My son just left for Dodge this morning and I have a few questions. What happens to them when they first get there? Do they just sit in their cells with nothing to do? When do they get to make their first phone call? Can they write letters and mail them out as soon as the get there? Also when are they able to have their first visit? My son said he heard that dodge was the worst part and once they get transfered to the prison they will be at it gets better. How long do they stay at dodge? I heard it could be up to 2 months. Thats a long time to be stuck in your cell with nothing to do. Sorry for all the questions I am just a very concerned mom. Karen

Hi Karen,

My friend has been at DCI since September 08. He is permanently staffed there now. Most inmates do get moved in about 4-6 weeks to another prison, such as Jackson, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Oakhill, Waupun Correctional, etc... But my friend is staffed there as permanent I believe because he has pending charges in one county. But Dodge is basically like any other prison. They have a dayroom there and I believe that even the A&E inmates (ones that are newly transferred to DCI and are awaiting another transfer) can go to rec, but I am not SURE about that. I got my first phone call from him VERY SOON after he got there. As soon as he got there, he sent me the visiting form, which I sent back to DCI immediately. I was approved within 3 days and was visiting that same day. They can write letters as soon as they get there, provided that they have some money to go to canteen to buy paper and pens and stamps. I believe that they get one pre-stamped envelope per week, but again -- I am not sure about that. I sent my friend money right away so he was able to go to canteen. He will be eligible for his first visit as soon as you are approved on his visiting list. When they are A&E inmates, they get one 1-hour visit per week. After a month of being there, they get two 2-hour visits per week. And if they are permanently staffed there, they get three 3-hour visits per week. My friend is able to make four 15 minute phone calls per week, but I am not sure if your son will get just one phone call for the first month or what. Your son will be fine in there. I just got back from there myself (I went to visit tonight) and it's not that bad. Of course it sucks, but it's prison - not the Howard Johnson! :D I hope that he will get moved soon for your sake, but DCI isn't all that bad. My friend is able to go to rec and he has a guitar in there, plus his tv and radio and all of that. You can write to your son at:

His name and DOC number
Dodge Correctional Institution
PO Box 700
Waupun, WI 53963

If you are sending him money, a money order would be best. Just send the money order right in the same envelope as the letter. The rules JUST changed on that, as we used to have to send it to the business office. Cards and pictures can also be sent, but no stickers. I hope that this helps you out. If you have more questions, PM me and I can give you my email addy! :)

My son just left for Dodge this morning and I have a few questions. What happens to them when they first get there? Do they just sit in their cells with nothing to do? When do they get to make their first phone call? Can they write letters and mail them out as soon as the get there? Also when are they able to have their first visit? My son said he heard that dodge was the worst part and once they get transfered to the prison they will be at it gets better. How long do they stay at dodge? I heard it could be up to 2 months. Thats a long time to be stuck in your cell with nothing to do. Sorry for all the questions I am just a very concerned mom. Karen

HI,
have you gt your questions resolved yet and if not i have information for you. you can pm me.

better think again.about dodge prison.i was there and i got all the infor mation.too find out u have to be a family membor too see your inmate now.the law changed june1.2004
they only get one phone call for 15 min. and one visit a week.for only a hour now.and they stay in dodge about 13 to 14 weeks then they are transfered to other prison.i am so upset about this. i cant even see my boyfriend til aug.it hurts me so much......that is new law.and i did talk to a guard there in dodge prison.it is a big place.i was so scared and very sad.my boyfriend is in there.there is also a dress code there for us.
i hope that helps u

better think again.about dodge prison.i was there and i got all the infor mation.too find out u have to be a family membor too see your inmate now.the law changed june1.2004
they only get one phone call for 15 min. and one visit a week.for only a hour now.and they stay in dodge about 13 to 14 weeks then they are transfered to other prison.i am so upset about this. i cant even see my boyfriend til aug.it hurts me so much......that is new law.and i did talk to a guard there in dodge prison.it is a big place.i was so scared and very sad.my boyfriend is in there.there is also a dress code there for us.
i hope that helps u

dragonrose, I am sorry to hear that they changed the rules. My son went to Dodge on March 18th and I went to visit him every week and his Dad would visit him on the weekends so that he would get 2 visits a week,and they were for 2 hours each. Every time I went to visit I mostly saw girlfriends visiting their boyfriends. I can't believe they would change that rule! I have not visited my son in June yet because he just got transfered to Kettle Moraine. I am really sorry to hear of those new rules,that is just wrong of them to do that! I wish you all the best and just make good use of his one phone call a week. Karen

