Visitation Cluster

Ninety percent of all incarcerated persons are released. A cornerstone of DOC’s “re-entry” model is that successful reintegration of the incarcerated to their communities begins with keeping those behind bars close to family and friends. Nice words. Unfortunately as with most DOC words, they ring hollow. DOC’s new visitation procedure is – in the vernacular of those behind bards – a “cluster” f –k.

            Late last year, DOC announced a new visitor approval policy. Before, a visitor would arrive at the institution and fill out an application. Application information would be placed in the computer, a criminal background check run, and then the visitor would be admitted. Simple enough.

            But DOC decided to “centralize” the process. Beginning January 1^st, all visitors had to be preapproved by a new “visitation” office at DOC headquarters in Richmond. Visitors were told to submit applications on-line to expedite the process. The department also told applicants the following:

            “In-state residents will be approved within 30 days; out-of-state residents: please allow 90 days for approval.”

            Nice standard. Impossible standard for a poorly managed technologically backward government agency to meet. No one – I repeat – no one gets approved within the time frame set by DOC itself. As if that wasn’t bad enough, calling the visitation office in Richmond gets you either 1 voicemail (which is never returned) or 2 a curt, disrespectful state employee. Customer service is not a priority. Polite, responsive answers to inquiries don’t happen.

            The result is less visits, people turned away at the front gate. “The 30 days was just a goal, not a requirement.” That’s what one of the DOC employees told a caller. Really? Read your own document including the press release announcing the new policy.

            Want to know why things work like that in DOC? Want to know why DOC employees get away with treating members of the public so disrespectfully (a 72 year-old woman was strip-searched here two weeks ago before being given entry)? It’s because they hide behind the tired, old mantra of “keeping the public safe.”

            In any other operation, public or private, failed implementation of new programs combined with a disrespectful work force which lacks customer service skills, would lead to heads rolling. But, this isn’t any operation; this is DOC which operates under its own rules. Visitation is just another in a long line of DOC clusters.