CA Prisoners and Families Under Attack!!

CA Prisoners and Families Under Attack!!

by Kevin Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2002 at 4:39 PM

!!!ALERT!!!

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YOUR VISITS ARE GOING TO BE CHANGED!

The Department of Corrections is proposing changes to the current visiting rules. These changes will negatively and greatly impact everyone visiting someone in a California State Prison. These changes are just one more drastic assault on the largely poor and people of color communities who are the victims of the California’s injustice system.

MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!
COME TO THE PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 8TH IN SACRAMENTO!

Some of the proposed changes include:

3175 (e) at the beginning and end of each visit, inmates and their visitors may embrace and/or kiss, not to exceed five seconds.

3172 (b) All inmate visitors, including minors, shall provide a completed CDC Form 106 and obtain institution/facility approval before they may be permitted to visit with an inmate.

3173 (b) all minors over the age of 7 shall present picture proof of identity before being permitted to visit (only legal Id’s, as with adult visitors)

3175 (f) male inmates may not hold minor children seven years of age or older on their laps

3177. (2) Family visits shall not be permitted for inmates who are in any of the following categories: sentenced to life without the possibility of parole; sentenced to life, without a parole date established by the Board of Prison Terms; designated Close A or Close B custody; designated a condemned inmate; assigned to a reception center; assigned to an administrative segregation unit; assigned to a security housing unit; designated "C" status; guilty of one or more Division A or Division B offenses within the last 12 months; or guilty of narcotics distribution while incarcerated in a state prison.


PUBLIC HEARING:
Date and Time:
March 8, 2002 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Place:
Department of Water Resources Auditorium
1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: The public comment period will close March 8, 2002 at 5:00 p.m. Any person may submit public comments in writing (by mail, by fax or by e-mail) regarding the proposed changes. To be considered by the Department, comments must be submitted to the:

Department of Corrections, Regulation and Policy Management Branch
P.O. Box 942883
Sacramento, CA 94283-0001;
by fax at (916)322-3842;
or by e-mail at pmchenry@executive.corr.ca.gov before the close of the comment period.

For more information and a copy of the proposed rule changes, go to the CDC information network website at:
http://go.to/CDCINFO/

Or join the visitors email group by sending email to:
VIP_Cali-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Make your voice be heard against the proposed changes to current CDC visiting rules!

Join us in a protest prior to the public hearing at 8:00 AM, March 8th

MEMBERS OF ALL ORGANIZATIONS & GROUPS & CDC VISITORS ARE INVITED.

Coordinated and endorsed by:

California Prison Focus
Prisoners Of Davis
Families Of Prisoners
F.A.C.T.S.
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
Prison Reform Unity Project
Legal Services For Prisoners With Children
Californians For Parole Reform


Brief Literature Review re Prison Visiting
by Terry A. Kupers, M.D., Oct. 9, 2000
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1478_reg.html
(excerpt)

…The classic study was done by Holt and Miller (1972). Among other things, they showed that California prisoners who have regular, continuing visits with (at least three) family members show a significantly lower recidivism rate when compared with those who do not have such visits throughout their prison term.

Prisoners with no visitors were six times more likely to re-enter prison during the first year of parole as those with three or more visitors. Ohlin (1954) had earlier studied prisoners released from Illinois prisons between 1925 and 1935 and showed that 75% of those who had maintained "active family interest" (i.e., maintained continuing visitation with family members) during their term of incarceration were successful on parole while only 34% of those considered loners experienced parole success. Glaser (1964) did a similar study with federal prisoners and found that 71% of the "active family interest" group were successful on parole compared with 50% of those in the "no contact with relatives" group.

According to Patton (1998), in a law review article summarizing research, "Female prisoners who have contact with their children and who complete family reunification programs which reintroduce them in a community-based setting have lower recidivism rates than female prisoners without access to their children or such programs."

Schafer (1994) conducted a survey of visitors to two men's prisons and found that successful completion of parole is significantly related to the maintenance of family ties during incarceration. I (Kupers, 1999) have written from a clinical perspective, with case reports, about the importance of quality family visitation in terms of the prisoner's mental health, his or her ability to participate successfully in prison programs and stay out of disciplinary trouble while incarcerated, and his or her potential for success at becoming a productive citizen after being released; and the negative consequences of impaired or less-than-quality visitation during incarceration.