Miles of Flight and Travel
I traveled from Seattle to Detroit to attend a Women’s conference at Word of Faith International Christian Center and while in the city I planned to visit someone I’d grown close to over the past year at Kinross Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, MI. I flew over 2,300 miles from Seattle to Detroit and drove over 250 miles from Detroit to the upper peninsula to visit this facility. The fact that family and friends are forced through these types of extenuating circumstances in order to visit an incarcerated loved one places a strain on one’s ability to do so. Individuals should never be incarcerated in places that are over 50 miles from their hometown. The fact that Detroit residents are sent to serve sentences in Michigans Upper Peninsula is a gross injustice to their ability to preserve family ties.
Access Denied
In addition to traveling across the country and driving 10+ hours round trip on the snow covered, icy roads for this visit when I finally arrived to the facility the difficult circumstances only intensified. I turned in my application twice, once last year and another at the beginning of this year. We’d both done everything on each end to be sure that today would go smoothly. He was told explicitly by his counselor that he’d gotten both of my applications and that I was approved and ready to go. I signed in and provided my ID and was told matter of factly that I couldn’t be found in the system. I pressed on about what that meant and was told that although I was on his visitation list, I was not in ‘the system’. “How?”
“I’m not sure but there’s nothing I can do” I was frozen.
“I know you came a long way but I can’t let you in if you’re not in the system”
I took my Washington state ID back, walked back through the snow in my tennis shoes and sat in the car to wait for his call, I knew he’d call, “Go back in there and ask to speak to the commander” I did. When I walked in another officer pointed me out, “She was just in here 20min ago, and wasn’t allowed to come in”.
I responded, “I understand, but I’d like to speak to the commander” A Lieutenant came, I told him the situation, how far I traveled, that my flight was tomorrow and that I’d have to drive back 5hours and my only opportunity to come in was today. “Well I hope you had a good conference” he joked. I was flabbergasted. I insisted that he go back into the prison and tell the circumstances to the inmate I was visiting, “That’s not going to change my mind” he said, “You will not be coming in for a visit today” the words hit me like a brick. He knowing that I traveled so far to come here and that my flight was that next day and that I had no alternative to seeing this person let these words come from his lips,“I don’t have your application on file and can’t take the risk of letting you in” as he said it I thought about the risk he’s be taking not letting me in, if he only he knew. After the Commander went back into the prison to relay this disappointing message.
The man at the check in desk was very understanding with me, why is it the ones with the least amount of power to change the situation who want to do the most to help? He had me fill out another application, put my cell number on it and said he’d place it on the counselor’s desk in the morning and for me to call at 8am to check. He suggested I stay on the island for the night so that I could come back the next day. I was resistant, “What if they still don’t let me in?” There was always that risk but after all I’d already sacrificed to be here I decided why not. I booked a room ($75), extended my flight ($181), bought toiletries and food ($50), refilled my GTL phone account ($45) and missed two additional days of work in order to stay on the island with the hopes of being able to visit the next day.
Shamefully Disorganized
When the morning came I called to ask about my third application, “You’re the girl from yesterday?” “Yes” I responded, “Yeah you can come in”
I asked what the earliest I could come was and it wasn’t until 3:30. I’d wondered what the problem was and was told that they weren’t responsible for my old applications and that they’d gotten the one I’d filled out Sunday. It was strange because the prisoner I was visiting saw my old application when he was sitting with his counselor. The lack of concern for why the application wasn’t handled appropriately was shameful. I knew that something mistrustful had happened with my previous applications that was an intentional way to keep me from visiting.
You would think that employees would be understanding of the fact that none of the people who come to visit are from the area and that they go very far out of their way to come and see their loved ones. All of the people who came to visit on this day were women and children, knowing that their will always be women visiting there should always be a female staff available to screen the women who come to visit. I waited for over an hour for a female officer to come available, over an hour was stolen from my visit due to the facility’s lack of organization. After being told I could wear my jacket by one officer and then that I couldn’t by another I was forced to remove it and buy a locker to put it in and then told I had to wear a smock because although my dress wasn’t too short or too reveling it was too tight. Again, I was disgusted by their lack of understanding, organization, compassion and their insistence on making my visit as difficult to go to as possible. By the time I’d purchased a locker, a card to buy pictures, adjusted my clothes and went through screening so much time was stolen from the visit that I’d been anticipating for months.
Although I was extremely happy that I got the chance to visit and I was overjoyed during my visit that doesn’t blind me from recognizing everything that was wrong leading up to it. These are a select few of the countless reasons why Prisons shouldn’t exist in relation to visitation. The visitation process is currently being attacked throughout the country. In addition to prisoners being placed in prisons excruciatingly far from where their families reside, once a member does take the time to make the trip, many taking off work to do so, they still face the threat of being denied due to the facility’s lack of communication and disorganization. The screening process for visiting a prisoner is dehumanizing and demeaning, even parents are forced to expose their children’s genitals to officers for ‘screening’ purposes. The lack of contact is being threatened at all levels. There are several facilities that are replacing in person visitation with video calling, completely limiting prisoners contact with their family and friends to digital means. Prisons shouldn’t exist because rather than trying to maintain relationships these institutions work against relationship building which is one of, if not the most important aspect of keeping tensions low among inmates and to being successful once released. Prisons work against the rehabilitation of inmates and they shouldn’t exist. Today the legislature has voted on the proposed Good Time Bill after pushing their voting date back from April 10th. The people are being proactive in seeing Good Time policies initiated in the state. Add your signature to the initiative petition here.
