Proposed change to Florida prison policy could severely restrict visitation – Orlando Sentinel

Inmate visitation hours in Florida are a crucial way they connect with loved ones, but a proposed new rule by the Florida Department of Corrections could cut those hours in half.

On Wednesday, the FDC proposed a set of new modifications to its visiting procedures, including adopting a rotation schedule for inmates that would limit visiting days to alternate weekends at certain correctional facilities the department deems necessary.

“This would be devastating to my family,” Catherine Hemperley said.

She visits her husband every Sunday at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. She is 30 months away from serving a 15-year sentence. Together they have a 23-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old grandson who visits them every other weekend.

“These visits mean everything to us. They give us strength to continue,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine not being able to see my husband or him miss out on an important moment with our grandson.”

Currently, the FDC’s standard practice allows for weekly visiting hours between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm every Saturday and Sunday, as well as on major holidays.

In a statement, FDC press secretary Paul Walker said the proposed new rules are intended to modernize and define visiting procedures.

“FDC recognizes the vital importance of visitation during an inmate’s incarceration,” the statement read. “Maintaining community and family ties is also an essential component for an inmate to successfully re-enter society.”

Walker points to the recent expansion of FDC visiting hours at nine incentivized state prisons.

“The ultimate goal is to create a credible and transparent policy to ensure a uniform approach across the 50 core institutions, 16 annexes and other satellite facilities,” he said.

According to Denise Rock of the Florida Cares Charity Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works with incarcerated people and their families, a rotation schedule that only allows visits every other weekend would cut the hours spent with loved ones in half. darlings.

“There’s always a constant flow of people, at least from what I’ve seen in the south and central regions of Florida,” Rock said. The proposal would affect “the mother, the father, the sister, the brother, the wife, the children of the prisoner… They did not commit the crime, but they are the silent victim of all this.”

The potential rule is similar to a controversial 2018 proposal that was withdrawn after the Joint Administrative Procedure Committee questioned whether the restrictions met the department’s commitment to encourage family reunification. The 2018 proposal also drew the ire of loved ones and family members of people in prison.

An FDC representative was not immediately available to comment on the latest proposals.

The modifications also reduce the number of visits from people who are not family members. No more than five of the 15 assigned visitors may not be family members, according to the proposed policy. Current standards give well-behaved inmates the flexibility to include family members and non-family members.

Catherine Ragonese is concerned for her son’s mental well-being if visitation rights are restricted at the Calhoun Correctional Institution, located in the Panhandle.

“Not seeing your family is so hard,” he said. “Every time we go to see him, he’s happy to see us, happy to see his dad, because he’s worried that we’re getting older and he’s just afraid that, you know, something bad is going to happen to us while he’s there. .”

Rock said reducing visitation and isolating inmates is not rehabilitative. She believes that increasing visits has a better track record of improving behavior and reducing recidivism.

Guards may worry about visitors bringing contraband, he said, but that’s “a two-way street.”

“There’s no point in punishing most people who don’t do that, they just want to connect in peace with their loved ones and be left alone,” Rock said.

In determining whether a standard or modified visiting hours designation would be implemented in state prisons, the FDC will consider a number of details, including sufficient staffing levels, parking capacity, the number of visitor cancellations and the number of reported disturbances and incidents. , Inter alia.

Walker said modified visits will only be considered when absolutely necessary and only after all criteria are met. “Should modification of visitation be considered, the proposed rule also includes a lengthy and stringent review process by state and regional administrators,” he said in an email.

In a statement, Molly Gill, vice president of policy for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an organization focused on sentencing reform, said Florida’s prison system is “perpetually understaffed.”

“Cutting family ties to people in prison won’t solve understaffing issues and it won’t help reduce crime either. We need meaningful sentences and prison reform from the state legislature, now.”

This story was published in the Orlando Sentinel by journalist Amanda Rabines

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