correctional officers watching us at all times.

Ted’s dad, Bill Braden, visited him occasionally in the county jail from October 31, 2008 until September 8, 2009, but the visitations were over a video monitor telephone. Inmates at the jail were in a separate building from visitors. It makes all the difference in the world to kiss and hug your child for the first time in over a year. See a video of Teddy with his daddy in 1992 here.

Photo: Ted Braden and Bill Braden on January 3, 2009 in the visitation room at Lancaster work camp. Click photo to enlarge.

Heartfelt pain

I love getting visits from my family and it’s always the highlight of my week. For me the six hours of visit is like heaven, but for some it’s like a dream that you don’t ever want to end.

While I visit with Mom or Dad, I look around and can’t help but notice people that very rarely get visits are spending those very precious six hours or less with their kids. What gets me is a lot of these guys that have kids are younger than me and I’m only 20. I don’t know what I’d do if I had a kid so young.

What’s even worse is having a kid so young and then being sent away to prison. I thought I had it bad.

My heart goes out to these people that can’t be with their kids – especially during the holidays. I can’t even imagine the pain they feel. Just imagine how hard it is for the kid’s mother, having to support their baby by themselves in this economy while the father is in prison.

Most of these guys that have kids will never even get a visit. I’ve heard so many stories about how they can’t even get their kid’s mother to even write them, let alone come to visit. I don’t know how they deal with the pain. I couldn’t do it and hopefully I’ll never have to.

Drug search

Earlier today as we were sitting in the dorm playing cards and just hanging out, the lieutenant and a K-9 dog and his trainer came in. They told everyone to sit on their bunks and face away from the CO’s office. I sleep against a wall, so I had a brick wall in my face and couldn’t see anything. We weren’t allowed to turn around until they were done with their search.

The trainer let the K-9 off his leash to run around the dorm to smell for drugs. After the dog ran around for 5 to 10 minutes, the trainer opened all our lockers and had the dog sniff each locker. Then when he was done with all the lockers, he brought the dog to each individual bunk to sniff. When the dog came to a bunk bed, he had to stand on his two hind legs to smell the top bunk. The whole search lasted about 30 to 40 minutes and no drugs were found.

Ted has told me that drugs do indeed get smuggled into prisons via visitations. Visitors are patted down and their coats and belongings are searched. Visitors to Lancaster are allowed to bring in up to $50 in cash, a single car key with no electronic key openers (unless a car cannot be opened without one), a photo ID, an unopened pack of cigarettes and a lighter in a clear Ziploc bag or see-through plastic pouch.

I’ve noticed that visitors with young children are allowed to bring in a transparent bag containing diapers, formula, bottles and toys, and that seems to be the most likely way to smuggle in any contraband. Items can also be hidden in the visitation rooms to be picked up later.

The penalty for smuggling drugs into a prison constitutes a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in Florida Statutes 775.082, 775.083, or 775.084. Translation: Up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Repeat offenders can get more time and a higher fine.

For the complete visiting rules, see Florida Statutes Chapter 33-601.711-737 or the Florida Statutes State Correctional Code. Specific references for what may or may not be brought to visitations are addressed in FS 944.47 (see below).

944.47 Introduction, removal, or possession of certain articles unlawful; penalty.

(1)(a) Except through regular channels as authorized by the officer in charge of the correctional institution, it is unlawful to introduce into or upon the grounds of any state correctional institution, or to take or attempt to take or send or attempt to send there from, any of the following articles which are hereby declared to be contraband for the purposes of this section, to wit:

1. Any written or recorded communication or any currency or coin given or transmitted, or intended to be given or transmitted, to any inmate of any state correctional institution.

2. Any article of food or clothing given or transmitted, or intended to be given or transmitted, to any inmate of any state correctional institution.

3. Any intoxicating beverage or beverage which causes or may cause an intoxicating effect.

4. Any controlled substance as defined in s. 893.02(4) or any prescription or nonprescription drug having a hypnotic, stimulating, or depressing effect.

5. Any firearm or weapon of any kind or any explosive substance.

6. Any cellular telephone or other portable communication device intentionally and unlawfully introduced inside the secure perimeter of any state correctional institution without prior authorization or consent from the officer in charge of such correctional institution. As used in this subparagraph, the term "portable communication device" means any device carried, worn, or stored which is designed or intended to receive or transmit verbal or written messages, access or store data, or connect electronically to the Internet or any other electronic device and which allows communications in any form. Such devices include, but are not limited to, portable two-way pagers, hand-held radios, cellular telephones, Blackberry-type devices, personal digital assistants or PDA's, laptop computers, or any components of these devices which are intended to be used to assemble such devices. The term also includes any new technology that is developed for similar purposes. Excluded from this definition is any device having communication capabilities which has been approved or issued by the department for investigative or institutional security purposes or for conducting other state business.

