Visiting Dodge Correctional Institution

My visitation on Saturday, February 26, 2011

(I decided I'd share a visit and possibly more in the future with the readers.)

  Today is my first day visiting “Jon Doe” at Dodge Correctional Institute ( DCI .) This is the first time I have ever even attempted to visit anyone in any prison system. This visit in particular has been overly anticipated.

  I have some rather large piercings that would set the metal detector off so I removed them before I left. This was a chore in itself. When the Dodge Correctional Institute was contacted about the piercings and the possibility of using a wand they said they “didn't have a wand” which I knew was a lie. The officers all use them while looking for contraband at any time needed, you even see them used by some random 'rent-a-security' at music events, but we all have to jump through hoops to get to where we want to be. I made sure I had the least amount of metal on me because, I guess, the rule is that you have three chances to pass through the walk through detector and if you fail, you have to leave the prison property.

  The drive up to Dodge Correction Institute took about as long as I expected. The snow was coming down harder and harder the closer we got. It doesn't bother me much, more of my worries are in others driving around me. It was pretty simple to get there. When you get close you see the watch towers, electric fence, razor wire and all. It is quite obvious you are at the prison. I then parked in the visitation area and went inside the lobby type building.

  Right when I walked into the building the buzzer on the metal detector was going off! It wasn't me walking through the door, it was another visitor walking through the metal detector who was setting it off. Then, they pulled out a metal detector wand and passed it over the guy. I obviously had thoughts running through my head (about them lying about not having a wand when they were directly contacted and questioned on the subject) but I just smiled inside and made a small quiet comment. They determined it was his fastener on his jeans. I assume at this time that they are trying to reveal illegal contraband because they told him he could not go in and instructed him on where he might find pants to buy locally that would pass. The other party in the same visitation, which I assume is his wife, had made it through and pleaded the case that they had never had problems before. By the looks of their age they were probably there to visit their son or maybe a relative or someone closer to their own age but I doubt older. No exceptions here, rejected, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I wanted to walk up and tell him a trick to pass through but I had already taken my own precautions to prevent something causing me from being denied, I didn't want something petty like that getting in the way of the visitation.

  After inside, you fill out a paper with the visitors info and inmate to visit, take a number and sit down. Yes, it felt like the DMV. When they call your number you go up and the visitors on the paper all show their I.D.'s. They then do whatever on the computer, I'm not catching some crazy charge for being curious but they are probably just checking to make sure everyone visiting is on the accepted list. Then you get your I.D. back and you are told to put all the extras you have on you in a locker. Next, you walk through the metal detector. I, as planned, passed right on through. After that you get a stamp on your hand. One which only shows up under a UV black light. I didn't exactly understand the reasoning to this at first. I suppose there is always the chance that someone, somehow, could sneak in without being approved. Next, I went through a door into another room where a guard was sitting behind glass and there was the black light right above me. After he glances to see that you have a stamp (mine just appeared at this time to be a rectangular smudged mess so I can't even tell you what it was) he buzzes you through the next door and I believe there was another door right after that which we got buzzed through.

  The last door led outside into a chain link fence hallway like thing to another gate, which someone, I'm assuming the previous guard, buzzes you through. On the outside of this fence hallway like thing are the electric fence lines. A lot like what you would see on a farm but I would guess they were at least twice the diameter. Probably more, this was just a glance at them. Also they were spaced quite close. Obviously, they do not want to make it easy to slide through for security reasons. I would say they were spaced evenly at about 8 inches apart, a body couldn't just slip through the lines as they are without getting a zap (I do not know what they run through these lines though I'd be curious on voltage and amperage just to get an idea.) The razor wire is still visible. Yes, I am definitely inside the prison walls but, we are now outside....

