Visitors

I was going to call this article "visitation" but a friend tells me that that term applies to what happens at funeral homes.  You're not dead yet, so let's explore what it's like to get visitors at the jail.

The ICJ allows visitors one day a week, based on  your last name.  Call the jail to find out what day you can visit, based on the first letter of the inmate's last name.  

ICJ allows two visitors at a time.  I met a doctor inmate who has a wife and three kids.  His wife had to pick one child each week to join in the visit.

Now for the nuance about the rules you need to understand.  There are two visitation periods on the day your letter is up -- afternoon and evening.  But you are allowed one visit that day.

Just like in the movies, you'll go into a sealed area and face, through a window, your friends or loved ones.  You'll talk through a telephone.  You'll have 15-20 minutes of talk time.  

This means that if someone shows up, let's say, at 2:00 p.m., another person showing up at 8:oo p.m. will be denied a visit.  Two visitors per week -- and one visitation.  Therefore one early visitor forecloses any other later ones.  The rule is cruel; I met a doctor in jail for prescribing drugs to himself who has a wife and three kids.  His wife had to rotate among the kids, because she could bring only one of them on each visit.

In order for someone to visit an inmate, he or she needs to fill out a kite listing each person's name and affiliation with you.  I met some inmates who gamed the system -- they added and subtracted various girlfriends so they could see one at a time.  (Many inmates brag that they are "players" -- openly having multiple sex partners.)  If your life is less complicated than that, you still want to encourage friends and family to coordinate their visits so as not to cross paths and cause disappointment.  

It's best for you to be as upbeat as you can.  I observed one young man who walked into the room all full of attitude.  He proceeded to berate his young girlfriend and talk about how much life sucked and how she wasn't supporting him enough.  I don't think his attitude was helping either of them.   

  

By the way, your attorney can visit at any time.  If you have a friend who is an attorney and he or she wants to visit, advise your barrister to come as an attorney, not a visitor.  That way, it won't cost you that week's visit.