(b) It is unlawful to transmit or attempt to transmit to, or cause or attempt to cause to be transmitted to or received by, any inmate of any state correctional institution any article or thing declared by this subsection to be contraband, at any place which is outside the grounds of such institution, except through regular channels as authorized by the officer in charge of such correctional institution.

(c) It is unlawful for any inmate of any state correctional institution or any person while upon the grounds of any state correctional institution to be in actual or constructive possession of any article or thing declared by this section to be contraband, except as authorized by the officer in charge of such correctional institution.

(2) A person who violates any provision of this section as it pertains to an article of contraband described in subparagraph (1)(a)1., subparagraph (1)(a)2., or subparagraph (1)(a)6. commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. In all other cases, a violation of a provision of this section constitutes a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

Lodging near Lancaster

I’m waiting on more entries to arrive from Ted. Meanwhile…

Visitation at Lancaster work camp is on Saturday and Sunday (and major holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lancaster C.I. is located in Trenton, about 10 minutes from Chiefland, Florida.

There are three small motels in Fanning Springs, six miles from the prison: Suwannee River Inn, Park Inn and Crystal Inn. In Chiefland, there are two hotels: Holiday Inn Express and Best Western Suwannee Valley Inn.

I first stayed at the Suwannee River Inn and the nightly rate is $49. The room includes a air-conditioning/heating unit, a refrigerator and microwave and two queen beds. Unfortunately, there were also six cockroaches in the room with me – two dead and four live ones.

The next time, I stayed at the Park Inn. The sign out front advertised a rate of $32. The rate with tax was $35. The woman who checked me in was friendly. Two weeks later, I again decided to stay at the Park Inn. The proprietor, an older Indian man, informed me the rate was $45. When I informed him that was a $10 difference from the previous time, he brought the rate down to $40. When I went back outside, I noticed the former rate of $32 was no longer advertised on the sign in front. The Park Inn also has an air-conditioning/heating unit, a refrigerator and microwave and two queen beds, and thankfully, no bugs were in evidence.

The third motel, the Crystal Inn, is for sale. There is an unheated pool out front and a Chinese restaurant right next to the motel. I called for the rates and found out that a single room is $38 and a double is $42.

All three motels have showers only, no bathtubs. They also have cable TV, but no Internet access.

The rates in Chiefland are much higher, but the amenities are better. Chiefland is about 13 miles from the prison. The rates for the Holiday Inn vary from $75 - $110. The Best Western Rates range from $71 - $93. Book through the Internet to get cheaper rates for both hotels.

Park Inn
17850 NW Us Highway 19
Fanning Springs, FL 32693
352-463-2069

Suwannee River Motel
17210 NW Us Highway 19
Fanning Springs, FL 32693
352-463-7563

Crystal Inn
16951 NW Us Highway 19
Fanning Springs, FL 32693
352-463-7214

Best Western Suwannee Valley Inn
1125 N. Young Blvd, Chiefland, FL 32626
352-493-0663
Pool, satellite TV with Starz movie channels, microwaves and refrigerators in every room, with free continental breakfast.

Holiday Inn Express
809 NW 21st Avenue, Chiefland, FL 32626
352-493-9400
Pool, whirlpool, continental breakfast, high-speed Internet, laundry facility, coffeemaker and hairdryer in each room.

Photos: Park Inn, Park Inn room, Suwannee River Motel, Crystal Inn

Visitation at Lancaster

I was able to visit Ted again yesterday for three hours. He has been moved to the work camp across the street from the correctional institution at Lancaster. The work camp has its own visitation center.

All week long I had worried about Ted being cold. The visitation room at Lancaster C.I. was cold when I visited on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. The inmates’ jackets are very thin – more like Dickies long-sleeved work shirts. During that weekend, the temperature was probably in the mid-60s and he and I both shivered for most of the visits. Ted said the dormitories at the main correctional center did not have either air-conditioning or heating. I wondered how he would fare as the weather got colder.

