as of 10/26/2008
There continues to be problems getting food or water during the 7-hour visitation day at the Tucson Catalina Unit. In total there are two food machines, one snack machine, one coffee machine and two soda machines. If they were all in working order all of the time there would be plenty of food and drinks for the visitors. Unfortunately, there is ALWAYS AT LEAST TWO machines that are out of order on any given weekend day! This past weekend, only ONE of the food machine's was working, the snack machine was broken, the "new" food-machine was broken (and has been for the last two to three weekends in a row), the coffee machine had no coffee and BOTH soda machine's were out of water. On Saturday there was very little food in the one food machine that was actually working so it was really a matter of luck if you were able to eat or not. I don't know about you all, but to go 7 hours (plus travel time which in many cases is another 2 hours) without food is NOT asking for too much. I'm not sure what is going on over at the Tucson Catalina Unit but the fact that the food situation continues to get worse and worse is unacceptable. At some point we need to decide whether this is a violation of our civil rights. How hard is it to provide food and water during visitation? Can DOC get away with this? As far as I know this is one of the few yards with that problem. SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP and get this problem fixed!!! PLEASE!!!
FOOD and WATER supply still a problem at the TUCSON CATALINA UNIT VISITATION
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.
UPDATE 6/9/08 Tucson Catalina Unit
FOOD AND WATER are hard to find in visitation at TUCSON CATALINA UNIT.
Seems like every week there is a problem with the vending machines. At least two of the four are broken at all times. Last weekend, there was NO bottled water or food for most of the day!
Now that the visitation hours have changed, shouldn't the vending machine hours also change? If you are someone who visits from noon to four, forget about eating. The food machine (there is only one) is filled up at 11:30 so pretty much everything is taken by the morning visitors. The coffee machine rarely works and at least one of the soda machines is broken every single weekend!!
ADC says that they are supportive of visitors but here again, their ACTIONS are very different than their WORDS!. If I drive from Phoenix to visit my loved one in Tucson, I'm driving 2 hours to get there and two hours to get home. I cannot eat at 6:00 in the morning (for a visit that starts at 8:00 am) and expect that to last me until the visit is over at 4:00.
This is an outrage. We cannot continue to starve during visitation! Our kids cannot continue to starve at visitation! And we NEED WATER!!! What can we do to help the department get a vending machine that works?? and a vending company that will show up more than once a day??
UPDATE for Tucscon Catalina Unit Visitation
UPDATE as of 4/21/08
It was brought to my attention last night that this blog has gotten more than a few people at ADC pretty upset. Apparently at least one regular visitor received a phone call yesterday regarding the problems with visitation at the Tucson-Catalina Unit. According to my source, the deputy warden of that unit - Blanca Ochoa - insists that she wants to work with both the inmates and the visitors to improve upon the current conditions. She acknowledged that some of the problems should be fixed and asked for an opportunity to address the issues that have not been brought to her attention until now. DW Ochoa deems this blog as "unfair" since since she did not know about most of the issues and therefore could not fix them until now. We appreciate the fact the both the Warden and the Deputy Warden at the Tucson-Catalina Unit are holding the CO's there accountable for their actions and plan to act on any complaints that can be substantiated. It's refreshing to see a DW so willing to work with the general public and we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to her. This blog will continue to be updated with any changes that occur in visitation and we ask that our viewers continue to submit comments about their experiences, both positive and negative. Thank you!
Arizona Department of Corrections Visitation
If you have never had the unfortunate experience of visiting someone in an Arizona State Correctional Facility just wait. With the current laws in Arizona, it's really only a matter of time before someone you know will spend time behind bars. Even if you think that it will not happen to you, don't be so sure. I never thought it could happen to anyone I know but it did.
This blog is a documentation of my own personal experiences with The Arizona Department of Corrections. A friend of mine is currently incarcerated and is serving his sentence in the Tucson Catalina Unit which is a Level-1 yard. Level-1 is supposed to be the lowest security level with the least restrictions. It is supposed to be a place where the incarcerated are learning the skills necessary to re-enter society as law-abiding citizens. The "transition program" as some refer to it, is part of the "parallel universe" that is constantly being touted by Dora Schriro, the Director of The Arizona Department of Corrections. Operating in the "parallel universe" under what is called "The Arizona Plan" means that the state's department of corrections "should operate as much as possible like the real world to which inmates return providing prisoners with ample practice living as civil and productive adults before they return to the community".
Since my friend has been incarcerated, I have spent a considerable amount of time in the Tucson Catalina unit and I can tell you first hand that there is no similarity whatsoever between the real world and what goes on there. I have also talked to several people who have had experiences with the ADOC visitation process both in Tucson and elsewhere in Arizona. Many of the stories are similar and the problems seem to be statewide. I have also found that very few people are willing to talk about their negative experiences for fear of retaliation against their loved ones. Shame on ADOC for allowing such behavior.
The first problem, as I see it, is with the Correctional Officer's (CO's) that work in visitation. It looks as if a lot of them do not have the people skills necessary to deal with the outside world. Many of them are rude and disrespectful to the visitors. They find fault with every little thing and appear to go out of their way to make the entire visitation experience unbearable for both the inmate and the visitor. They seem to forget that the visitor is not incarcerated and does not live at the prison with the inmate - that we are not criminals and should not be treated like second-class citizens. I don't know what qualifications a person needs to work in the visitation area but it seems to me that the CO's should have to undergo some sort of personality testing along with some "people-skills" training in order to work in visitation. Instead, it seems like the CO's that work in visitation are the CO's that they don’t know what to do with. It's almost as if there is nowhere else to put them so they just put them in visitation. CO Hayes at the Catalina unit is referred to by her co-workers as the “anti-Christ”. If co-workers can't even work with her, how can visitors be expected to deal with her every weekend?
