What exactly does "contact" meetings mean?
Hugs? kisses? holding hands? Heavy petting? Somehow I think it means setting in the same room across the table from each other. Will they have a list of "No No's"? A ruler to measure the space between people? I called to get information and they more or less put me on hold and transferred me around the system. Finally got a person and he said the prisoner knows the rules and hung up on me. Thats good but I want to know the rules too.

The universal definition of contact in the system is to have the ability to touch.. (and get in more trouble :p) In most situations that I have been in where there are contact visits, you usually get to hug & kiss at the start and end of a visit. In the feds we could usually get by with kisses here and there but it always depends on the guards that are on duty. This is probably the same everywhere. Light or heavy petting is frowned on by the staff and also by other inmates if there are a lot of children around. Often though, there will be designated, or known "petting zones" for those who want to push the intimacy limits during visitation. This might be a patio or a hard to see location.
Again, all of this depends on who is working.. I know of couples that actually took it all the way but it wasn't without the help of staff, and it was a RARE happening. Getting caught doing this will usually get the visitor banned from the institution and the inmate sent to the hole with possible loss of good time, etc.

So.. Contact = Hugs & kiss(s) in most cases

David

AAAAAAH! so there is hope for a congucal visit!! haha! It would be nice just to give Stephen a hug right now! sorry off topic but just missin him!

When it comes to contact, I do know it is best to know the rules and be sure you follow them... I saw many guys get denied visitation with their wives for painfully long periods of time for "touches" that seemed pretty harmless to me.... I know that after having communication and visitation so severely restricted, I wouldn't want to do ANYTHING to put that visitation at risk (no matter how tempting it may be... :D)

I agree with you. A contact visit is one where there is not bariacade between you and the inmate i.e., glass or mesh wiringing. You are ususally able to briefly kiss at the start and end of the visit and you are able to hold hand during the visit unless they feel you are doing something inappropriate. then you can loose your visits. So just to be safe it is always best to call the prison and ask them there policy on contact visits. Most have similar rules so just call and find out what theres are. Reguardless they hold the inmate accountable and if they don't know either then you can get in trouble because you did not know. That would make it worse.

I did call and asked but I did not get much information even after I explained I had never visited anyone in prison before. I'm a touchy, feely, huggy, person and I want to be myself with whatever restraints are required. That is why I was asking in here if there were rules posted somewhere?

no but you can get them from the prison he is at. Ask them to mail them to you. Or ask if they have a web site where you can get them yourself.

torrey-each prison has different rules, and sometimes they are enforced more rigidly when ceratin guards are on-make sure you know the specific rules for the prison you are going to--like shortie said, call and ask for them to be faxed or mailed to you. i would get them in writing so there are no surprises. Good luck

sherri

When your dealing with the DOC it is always better to have it in writing. Trust me on that. One minute it is one way then it is competely different the next. It gets irrating but if you have it in writing you will have a better idea what to exspect.