I am noticing a big difference in the situations and rules regarding visits with lifers. I started a new thread to share some specifics...

Is your lifer parolable or LWOP?

Does your lifer have contact or non-contact visits?

If they are non-contact, is it because of a level system/behavior, or specifically because of the life sentence?

What are the limits, if any of the visitors...family/friends?

How often do you visit, and what distance do you travel?

Hee-hee...I'll go first. My man is a LWOP. We have never had a contact visit, but this is due to him being in a max facility. Once he is transferred to a level appropriate facility, we will have contact visits. He was placed there 4 years ago due to an assault. He has no real specific limits on the visitors. They are the same as all the visitor lists in the MDOC. Must be over 18 years of age, and there is a limit how many friends and family. He has only had 2 visits in 6 years from his mother, the last being 4 years ago. No one except for me visits him, however my son is now on the list, and my daughter will be applying in August. I visit every 2-3 months. Our visits are 2 hours while he is in Seg. and 4 hours when he is in General Population. For the past almost 3 years i have driven 10 hours one way, 525 miles to visit. I stay for 3 days and have 3 visits per trip.

Dawn

Wow.. dawn your traveling is amazing.. i suppose your love for Jerry drives you!:0
My brian.. is LWOP. in this state it means just that.. unless you have an appeal.. and get out which we are always working on.. he is currently working with a new lawyer..
HE is in a maximum because of his level of security .. (he is a security risk) was found with handcuff keys.. and has been in numerous. altercations.. when i bitch about this he reminds me he lives in PRISON.. .. lets see oh ya after some time, and GOOD behavior he can put in for a move.. (classification) which would make visits more (lovely) right now they are non contact.. 1 hour.. behind glass.. as a matter of fact dawn i am going to pm you to let you know about my visit yesterday.!:) I hope i answered all the questions it still is only 6 30 am.. here.. anyone want coffee?
DOnna
DO

Gary is LWOP and has been down almost 12 years. We get contact visits, but he is a Level 2. Now that he has been moved across Michigan I should be able to make the trip in 5 hours instead of 7-8. Myself, his mother, and step-father are the only ones that visit him, just not on the same day. I try to do the visit once a month, but that all depends on how the lupus feels that week.

My man has life but comes up for parole in 2009. He has been "down" since '91. Visits are contact for 6 hours Fri-Mon. He is in max and is now eligible for medium. No problems since '96 so his public safety factor is straight My kids went with me last time (ages 7 & 10) and we had a blast! . They just loved him and told their biological, whose a cop, all about our visit. No matter! I tell my kids they can tell family anything or ask any question they want. Me and my man plan to be married as soon as he can be transferred closer to us. I just saw him after 7 yrs last month. We traveled 14 hours one way! A labor of love! He is worth it though.

DIVITA! 14 hours with 2 kids???? That is awesome! you got me beat girl! So happy for you though. The cop thig is funny to me cuz i USED TO BE a cop! Gotta love that irony there! (Awesome Quote on your post)

Lisa...dont forget to plan a visit around the 19th of June so you can hang here! You are welcome for sure! We have to talk Lupus stuff anyway!

Donna, i feel ya on the transfer thing. We just got the administrative hold removed last year, but still he sits. 2 fights in 6 years... But the visits have given him somthing to work for!

Thanks for the posts, look forward to more replies!

Dawn

My man has lwop. Our visits are the same as everyone elses. We have contact visits,4 times a week, every other week for 6 hours and 45 minutes. I live locally so it's only a 7 minute drive to see him!

My husband has Life with parole, working on an appeal though. He get's 8 visit's a month and I try to see him twice a week if possiable. He is only 15min away from me. There is a limit of 3 adults a visit at a time. Our visit is a contact visit and it's only an hour long. Anyone can visit as long as your on the visiting list but if your under 18 you must have an adult present that is on the list to visit.

