Hey all,

Hopefully going to visit this weekend or next for the first time since county. I am very excited but also extremely nervous. I read on the USP Terra Haute website that they have a drug scanner machine. I am fine with this since I don't do drugs, but am nervous because I have read SO many horror stories!!!! Do they test randomly? I would prefer not to be tested at all but just in case will bring sani-wipes and make sure my hands are clean. Do they scan only your hands and other parts of your body or is it a walk-through machine. I have to have a faulty machine make my 6 hour drive pointless! Also, what is it like visiting in a USP, especially Terra Haute. Any and all info is awesome! What can I expect?

Thanks
Bree

Bree-
My guy is at the camp in Terre Haute. There are no drug scanners there. So I have no info for you but I wanted to say congrats on your first visit and wish you luck!

Ali

Thanks! After reading the visiting regulations thoroughly I have learned that the USP does have a drug scanner. Anyone have any problems with the machine so far? What's the visiting room like and the COs who run it?

Bree

I'm with Jaysgirl here....My fellah was at the camp in Terre Haute, so I don't know much about the visiting at the USP, and haven't heard anything about a drug scanner. You may want to do another post with "drug scanner at visits" or something in the tag line. Maybe someone from another prison that's been through it can give you some pointers. Have a safe drive and enjoy your visit!

I used to visit a friend here at USP Atwater until they moved him to Lewisburg last year - they drug tested everyone. It was like a small round cloth that you had to rub on the inside of your hands and then rub on your clothes mostly around the pocket area. Then they stuck it in the scanner to be read. I never had a problem with it but it seems like everytime i went someone else did. I would always wash my hands really good as soon as i got to the prison and again after i filled out their forms with their pen, right before i went thru the metal detector. I made sure never to touch anything until after the test - especially my money. I never had a problem with lotion or hairspray as some people suggest - i know some perfumes have poppy in them so i would watch out for that. You should be fine - just wash your hands. Your clothes too - just in case you may have come in contact with anything on money or something that had any drug residue on it. Good Luck.

Bree,

Run a search for "ion track" or "drug scanners" here on PTO. I promise you will come upon a mountain of information.

My best advice to you is read all the posts carefully, then take what you think is useful and apply it to you.

I have posted on this before, and have to deal with it again now, so I know all about this only too well.

I think you'll find the best overall advice from everyone is the same: Wash your hands, don't touch your money--set it up the night before--, and lay off the hand creams, purfumes, hairspray, etc. At least until you see how they are operating the device because they have been known to scan hair, shoes, zippers, etc.

I would tell you to not worry about it, but that's advice I can't even take myself; because the sad truth is that most of these machines are not calibrated correctly and oftentimes the officer in charge of running them is calibrated even worse. (tee hee, a little humor there) Remember, this machine is a computer, and we all know that Garbage In results in Garbage Out!

Of course, you could always do like I do, I boil my money, wash my license and car key, and hope like hell the machine is calibrated! However the down side to that is I became paranoid, but I still believe that this whole machine is just a plot to drive away visitors. Sorry, there I go.

Anyway, dirve safe and don't stay at the Travel Lodge on US 41; it's a pit. Try the Knights Inn, it is also on US 41 and ask them if they will give you a discount for being a visitor to the Federal prison. I know they used to a few years ago.

Good luck!

mrslmw

regarding Hotels...I always stayed at the Super 8 in Terre Haute. It's only about a 5 minute drive to the prison and has been remodeled. Reasonable rates and not directly on the highway. I always felt safe and never had a problem other than once last summer on a really hot day when my a/c wouldn't work, and they moved me to a different room right away.

My husband was moved to the Terre Haute USP about two months ago. We expected him to go to a medical center as that is what the Judge ordered. Very distressing. He's not a complainer, but I can tell from the way he sounds that it's a constant "watch your back" kind of place. Very unsettling. Now, they are on lockdown. Anyone have any information about this? Any idea where I can find out? I called but they said they weren't at liberty to tell me why they were on lockdown.

There's another recent thread about the Terre Haute USP Lockdown - read that. Also, if you're going to visit, you need to call first and make sure the lockdown is over because, until it is, there will not be any visiting allowed. Look around on other threads here in the Federal Forum about the ionscan machine. Every institution that uses the ionscan on visitors has different procedures. Some test every visitor; some test randomly; some choose certain visitors to test. If you test positive, BOP policy is that you can have a second confirmatory test. Zelda