Visiting Columbia C.I,anyone help??

[lucy]

Hi there everyone.
I'm kinda new to the board- well i chat to Soraya but never get round to posting any messages but enjoy reading up on the info on this great site.
I was wondering if anyone can help. I live in England and i have a beloved in the Columbia C.I (near Jacksonville) in Florida, i have never travelled abroad before but i'm attempting to visit him this year - hopefully August, booking flights tickets last minute lol. I was wondering if anyone can tell me of anywhere to stay near this place and if you know how it is at this Institution? If i can't get it sorted for August then it will have to be December . But any details would be great to know, it;s kinda a scary thing to do by myself!!
Love and Kisses
Lucy xxx

[Budwoman]

JDS (JD'S WIFEY) LIVES IN FLORIDA AND MAY BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU INFOR ON COLUMBIA.... E-MAIL HER.


DONNA

[lucy]

hey thanks for that, i'll give that a try

[aprilcat]

lucy....first, you have to ask your friend to obtain a visitation application from his classification officer and mail it to you. after you fill out the application, you have to mail it to the central vistation authority in florida where it is processed. they take at least 6-8 weeks to process the application, so it doesn't sound like august will be feasible, unfortunately. the process involves a background check on you to make sure you have not been convicted of a crime, etc. also, they will mail along with the application a list of vistation rules. make sure you hang onto those as they are apparently quite strict about enforcing them. you will also need to ask your friend to check with his classification officer about arranging a special 2-day visit with him since you are traveling from so far. generally, inmates are assigned either saturday or sunday as a visitation day, but if you travel a great distance, you can get permission to visit both saturday and sunday. if you have any further questions, feel free to email me!