I was planning a visit from NY to Gurney this weekend to see my guy, but I know they lost a lot of staff to other facilities last weekend for the hurricane. I just called them and they said they won't know till Friday if visitation is on for this weekend...... I don't suppose anyone has heard anything different ??

Not yet, but my guess is that's it's probably not the best weekend for visitation. I was going to Ramsey, outside of Houston, last weekend. But obviously didn't. I'm thinking it's going to be at least the next weekend (27 - 28) before visitation is back to normal.

That is such a bummer..... the worst is that they say they won't know until Friday after 10am, and I'm supposed to fly out Friday. At least my flight isn't until the evening so i'll be able to postpone. If anyone hears anything at all before then please let me know!!

It's really bad in Houston, not sure how bad it is in the Palestine (Tenn colony) area. Just not sure when all the prisoners will be taken back to their original units, which ones they are at now, etc. I'd just hate for you to fly all this way, then there be no visitation, ya know? If I were you, if you can, I'd postpone my trip for a couple of weeks and let it all get back to normal. I know it sucks, I can't visit this weekend either. There are still a lot of electricity outages in Houston and fuel shortages. We have advisories not to travel to Houston or Beaumont (I'm in Dallas), and although Tenn Colony is farther away, it still effects them. Where were you planning on flying into?

Michelle is right. Houston is a mess. How well do I know. I am one of the lucky few that does have power. The roads are a mess from debris, most of the traffic signals are not working, provided they haven't been blown away. Getting to Ramsey from IAH may prove to be dicy.

I don't like it, it sucks but I have to agree with Michelle, I would wait until next weekend, especially since you are coming all the way from NY.
Michelle, do you what is happening at Ramsey? Do they have power, is the mail moving at all? I can't get through, it's always busy.

Another friend who's hubby is also there called and was told that they do have power and that the water is running. When I called the hotline on Saturday, she said that there was no flooding or building damage. But, until I hear from my bf, I still won't feel any better. I also heard from someone who lives in Sugarland that it wasn't too bad in that area, it's just getting there that's the problem. I can't wait until I can visit again!

As for the mail, I did hear that it's running in that area, but not sure about at the prison. That would be a question for the unit, but if you can't get through, then of course, you can't ask!!!!

Thanks everyone, I agree with all of you and I cancelled my ticket. As of this morning Gurney still did not know if they were going to cancel visits for this weekend, and i feel like if they're that unsure about it, even if they decide to have visitation, they might change their mind once i get down there. It's just too risky. I'll rebook it for a couple of weeks from now just to be safe. rrrr!! :(


ps on a brighter note, they did say that the problem at Gurney was that the problem was that so many people were being moved there and there so many staff changes to accommodate everyone, it's not that the unit had been directly affected by the weather... also not that they would tell me anyway but when I asked they said there were no hurricane-related injuries, at least at Gurney.

@gert there are supposed to be visits this weekend at tenn colony, however they are not doing special visits at this time so its better that you cancelled your trip for the weekend so that way you can get your special visit since you are coming from so far away...hope you get to visit soon...take care

yeah i'm glad i cancelled it.. i figured something like that would happen. i would have been pretty mad if i had gone all the way down there for 2 hour visits ........... thanks for the info!

TDCJ have updated their website. Here is the link. Hope it helps.

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/hurricane_advisory.htm