Hi All!

Been very busy but today got two letters from my BF. He was at Kilby but now they have moved him to Bibb. It's a suprise because the classification people recommended him for Staten/Draper, and so he is dissapointed because he was hoping to go to Staten so he could get a trade going. I don't think they have anything like that at Bibb.
So the only thing to do is wait for a call and find out when I get visitation and all that.
I am curious about a few things.
How long are the visits generally and how early (before it starts) should we get there? And can we hug/kiss and just hold hands, or maybe I just have my arm around him??? I mean, guys I haven't laid a finger on him in 2 months, and haven't even seen his face sense he left county over a month ago.
I think the first time it will probably be just me and his mom, but after that I think some of his cousins want to come see him. One of them is 2yrs old, and I am not sure they will allow it unless her mom is with her. But I don't think they'll allow her mom because she has unpaid traffic tickets.
Anyway, I guess my questions are, can we bring him anything, like food or whatever? Are there car searches or strip searches that I've heard so much about? I just don't know what to expect, because I've only done visits on the county level here in B'ham.
And as for prison life in general, can we now send him things like books/magazines through the mail?
Questions, questions! Have you heard it all before? :)
Thanks. :)
~JulieB.

Julie, be sure and check back here tomorrow... one of our Bibb experts is usually on in the mornings (Denise) and I know she'll post here soon... think there's a couple of others around here too...

Hi Julie...my son is there. He was sent there from Mississippi. It took 18 days before they got his phone set up and we took his son to visit about 4 weeks ago and they would not let him in saying the mother would have to bring him. So we made a trip there for nothing. Children have to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
We did visit last weekend and the co's there was nice and showed us respect. The visiting was great once we got in. You can't bring anything in and you have to purchase a card to put your money on that you plan on bringing in. They have the usual vending machines that accept the cards. I saw women wearing capri pants and sandals. No smoking. But they don't seem to watch you like a hawk there like they do some places. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their visits and it was loud with everyone talking and laughing. The place is very clean and doesn't look that bad...not like I thought it would. As far as being there my son doesn't like it. But then again he had just came from Mississippi and it was totally different there. So he had to get used to the good ol ADOC again. I think visiting hours are 8:00-1:00. There is someone else here at this forum that can give you more info when she reads this.

Okay this is a dumb question maybe, but what do you mean by "they got his phone set up?" I thought it was that they just make the standard collect call that charges the family out the wazoo type of deal. Is it different at Bibb?
Also, if anybody knows this, I have been looking at the Prison Calls Online website and was wondering if they service Alabama facilities. If they can save me some money I really hope they do because my last phone bill was $300 for TNextix.
I sent them an application and hopefully will get some good news.
Anways, I'll check back tomorrow.
8-1 pm? You get to stay there with them that long? That would be cool if you could. :) Ah...too good to be true!

Until tomorrow,
Julie B. ::)

first off the phone set up thing is he has to turn in a phone list to be approved first....second the female cant visit if you are on the list only one female (not to include his mom) per inmate so the kid wont be able to visit....as far as your questions that are specific to just one prison i cant answer that, also remmember that EVERYTIME you step on state property you are subject to personal AND car searches, ive had it done to me, course i had nothing to hide so it didnt bother me just kinda made me wondery why is all.

Who! But the other female is his *sister! In fact, I don't think he has any men on his list. As far as I know they told him he could have a max of 8 visitors while there and he could change his list every six months...
I'll have to ask him about this tomorrow because I'll be he has no idea!
Man, that's whack.

Julieb.>

ok I am going to tell you what I know of bibb my dad was there for 18 mo befiore he got transferred to miss and now back at kilby visitation is from 8-1 we got there sometimes at 7:30 and they would let us in just depends on the guards. They did not do a car search at any time while we were going there,THey did stop you ask for drivers license and looked at your tag but make sure you are wearing your seat belt and DO NOT run the stop sign there going in or coming out one lady did and they stopped her and gave her a warning. YOu go in sign your name in and put down who you are going to see. and they do a pat down they make you take your shoes off they look at the bottom of your feet they make you pull your shirt up and let them see the bottom of your bra turn it up a little so they can see you are not hiding anything in there. then pat you down you can only take in a key to unlock your car that is it nothing else besides ID and even then you leave that there. You go in there with nothing.except the card you buy for them to use to get snacks. you can hug and hold hands you cannot send them food magazines you will have to check on I could but only things like readers digest or christian mags. It takes a while for the visitation and call lists to get approved so it might take a while before visitation. SOMe guards are nice it is a clean place you have to stay in the visitation area there is no place to walk. and just for general knowlede do not sit in the section with the blue line in it they will ask you to move cause that is for the "male Lovers" and the men who like to expose themselves. We had that happen to us once I about died laughing when they told us what it was for. That is all I can think of for now. I know as far as kids go I had to be present when I took my daughter and had to carry bc and ss card but I think the parent of the child is the only one who can take them in as far as other relatives going in they have to be on his visitation list and be approved and he has to get their names ss bd and driver license number before they can come and visit. and address too. That is all I can think of for now I am sure if I have forgotten something there are others on here than can pick up where I left off

hugs
Jamie

Julie - they only allow one unrelated female friend on a visiting list for males, but I believe the female friend, sister and mother would be OK... sisters don't count as female friends. Trying to get any female cousins on there might be a problem, however. They are allowed eight on a visiting list and can change it every six months, just like he was told.