Joe is LWOP with an out date of 2038. thanks to 3 strikes law he received 40 to life for robbing an uninhabited building. He does get contact visits . visiting is only on Saturday and Sunday. He is a level 4 security level. The prison is only 78 miles from me and i visit with my kids and his sister. he can have up to 5 people visiting at one time.

im sorry, im new to this...what exactly is LWOP?

Billy is life without possibility of parole. I thought thats what LWOP was, but then i see some mention of release dates.. help me understand.
he just sent a writ to the DA .. please pray for him.

ok, so lets see...
he is in angola (louisiana)

we have contact visits -wednesday-sunday

10 people on his list at a time, children under 15 do not need to be on his list.

5 people -including children- is the max for a visit

each person can only visit 2 times a month. this sucks, id go everyday if i could!
im about 2 hours away...

he gets one "special visit" per month, depending on his CO's mood at the time he asks for it

the hours are from 8-3. your only supposed to get 4 hours during the week, and 2 hours on the weekends.. but luckiny if there arent people waiting for a table, they let you stay the whole 7 hours.

the visitation isnt TOO bad at angola.. i personally have never had a problem, except for the fact that he cant come home with me!!!

oh, and they are EXTREMELY accomodating to children; books, crayons, paper...

i guess it could be worse :/

my heart goes out to all of you who drive long distances...shows what love makes you do, i guess!!

kerrilyn....sounds like you have cool visiting, well except for the 2 visits per person per month part.

i am confused by littlesmokes' post as well. As far as i knew...LWOP is Life With Out Parole. if one has an outdate then they are paroleable right? Life With possibility of Parole is just LWP.

Things that make me go hmmmm?

:) Dawn

I'm in California, the visits aren't any different for lifers. Every Sat and Sun, they get contact visits, up to 5 people at a time. They can have unlimited people on their visitor list and you don't have to be family. The only real difference is, (after '95 I think), lifers here are no longer eligible for family (trailer) visits.

Also because of his long sentence he is considered "closed custody," and they limit the number of CC inmates in the room at a time and also they don't let us sit outside on the patio. But he says in 6-8 months after he gets a job he'll be out of closed custody.

Well...where Ronnie was at, he got two visits per week, one per day and one contact visit per month. as many as five people for the non contact, and I'm not sure on the contact, because I was not allowed in, only immediate family. I drove 5 and a half hours one way to visit for one hour and then turn around and come home. crying the whole way. BUT I hear where he is at now, I will be able to have contact visits everytime, I'm not sure, we cant wait to find out though, and I KNOW we will be able to get married where he is now!!!!

kerrilyn-

what exactly are the special visits?

question about visiting at angola, hunts allan....
my bf was sentenced to life today... those are the three prisons that his lawyer says he'll proably go, i would only be able to go on weekends... how does that work and i heard something about bus trips there has anyone heard about that? (in marrero/gretna louisiana)

whatever it is.. sounds good to me.. "special visits.""
I am praying for special visits in the future. if only my man can get it together.. i feel awful saying it that way.. but dam seems like everyone's elses' (s/o man/ b/f, son,) in here .. that is facing a life sentence has kind of turned it around.. and has changed.. i am going to start a thread i need to vent.. and i need opinions..

Donna

Hi Sorry to confuse you on Joe's sentence.. after I posted it I was thinking he does have an out date 40 years from now but not eligable for any sentence reductions and family visits and no early parole.. Sometimes I dont get this sentenceing stuff. im confused again

Its ok Littlesmoke, before ya know it you will talk DOC policies like the weather! I never thought that i would know as much as i do about prisons and prison life. My cousin is a C/O and I am tho only one in the family he can talk 'shop' with that actually knows what he is saying! lol

I have heard of 'One Time Special Visits' although dont know much about them. I had a friend in Utah, she requested a one time special visit with her guy and was only able to visit that once after requesting it with the Warden. I would asume that they are for those that are not on a visiting list, and would not be available to visit regularly, therefore need not be on a list? Say a relative from out of town? Hmmmm?