The concrete-block-walled visitation room at the main correctional institution measured about 15’ X 30’ with five long tables. Each table had eight chairs. (Approximately 35 inmates received visits on Thanksgiving and 15 received visits on Black Friday.) Inside the room was a bookshelf with children’s books, crayons and toys for any children that came to visit and a vending machine. A trustee sat behind a caged window to sell canteen food items, photo tickets and playing cards. Two microwaves were used to heat up the frozen canteen sandwiches and pizzas. Three doors led to restrooms (one for men visitors, one for women visitors and one for inmates.) Glass doors led to a 40’ X 50’ fenced-in outside area with concrete benches and tables. We did sit outside for a bit (in a patch of sun) and watched his unit quite a distance away as they clustered around an area (to dig holes he said) and then marched off in rows of three.

This weekend, Ted's stepfather and I arrived at the work camp. It was much smaller than the main institution. A guard asked for IDs through the wire fence and disappeared inside. Through the fence, I saw groups of young men marching in platoon formation, sounding off to a CO’s drills. I noticed that those young men were wearing the same blue uniforms and BoBo’s, but had red hats.

The officer returned and we emptied our pockets. We walked through a metal detector. As before, a female CO led me inside to a separate room and I took off my shoes. She checked the insides of my shoes and the bottom of my socks and patted me down for contraband. We were handed visitor’s passes and led to a fenced-in area close by the entrance.

The work camp’s visitation area was much larger than the C.I.’s. Probably twice as big. (The room doubled as a chapel, Ted said.) There were also three restrooms and a caged canteen, microwaves and a vending machine. This room contained more tables that were three times as long as the C.I.’s visitor center. Small shelves held decks of cards, chess and checker sets and books, and a desk contained crayons, Xeroxed word searches and coloring pages for the children.

Glass windows looked out over the large outside visiting area with concrete tables and benches. The windows facing the rest of the work camp had white paper taped over it. The portion of the chain link fence outside facing the camp had white material also blocking the view of the camp. There was a small section of fence that had not been taped on the other side where I could see Ted’s dorm and even his window and bed. (He was on the top of a bunkbed.)

Ted will tell much more (I had two letters of 14 pages waiting when I returned home), but the inside of the dorms were not cold, he said. He had two blankets, two sheets and a PILLOW (which he didn’t have before).

He received ALL of the books I had sent to the various prisons when he arrived at the work camp. He is now working in the kitchen washing pots and pans. Another young man washed the dishes. Two or three more cooked the food for the 270 people at the work camp.

It was very good to see him. He had been issued used black work boots because the kitchen floor was slippery. (No more BoBos!) He also now had THREE uniforms! No photo tickets were sold this weekend, so I was unable to get a picture of his new boots.

Last Tuesday, he had sat all day in a just-issued new uniform in confinement at the correctional institution waiting on an interview with an ABC reporter. (Someone had neglected to notify the reporter of the interview date until the day before.) The reporter told me the new interview date was scheduled for December 15th and I will call the prison to make sure that they know as well.

Ted said Lancaster work camp was the best out of all the prisons where he had been.

Photo: Google Earth aerial photo of Lancaster Correctional Institution and Lancaster Work Camp (Click photo to enlarge.)

A Thanksgiving surprise

I called Lancaster C.I. on Tuesday, November 24th and asked if they had received my visitation form yet. They hadn’t. I had mailed a form to Brevard on November 3rd and another to Lancaster on November 20th. Visitation forms could take up to 30 days to process.

The next day, I phoned Lancaster again at 11 a.m., hoping that they received my form and I might be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving. I prayed a lot for that over the past week! They told me to call back at 1 p.m.

I called again at 1 p.m. I pretty much had given up hope that I’d be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving, but thought I might get to visit him on Christmas.

I was transferred to Ted’s classification officer. She was extremely nice. She told me she had received the form and took the time to process it and to conduct the background check right over the phone! I now would be able to visit Ted on Thanksgiving Day!

I hurriedly packed. Before leaving, I checked the mail and found a letter from Ted. He had enclosed four more visitation forms. I knew he would have no clue whatsoever that I was coming!

I reserved a room at a small motel outside of Trenton and drove the six miles to Lancaster to make sure I could find it in the morning.

I was up very early the next day and got to the prison promptly at 9 a.m. Visitation hours were 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., although visitors could arrive at 8:15. I soon found out why someone would want to get there early. It took 45 minutes to process the initial visitation and 15 minutes more for Ted to arrive at the visitation room.

I finally saw Ted in person for the first time in 13 months! (At the county jail, we visited on a video monitor and even then, the last video visitation was on September 9th.)

Boy was he surprised! We were allowed to hug once at the start of the visit and once at the end of the visit. I stayed from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Ted asked if I could come the next day too, so I got another room at a different motel (which was cheaper and nicer) and arrived the next day at 8:15 a.m. We visited on Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

We talked for 11 hours over those two days! I found out a lot of information and heard some pretty horrific stories, which Ted will write about.