  I was a bit confused after walking through that last gate. I followed the path and there was a sign directing us to the visitation area. It went down a sidewalk along a road I assume they use to patrol and just plain get around the prison yard the easy way. I asked out loud but jokingly, “Where's the shuttle bus???” After a walk we got to the entrance. If I remember correctly we got buzzed in there too. I was a bit confused but assumed we were just on camera and our tax dollars pay for someone to sit and watch that camera and hit a button when they see someone there. Next is the choice of the stairs or the elevator to go up a floor. Just for others' information, if you are handicapped you are supposed to have an officer assist you on the short elevator lift. Then a door with a light switch. You turn on the light switch to have someone come and let you in. In my head I was thinking, “someone's wake up alarm was just turned on.”

  When the door is opened you enter a fairly large area of a wing in this prison maze. You are told a number to sit at. Each “table” to sit at consists of a small generic looking coffee table and a group of chairs. One chair is sitting on the far side, it is a dark brown chair with a number on it, on the opposite side are a few other lighter colored beige chairs. The dark one with the number on it is meant for the inmate and the other light chairs are for the visitors.

  On the coffee table like thing is a list of rules. One of them says the inmate is responsible for cleaning the table even though the inmate can't go and get anything from the vending machines during the visit, and in the end, has to be the first to leave. Nearly an oxymoron. It almost seems as they can't really leave their seat until the visitation is over. The obvious idea to me is they do not want any exchanges happening.. drugs, money, cell phone, whatever contraband... When it comes down to it, if anyone had half a brain, they could pass whatever when all the officer's were sitting in there area far off to the corner, joking, laughing, not paying any attention to anything other than their conversation. But, don't forget the two dome cameras on two of the four corners of this large visitation area. The people watching those probably catch most of the passes caught during a visitation. The officers on the floor were acting like the old kids on the playground during recess while in school. Please, if you call your job a profession, then act professional, otherwise just move out of the way for a person that is willing to be the professional that you are not.

  So when he came out he had just gotten finished with Rec. Let's just say when he went in he weighed around 170lbs and when he came to the table he said he had just weighed himself after Rec at 206lbs. I could see it when he walked up. He gained weight and it wasn't fat. That was obvious by how he walked, sat and composure in general. It probably helped that right after Rec he got a 2 hour visitation. Great time to relax! You may look at this and think to yourself that this person is already institutionalized and just preparing to hold his own. This was far from the case. Think, if the only free time you have during the day is about 50 minutes in a gym like scene you would probably make the most use of it. You can play basketball and hope that you become the next prison pro, you can play volleyball and try to place yourself in the US volleyball team and dream about the Olympics, you can walk your laps to work off calories during this time and talk to others walking. The only other choice is you can put the time to use and gain health through working out your body that you were probably neglecting before hand.

  The visitation went fast. Maybe because it was my first time in an institution that size and actually how long it has actually been since I seen him. It was a lot to take in. I caught myself just staring at him with my mind wondering numerous times. Anyways, it seemed like the short county jail visitation was comparable to this much longer two hour visitation at Dodge Correctional Institute which in reality was far longer. Time flew by.

  He had to get up to leave first for some reason. I could see a possible security reason but I had seen many much larger holes in the security. Then we got up and met an officer at the door who opened it with a large prison key. It was basically the same procedure going back through all the gates and doors. When we got to the “black light” we had to show our stamp again. This is where I started to understand the stamp more. For security reason's this would be a simple attempt at keeping inmates from somehow sneaking out with visitors. This security measure is definitely a weak one. As I said before, it was just a smudged mess which could easily be recreated. Just another measure to keep the average person satisfied when it comes to the security of the prison.

  I found myself immediately thinking about when I could possibly come see him again. The time just went by too fast, I haven't seen him in quite a while, he spends almost all day locked up so his visitation time is like a vacation from that cell... I was ready to go back to visit already yet I was just leaving from the first visitation.

  When we were leaving it was still snowing. It had been snowing the whole time. The roads weren't perfect but they weren't as bad as some people made it seem while they were driving down the same road. Even with these conditions, the ride seemed to just fly by. I don't know if it was all the thoughts inside my head or what... I still really don't know where the time went to this moment.

~ “3rd Party”