Prison Calls Online does indeed service Alabama. You might want to go ahead and call Richard at 1-888-925-1400, or e-mail him (richard@prisoncallsonline.com), or PM him here on PTO (golf_buddy). Good luck! :)

hi Julie.

Bibb...where to begin?

Visits are everyother weekend..sat or sun (mine are on sundays 8-1)

clothes...very stricked..same old stuff, nothing white, nothing low cut, nothing to tight...same old same old

money for vists...you pay one dollar for the debit card...they you can add any amount you want...you keep the card and bring back next time, so if you don't spend all the money on the card its still good the next time...

phones...first he must get his phone list approved..it took kenny almost 3 weeks, he only has 3 people on his list so i'm not sure how many they are allowed

mail...only letters, stamps...you can get him subsciptions to 2 things..books, magazines, newspapers must come from publisher...you can not send them

wow...what else...to early...i can't think...

(sorry i missed this yesterday..i was on that montgomery field trip with my daughter)

I'll come back after my coffee and see what else i can come up with!!

denise how did ya like the Govs mansion? *giggle*

man...was that the biggest joke......you know what really got to me...

we are standing outside the state house, (we are a public school) and there was a private school there too...BOB RILEY came out and had his picture made with the children from the priviate school...DUH....wonder why?...i had smile while bitting my tongue.....DJ

yeah we were told he was "rather busy" and couldnt visit with us.....it was really hard for me not to ask questions about their spending habits (all those ridiculas phone lines, more fresh flowers than they could find room for, just lil here and there stuff) when we are so desperately needing cut backs other than where they are cutting back currently

RE the phone list... I think ADOC-wide they allow ten on the phone list...

Hey guys, so I see this is far different from county. County was a lot simplier! LOL.
The only "unrelated" female on his list is me, so that's okay right?
The rest are his two sisters, his mother and both his sisters children - his neices, all of whom are under the age of 14, the youngest being 2.
I am hoping we'll get approved by May 16th, because I haven't seen his face in 2 months. I got a call from him last night around 9:30, and I couldn't tell if the charge was $2.39 for the 1st minute and 30 cents or 13 cents for the rest of the call. Of course I'm hoping it's 13 cents, because I think that would make the phone call around $5.00. Anyway, I will talk to him again today and see what I can find out. :)
About the snacking and stuff with the card, about how much money is wise to put on that card for one good visit? And still, do you get to stay there with them the whole 5 hours?
So like books and magazines and the like, I could just order them through say...amazon.com? Books aren't supscription though, so how would I do that?
Can't wait to see him! Thanks guys!
JulieB.

the amount of money you take depends on how many folks you have coming, with joe and i and the three kids we were limited to 30 bucks and due to the high cost of things it was hard to stretch it that far, sometimes we snuck in more and it made it easier....the worst part for us was having to buy a pack of smokes there, i cant remmember how much they were but i do remmember being upset about it

NO SMOKING at bibb....none...nope...not going to happen....


Julie, i take in around 20 dollars if its just me and kenny, if the kids go with me I double that...but we got big kids..two boys 17 and 16....if its me, kenny and our daughter (10)...i take in around 30 but my daughter eats out of boardom..and she'll spend ever penny on it...

the 16th...thats sunday...maybe well be able to meet..our visits are on sunday too...

DeniseJ

Denise,

I don't mind the not smoking, and I don't think he does either because he's trying to quit believe it or not! :)
Yes we could meet! IF I get approved and all that good fluff!
I guess I'll know something sooner or later...hopefully sooner rather than later...but we'll see.

JulieB.

just let me know, i'm not on-line on weekends, so catch me during the week. I know i always feel alittle better if i know someone on my first visit....DeniseJ

Hey Denise, just curious - is Bibb 100% no smoking or is that just visitation yard rules?

I don't remember seeing a place to buy cigarettes at Bibb and also don't think anyone is allowed to smoke in the visitation room. The card holds $40 from my experience and doesn't accept the new $20 bills, so I take tens and fives now.

the machine is taking the new 20's now...

as for the smoking...just visiting yard rules...kenny doesn't smoke any way but I know others do...

DeniseJ

Hi Denise,

I don't know if we'll get approved in time or not. I have not talked to him yet but I'm sure as soon as he finds out he'll let me know.
I know I would feel better if there was somebody there to help us through that first time. I think his mom is probably going to be a dang basket case before it's all over with. And me? Well, going to county for visits every week made me nauseous...but we delt with it, you know?
I just can't WAIT to see him. I will PM you when I find something out, if that's okay.

~Julie.