I was there (KVSP) on Sat and on Sunday - Sunday did run very smooth.. I drove up at 7:00AM they handed me a pass plus a number - I took it to the guy at the table on the outside, 1 through 50 had already begin to enter - I was 160 and in about 1 hour I was walking up go in... Got to sleep 1 extra hour, no waiting in line outside... Seem to end up in there about the same time.. I think it is much BETTER!! Just my humble opinion!LH

Just thought I would check in and make sure everyone is doing OK.
Hopefully its been so quiet because a lot of people got to visit
this weekend.

If anyone visited on Sunday please let us know how they did the
passes because on Saturday, the cars were lined up on the side of
the road, some people having been there since 3 am. At 715 or so the
cops opened up and let us drive into the parking lot and then
everyone jumped from their cars and ran up to get their passes.
Bascally the ones who waited in line the longest didnt get the first
passes. . . it reminded me of a few months back when India posted
about them doing it this way. People pushing and shoving to get in
front of you to get a pass and so on. Alot of poeple complained on
Sat. morning; I am wondering if they changed for sunday?

Processeing did seem to go fast tho. I had number 76 and went back
to the room to change; when i went back to processing at 9 am they
had alrady passed my name, so i got in right away basically; but
then had to wait about an hour for him to come down because they are
still escorting southerners. . . but all in all it was a good day. D
yard was very crowded but they didnt terminate; they were talking
about it, but they ended up doing the shared tables and everyone got
to stay.

So. . . anyone else who went this weekend i am curious about the
pass situation and stuff.

well i heard that they are doing the process diffrent, they are now handing out a pass and a number, and will now be called by the number not the name, if anyone can clear this i would really appreciate it....

I heard the same thing. Hopefully it stays that way because people said the processing was faster. I'll find out this weekend when I go up there.

OK group. I talked to Lt. Hamlin this morning. He is the Lt. in
charge of visiting procedures. Capn. Florez is the one working right
above him; he is helping to get the procedures sent through in an
easier and faster way. I just wanted to clear up that confusion for
everyone.

Now, Lt. Hamlin said they were actually going into a meeting when i
called to discuss what procedure they were going to keep for
processing. They are going to try a few new things this weekend
also, so unfortunately he could not tell me exactly how things will
run. He is meeting with his staff today and they are all meeting
with the family council on friday. after they do their trial and
error this weekend, he asked me to call him on monday and he should
be able to tell me what procedure they will be using at all times by
then.

What he did say was they are opening the gate at 7 am to hand out
passes. They will stick with the number system for now, and probably
stick with calling in 50 at a time into the room. He can not tellus
not to line up along the side of the road because they can not say
what we can do off state property, but DID say there will soon be No
Parking signs along that part of the road. he felt that the line up
causes issues because people are fighting for their place in line
and then you have the people who get there at 3 am and get pass #1
but its a first come first serve basis. if you have #1 you can be
terminated after a 2 hour visit because they have to make room for
other visitors. so getting there about 7 am seems to be the best
route. im sure for a while it will be a lil of a clusterfuck with
all the cars not knowing what to do, we need to expect this and try
and keep our tempers in check with the co's becaue they really are
trying to find a way to lessen both our stress and theirs.

I will be talking to him on monday to get a better idea of the
procedures that will be permanent, but he did say this weekend will
be a trial and error weekend again so we need to anticipate that.

Get there about 7 am when they open the gate. know that you dont
want a super low number because that opens you up to termination
alot earlier in the day. if the procedure works, let him know.

He said he is always up in the processing room when all the visitors
come in; he is there to answer questions or take thank yous or
address concerns. he was extremely nice and very positive about
wanting to make this as streamlined as possible for both visitors
and his staff. if you happen to see him, a nice thank you would be a
good thing.

I did make it a point to let him know that we as a group are trying
to be respectful of their procedure and thank them very much for
what they have been doing to make our processing run smoother.

we discussed sharing tables at visits; i had said it seems to go
well from our end; that no one in the group has complained about
having to share. he said he has heard that from other visitors, and
as he said that said he also had a complaint from an inmate on his
desk this morning whining because he had to share a table. so we
might want to have our loved ones send notes to Hamlin letting him
know we prefer table sharing above termination.

They are also trying to get new tables in the rooms; he wants to
remove the larger tables and get the smaller ones that take up less
room so we would have more room for visitors. he will keep me
updated on that as well.

overall, he was sorry he couldnt give us an exact procedure or let
us know exactly what they were going to do this weekend, other than
get there at 7 am; they are still using numbers; and will probably
continue calling 50 at a time into the room.

i will post more on monday after i talk to him.

and again, if you happen to visit and see Lt. Hamlin at the desk, be
sure to give him a thank you for all that he is doing, because he
reallydoes seem to be doing all that he can to make this process as
smooth as possible for all of us.

thats it for now guys.

good luck! if anyone has anymore concerns to address with him, let
me know, i am keeping a list so that when i talk to him monday i can
try and address all concerns we have.

HI I HAVE A QUESTION YOU COULD ASK FOR ME... HOW DO THEY HANDLE OUT OF STATE VISITORS IS IT THE SAME WITH ALL THE VISIT PROCESS I KNOW THEY HAVE ACCOMODATED IN THE PAST BUT DO THEY HAVE A PROCEDURE FOR THAT IN PLACE JUST WONDERING ??


