UPDATE on Visitation at Tucson Catalina Unit 8/28/08

UPDATE on visitation problems at the Tucson-Catalina unit.

Some things have changed in visitation since our original post dated this past February. At that time, there were numerous complaints about the two CO's who were in charge of running the visitation area. CO Glenn seemed a little bit "creepy" and CO Hayes was taking things way out of context and antagonizing most of us. Many months have passed and it looks like some progress has been made.

Creating an "Officer's Station" has ensured that the CO's do not sit with the visitors. If you all remember, that was one of the primary complaints. None of the inmates wanted the CO's at their tables and the visitors were not especially fond of this practice either. Now, the CO's have somewhere else to sit and it's somewhere that allows them to continue to keep an eye on visitation without intruding on the visits.

As far as the two CO's go:

CO Glenn continues to be more professional than ever before. His attitude has changed and now he is almost likable. Don't get me wrong, he is still enforcing the rules (one of his favorites is making sure everyone is wearing their Id's.) but he's doing it in a much more reasonable manner than he was before. Remember, we never had a problem with him enforcing the rules, we only had a problem with HOW he was interpreting the rules and HOW he was enforcing them. Many of us just wanted to be left alone - especially when we were NOT doing anything wrong! Many of you have said that you have noticed a marked improvement in his attitude. It appears that he is at least making an effort to act like a decent human being and not letting the "power" of being a CO go to his head (we can't all own walkie-talkies you know). It seems that the only time when things get a little worrisome is when CO Hayes is around.

CO Hayes has not really changed from what I can see. She continues to be void of all common sense and her manners leave something to be desired. While I personally think she tries to please SOME people, her overall attitude remains unacceptable. The other day she turned away an elderly woman for wearing a t-shirt that was a v-neck. The shirt was not revealing in any way - there was no cleavage or anything like that - but it's one of those nit-picky things that she seems to relish. I honestly believe that there is no real help for her. People are who they are and some people just refuse to change. There are those that are good at working with the public and those that are not. CO Hayes is one that is NOT and although we continue to complain it looks as if nothing is going to be done about it.

The Arizona Department of Corrections continues to be short sighted when it comes to the visitation process in general. Asking them to put reasonable people out there seems to be just TOO MUCH to ask.

We will continue to keep our eyes on visitation to see if any additional changes are made. Thank you everyone for all of your posts and comments.