They changed the rules? My man was in there at the first of the year before the rules changed. I know how hard it must be not seeing your man, that sucks. Hopefully he will call soon. Take care and keep your head up.

My fiance is on his way there next wednesday, I'm not too happy to be reading about all of the changes there! I wonder if I will even be able to visit? since we are not married yet? if he is in A&E are they able to even have visitors? tired of just phone calls, haven't seen him for going on 4 months...the jail he's at is too far away for the 5 minute visits they allow there so we've been hanging on to the thought that once he got to dodge that we could actually have a real visit! I've never even been to a prison before, so not sure of what to expect on anything.....must confess, I'll be as nervous as a cat!!! dress code? I'm wondering what that amounts to? wow.....I was hoping that the prison system would be better than the jail that he's at right now...nothing nice!!!! if anyone has some information on dodge I'd appreciate it, it will be going down soon. Thanks all!!! and take care!!

terris544,
I would call Dodge and find out what the rules are before you drive all the way there and find out you can't visit. I know your fiance will have to send you a visiters form that you will need to fill out and send back to be on whats called his visiter list. With that form your fiance sends you you will also get all the information on the visiting rules such as the dress code and things like that. The first visit can be a little scary but after you know what to expect it's not that bad. Take care Karen

If you have more q's PM me my fiance left Dodge about 2 months ago (2nd time there) It's not all bad, I was stuck there during a tornado, they were actully pretty nice. Good luck!

My boyfriend recently went to Dodge he went in Dec 2 of 2004 and I have no idea how long they are going to keep him their im hoping not for very long and they send him some where else because while hes in Dodge I can't see him so that hurts alot. I have to reply on letters because I have a cell phone and he can't call that collect and right now he has no money so he wont be able to write me for a lil bit. Does anyone know how much envelopes and paper and stamps cost? Very new to this, do they stay at Dodge for very long? And whats up with their rules about the touching part never had to worry about not being able to touch my own boyfriend. thats a new one lol but its better then talking behind a glass wall. thanks

My husband ended up being at Dodge for 2 months before being transferred out to Racine. I believe the envelopes are pre stamped and each one costs about 39 cents, as far as the paper, I am not sure but everything seemed to be pretty reasonable, I was actually surprised.
As far as the touching, it is hard because you have to sit across from eachother and I didn't know the rules either and am afraid they will take away the visits if you do anything wrong... but we held hands across the table and we are only able to kiss at the start and at the end of the visit. We also have a 7 year old daughter and I was not sure about that as I read that children 4 and under can sit on their laps...but I didn't really want to have to tell her she can't even touch him since its been hard enough with him gone so I played it out the first time and she does sit on his lap at the visits and no one has ever said anything about it so far. It is extremely difficult to know the rules because you hear so much from everyone else and like you, I am new to this and my husband has never spent more than 30 days in the county jail and that was 10 years ago so this prison thing was pretty intimidating for us both.

Thanks to everyone for the information, just received the bad new's of their new rules in effect....not able to visit for the first 120 day's because we are not married yet,and probably no phone calls for the next 2 weeks because it takes them that long to set up his number into the system. I'm so dissapointed in this, on the verge of tears since I received the letter. He has no family that is going to visit, can't the system take that into consideration that we are engaged? and allow us a short visit? I think it's pretty lousy, I can understand that they don't want friends from all walks of life coming into the facility, but really is there any harm in letting engaged couples visit? after all, we are already married even though it's not on paper!! Thanks for listening, guess I just need to digest the fact that it will continue to be this way for quite some time. Take care all, I'm trying to do the same:)