TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - The Florida Department of Corrections held a public hearing Tuesday morning about proposed changes to a rule on the visitation schedule at prisons.
Under the current rule, visitation is allowed for up to six hours every weekend as well as on state holidays. The proposed rule change could limit the number of visits to a minimum of two per month for two hours on alternating weekends, depending on the inmate’s corrections number.
Corrections officials say the change will help prison staff manage the number of visitors coming on a given weekend and prevent overflow crowds.
Richard Comerford is the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Institutions with DOC. He says the changes are also needed, at least in part, because of an increase in people trying to introduce contraband into prisons as well as staff shortages.
“The number of recovered weapons, cell phones, and illicit drugs continues to rise across the state, within our facilities," said Comerford. "Many of these incidents of contraband have been linked to visitation.”
About 100 people spoke in opposition to the proposed rule change during the two-hour public hearing in Tallahassee. Most have family or friends who are behind bars.
Melba Rios’s fiancé is currently incarcerated. She feels family visitors are not the source of the contraband and says the rule change could have unintended consequences.
“There is no way that by reducing the visits, that you will stop the introduction of contraband," said Rio."What you are doing is actually inciting violence and you are upsetting family members.”
Several family members and former inmates who spoke at the hearing say contraband is often brought behind the prison walls by correctional officers who feel they are overworked and underpaid.
The proposed change is set to go into effect this Saturday, April 6, and be reevaluated after 90 days.
There are nearly 100 thousand people locked up in Florida prisons.