Another problem with the visitation experience is the visitation area itself. Many of them are extremely filthy. Sometimes there is no water, other times there is no toilet paper, no paper towels, or soap in the bathrooms and there are NEVER any toilet seat covers. Often times the vending machines are empty or are broken so for six or seven hours you may not get food or water. Some of the CO's sit next to you in the visitation area (that is, at the same table), interact with the inmates and visitors, stare intently and you, your children and your family and listen to your personal and private conversations. Some of the CO's let the children play and some of them want the children sitting at all times. Others make you stand in the sun to see if they can see through your shirt and others turn away infants and toddlers if they are wearing brown or blue denim (a dress code that only applies to persons over eight years of age). Still others are paranoid and overreact to every look and mannerism displayed - innocent or not. All of them like enforcing the rules but NONE of them seem to know the reason behind any of the rules. Their mentality makes any sort of reasonableness or common sense judgment-call impossible. The attitude is simply, this is the rule and that's that. The rules vary by location, are often over-interpreted and are always taken to the extreme with no justification whatsoever except for "because I'm in brown and you are in orange". The CO's always back each other up even when one is wrong. If one CO says something incorrect, the other CO's will stand by it no matter how wrong it is.
Tucson-Catalina Unit (Level-1 yard)
When I first started visiting the Tucson Catalina Unit, it was being "run" by CO Smith. She was polite and courteous to all of the visitors as well as the inmates. She observed the visitation area respectfully and reasonably. She seemed to know everything that was going on. But then she left (I don’t know if she quit or if she transferred to another unit) and along came CO Hayes and CO Glenn. I know that CO Glenn also worked along side of CO Smith but he made no secret of the fact that he did not like her. CO Glenn is one of those people who by the sheer fact that an organization issued him a walkie-talkie feels like he can now go around and be as rude and as disrespectful as possible and never have to be accountable to anyone. The only time you see CO Glenn smile is when he is on his way to the side room of the chow hall to strip an inmate out. It's appears as if this part of his job gives him great pleasure. The rest of his day, he takes it upon himself to sit in the visitation area next to the inmates and listen to their conversations. He will sit 2 feet in front of you and watch you for a full 30 minutes before he moves on. It's almost like he only knows how to watch one table at a time. He also talks to himself a lot, he will mumble something and point to the sky and continue mumbling. It is all pretty bizarre. Most of the visitors can't stand him - in fact, his nickname around there is "Creepy G" since most of the time he is lurking around, acting creepy and blatantly staring at everyone including the kids. He does not observe the visitation area like CO Smith did, he goes out of his way to make sure that you feel as uncomfortable as possible. According to CO Glenn, part of his job is to listen to the conversations that are going on in the visitation area and to be close enough to see whether an "M&M” is actually an M&M". Those are his words, not mine - that is what he told one of the visitors directly. The thing that is the most peculiar is that the Catalina unit is the lowest level in terms of security but based on my conversations with other visitors, it seems to be the one unit where you are constantly watched and feel constantly on display. There is no sense of privacy whatsoever - it's impossible to have a private conversation with the person you are visiting, inmates cannot talk to their kids about how they are doing because the kids are scared that a "guard" is watching them and that they are doing something wrong. To be constantly STARED at is a very uncomfortable feeling. It's not like a situation that is being observed and monitored - this is full-on blatant staring to the point of creepy. CO Hayes and CO Glenn are really paranoid too. They are constantly checking the coin slots in the vending machines, and checking the area around the drinking fountain. They also rifle through your belongings at the table if you leave to go outside. One time, CO Hayes confiscated a visitors gloves when she left the table to go outside and then told her that she could not wear gloves into the visitation area in the winter because they are considered a "Class A Tool". Now, don't you think that is a little absurd?
I guess the bottom line is this: As a visitor, don't expect to be treated any differently than the way the inmates are treated at any prison facility. I don't think the way the inmates are treated is fair either but there is a lot less that we can do about it. The inmates are in the custody of the ADC but visitors are not. It's unfortunate that ADC makes the visitation process so difficult all the while publicizing how important it is to the recidivism rates to maintain relationships with family and friends, etc. One would think that by the time an inmate has made it to a Level-1 yard, he would be treated with a little more dignity. Even if an inmate has not earned his or her way to a Level-1 yard but ends up on one, it is usually because the crime that was committed was considered non-dangerous. These are not rapists, murderers and child molesters that we are talking about. Most of these people are drug abusers or are serving time for some other petty crime. One would assume that the CO's at these units would be empowered to use common sense and reasonableness when enforcing rules. One would think that the CO's would follow some code of professional conduct in its treatment of visitors. The sad truth seems to be that if a loved one finds him or herself behind bars, you will be treated like a criminal right along with them.
If you have a story to share about your visitation experiences with The Arizona Department of Corrections, post your comments here. You can do it anonymously if you are afraid of retaliation. Or you can e-mail me your response and I will post a comment for you. So far I have heard from visitors in Tucson, Goodyear, Winslow and Yuma. Keep them coming - it's amazing how venting about this stuff can make you feel so much better.