Dawn

I know I already posted this before but I want to support this forum as much as possible. My fiance is serving 25-Life. He has an indeterminate sentence. He became elgible for parole in 1997. We get contact visits 8:00-3:00. Like Q stated, there is no family visits. They were taken away in 97. I travel 2 hours..sometimes with kids, some times without. Boy do I miss the Thursday and Friday night visits! (1:30pm -8:30pm). A maximum of 5 visitors are allowed. It can be family or friend. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Q, I thought close custody was for inmates who havent been in prison that long? I still get confused about that. My fiance isnt close custody, hasnt been for 15 years or so? if you find out about that, let me know...

Yasmeen

My two lifers each have a sentence of life with parole. The visits are contact. They are no limits on visitors in NY, in Ga I think the limit is 12 people. In NY I travel 5 hours, in Ga I fly, tehn drive.

Joe is LWOP we get 7 visits / month contact (thank god) they usually last about 5 hrs each and i go for all 7 each month. He has very little family left and they only go about once a year so i am really the only one that visits him.

divita-
sorry im just getting around to answering you...i apologize. special visits are something that the guys can apply for. all inmates are entitled to them for special circumstances...its just up to your CO to approve or not.

nunya-
there ARE bus trips up to angola. you MAY possibly be able to get some information from calling angola's visitation office. believe it or not, they can be very helpful when you call.

i dont know anything about the other prisons...
lets face it. NONE OF US WANT OUR MEN IN PRISON!! BUT...i guess if things have to be the way they are...it could be alot worse than angola.
it isnt like it was years ago.

good luck with everything..your in my prayers.

I consider myself lucky. My Joe is LWOP and has been in just over 26 years. we get 7 visits / month contact. most of the time i visit the entire time (6 hrs) unless it gets crowded and i have to leave. he's only about 90 miles from me right now so the travel isnt that bad.

My son has life, eligible for parole after 25 years. We have contact visists. He is about 5 hours from here by car, so I can only get there about 1x every 2 months (I work weekends for the shift differential).

There are 5 people allowed for visitation.

I travel from NY to Fl 3-4 times a year and they only allow visits on Sat&Sun. Its an awful long way for 2, 6 hour visits. But definitely worth it. We're allowed contact visits. If we werent I dont know what Id do.

Does anyone have a lifer in CSP-Sacramento? Our son was sent there in June 2004 and we haven't gotten approval yet. Waiting. We have guardianship of his 13 year old son. Will we have contact visits? We haven't been able to touch him for almost two years. If you are a mother you understand how much you want to give that hug and kiss. It was hard going through court, trial, and the visits through glass, and not being able to give the support that a good hug would have. He is a level 4.

I am noticing a big difference in the situations and rules regarding visits with lifers. I started a new thread to share some specifics...

Is your lifer parolable or LWOP?

Does your lifer have contact or non-contact visits?

If they are non-contact, is it because of a level system/behavior, or specifically because of the life sentence?

What are the limits, if any of the visitors...family/friends?

How often do you visit, and what distance do you travel?

Ronnie is Life without Mercy....(in wv thats basically lwop but not life without possibility of parole...stupid hillbillies..hehe) He has contact visits 20 hours a month just the standard prison rules...for all inmates not just lifers though most at MOCC are lifers. I'm not sure exactly what the limit on visitors is, but I do know that we have had 4 at one time visiting him so far. I visit each week for approx. 2 to 2 1/2 hours I travel approx. 45 minutes, his parents an hour and a half. He has open house next month and we will get to go inside the yard and see the inmates perform in theater groups and the bands that they have formed inside...I think it will be really neat I'm totally stoked!!!

My lifer is life
Thank God we have contact visits
5 visits a month no more than 5 people at a time
Well until i lost my transpo, i was seeing him 1 day a week
and it took me 6 hours round trip.