OK group. I talked to Lt. Hamlin this morning. He is the Lt. in
charge of visiting procedures. Capn. Florez is the one working right
above him; he is helping to get the procedures sent through in an
easier and faster way. I just wanted to clear up that confusion for
everyone.

Now, Lt. Hamlin said they were actually going into a meeting when i
called to discuss what procedure they were going to keep for
processing. They are going to try a few new things this weekend
also, so unfortunately he could not tell me exactly how things will
run. He is meeting with his staff today and they are all meeting
with the family council on friday. after they do their trial and
error this weekend, he asked me to call him on monday and he should
be able to tell me what procedure they will be using at all times by
then.

What he did say was they are opening the gate at 7 am to hand out
passes. They will stick with the number system for now, and probably
stick with calling in 50 at a time into the room. He can not tellus
not to line up along the side of the road because they can not say
what we can do off state property, but DID say there will soon be No
Parking signs along that part of the road. he felt that the line up
causes issues because people are fighting for their place in line
and then you have the people who get there at 3 am and get pass #1
but its a first come first serve basis. if you have #1 you can be
terminated after a 2 hour visit because they have to make room for
other visitors. so getting there about 7 am seems to be the best
route. im sure for a while it will be a lil of a clusterfuck with
all the cars not knowing what to do, we need to expect this and try
and keep our tempers in check with the co's becaue they really are
trying to find a way to lessen both our stress and theirs.

I will be talking to him on monday to get a better idea of the
procedures that will be permanent, but he did say this weekend will
be a trial and error weekend again so we need to anticipate that.

Get there about 7 am when they open the gate. know that you dont
want a super low number because that opens you up to termination
alot earlier in the day. if the procedure works, let him know.

He said he is always up in the processing room when all the visitors
come in; he is there to answer questions or take thank yous or
address concerns. he was extremely nice and very positive about
wanting to make this as streamlined as possible for both visitors
and his staff. if you happen to see him, a nice thank you would be a
good thing.

I did make it a point to let him know that we as a group are trying
to be respectful of their procedure and thank them very much for
what they have been doing to make our processing run smoother.

we discussed sharing tables at visits; i had said it seems to go
well from our end; that no one in the group has complained about
having to share. he said he has heard that from other visitors, and
as he said that said he also had a complaint from an inmate on his
desk this morning whining because he had to share a table. so we
might want to have our loved ones send notes to Hamlin letting him
know we prefer table sharing above termination.

They are also trying to get new tables in the rooms; he wants to
remove the larger tables and get the smaller ones that take up less
room so we would have more room for visitors. he will keep me
updated on that as well.

overall, he was sorry he couldnt give us an exact procedure or let
us know exactly what they were going to do this weekend, other than
get there at 7 am; they are still using numbers; and will probably
continue calling 50 at a time into the room.

i will post more on monday after i talk to him.

and again, if you happen to visit and see Lt. Hamlin at the desk, be
sure to give him a thank you for all that he is doing, because he
reallydoes seem to be doing all that he can to make this process as
smooth as possible for all of us.

thats it for now guys.

good luck! if anyone has anymore concerns to address with him, let
me know, i am keeping a list so that when i talk to him monday i can
try and address all concerns we have.

we had a quick discussion last week about helping terrry come and
visit bobby. . . . after we talked about it, i kept on thinking and
well, here is the thought that i had.

we are all in the same boat; we are all out here trying to hold down
the forts on our own; we are all pretty much struggling for money to
pay the bills each month and also pay our phone bills which are our
life lines and have money for gas to go visit.

SO. . . what do you guys think about this idea. and bear with me cuz
its a primitive idea at best ok? i figure we can all talk about it
and maybe fine tune it. but the basic idea is this. . . we figure
out how many members we have in the group. each month, each memeber
who wants to can contribute 5.00 to the "member of the month" to
help with visiting costs. what i am thinking is if we have all the
members listed and when each one last visited that might be the best
way to figure out who should be the first one to get the help and so
on. . .

instead of trying to have one fund and a treasurer and all that, we
are all pretty computer savvy. if all of us have pay pal accounts,
whoever wants to contribute that month can just paypal it to the
member whos turn it is. that way its all confidential as to who is
contributing and how much and all that; its a purely voluntary thing
and if one month someone doesnt want to contribute but the next
month they do, its all good.

like i said it is a very primitive plan but that is the basic idea i
had. this way we are all helping each other be able to visit at
least a lil bit. . .

let me know what you all think about it. im exhausted tonight so im
not sure that i even made sense. i hope i did ;-)

YOU KNOW I THINK THAT IS A GREAT IDEA AND I CAN AFFORD 5.00 OR 10.00 A MONTH THAT IS NOT BIG DEAL WE ALL WASTE MONEY ALL THE TIME AND ITS FOR A GOOD CAUSE. SO LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANY HELP GETTING THIS TOGETHER OR ANYTHING I AM DOWN. I MYSELF JUMP THROUGH HOOPS TO SEE MY MAN AND IT IS ALL WORTH IT. SO TO HELP OTHER LADIES AND FAMILIES THAT WANT TO SEE THEIR LOVED ONES IS ALL GOOD TO ME !!! LET'S GET THIS STARTED !!!