Both of us feel a whole lot better now.

Getting things done

Since I first got to prison at the end of September, I’ve been trying to get two request forms, but it seems like everywhere I’ve been, they’re all out. I haven’t seen one since I’ve been here.

I need to fill out a request form to Classification so they can give me a visitation application form to send to my family. I also need a request form so I can see the dentist and get my wisdom tooth pulled. It’s killing me.

I just don’t understand how I’ve been here a month, but haven’t been able to fill out a request form to save my life.

I wouldn’t be that concerned about it, but the longer it takes me to get the visitation form, the longer it will be until I see my family.

Once I finally get the visitation form filled out by my mom, it could still take a couple of months to get approved. It takes forever to get anything done.

Update: Ted visited a prison doctor who refused to pull his wisdom tooth, saying it was not necessary. Brevard did finally send me visitation forms and I saved one. I made a copy and sent it to Lancaster already last week. But I probably won’t see Ted until after Thanksgiving and Christmas are over. I last saw Ted on September 9, 2009 at the Pinellas County Jail over a video visitation phone. The last time I saw Ted in person was October 30, 2008.

Musings

There wasn’t any mail delivery on Wednesday because of the holiday. Hopefully a letter from Ted will arrive today. I might plant a lawn chair down there by my mailbox.

I called my phone company, Bright House, yesterday. It turns out Bright House does not allow collect calls from prisons. Sure wish I found that out sooner! Ted probably did try to call, but couldn’t get through.

Bright House recommended a pre-paid phone service, Global Tel Link, which services all Florida prisons. I know this service is quite expensive. When Ted was at the Pinellas County Jail, $25 on Global Tel Link funded approximately two 20-minute calls. I found another site online – ConsCallHome.com. I’ll call the CFRC in the morning to see if they use that service. Cons Call Home costs about $25 for 300 minutes.

Another parent emailed me. Her son knew of Brevard and said it was good that Ted was out of there. He said it is widely known what a rat hole that place is and that the guards encouraged fighting and even bet on who the winner would be. Supposedly there is a glass jar there with gold teeth in it that have been knocked out of the prisoners when they fight, he said. I wonder if anyone else has heard that rumor. I wasn’t able to find any mention of it on the Internet.

The mission statement of the Florida Department of Corrections is “To protect the public safety, to ensure the safety of Department personnel, and to provide proper care and supervision of all offenders under our jurisdiction while assisting, as appropriate, their re-entry into society.” I wonder if there is an agency that checks to see if proper care of offenders is being cared out appropriately. There’re plenty of data reports on sentencing, recidivism and such, but are spontaneous spot checks performed to see if abuse is taking place in Florida’s correctional facilities? Are spontaneous spot checks even possible? It seems that the guards would be on the phone immediately to everyone else to let them know someone had arrived to check up on things. Maybe the solution is to install web cams in the prisons!

I still have no idea what happened in the incident in which Ted went to the box at Brevard. It is interesting that he was moved out of there though. The warden had called him into her office and told him she was aware of the blog and to tell me to be careful of what I write in my letters – or his time could possibly be doubled. I had sent him a blank greeting card and suggested that he could sell or trade it. The warden had Ted write to tell me that selling or trading items was prohibited. How I was to know that, I don’t know. Prison rules are not made available to the public on the Internet. I guess I need to hone my ESP.

Incidentally, prison visitation forms are also no longer available on the Internet. Family members must call each prison for a visitation form, wait a week or two for them to arrive in the mail, mail them back and wait three or more weeks for the approval. If visitation forms were available on the Internet, they could be sent to the prison as soon as the inmate arrived and cut several weeks off the wait time.

Someone else also emailed, "There should be a study, maybe there is already - if people go to bad prisons, [with] bad guards, is that an incentive to stay out of prison, or does that make them worse? Like in Texas, that one sheriff who puts guys in tents, makes them wear pink underwear, eat bad food, what is that area's return rate compared to others." Hmmm. Good idea.

I’m wondering if Ted was transferred because there are those who didn’t want certain things about the prison to be publicized. What is happening to those people in Brevard who have no one to look out for their interests? I could be totally off-base though. Maybe he really was transferred strictly to protect his safety. If that’s the case, I’m grateful. When you haven’t heard anything from your loved one at all, you start to imagine all kinds of scenarios.

Next: Continuation of Ted’s family history – A family crisis