Families of Florida inmates tell News4JAX they feel like they may be the ones being punished if state officials approve a Department of Corrections proposal. It would limit visitation hours -- among other things.
Robert Bing, 62, is serving a life sentence at a Central Florida prison.
His wife, Dorothy, is allowed to visit him for six hours each weekend, along with extended family. But under the proposed new rules, there’s a higher probability that she’ll be turned away.
The Bings don’t have a traditional marriage story, the two fell in love and got married 8 years ago, while Robert was serving a life sentence at Desoto’s Correctional Institution for armed robbery. The couple says weekend visits help keep their relationship strong, giving Robert something to look forward to behind bars.
TELL US: What do you think of the proposed visitation changes?
“That’s an encouragement to me. I mean, I get excited,” Robert Bing said. ″You’re looking forward to contact; you’re looking forward to good conversation- positive, you know. It causes you to be optimistic about not only just the visit- but your roots.”
He says they share meals, play games, and read the bible together with family. Activities that could be curtailed as part of a statewide prison proposal.
″So we don’t want this to be an option where they can reduce our visitation because I guarantee you, just as they’re doing right now, they’re going to take that option, and it’s going to impact families, it’s going to impact the time that we have to spend with one another,” Dorothy Bing said.
Under this new proposal, all 50 prison institutions statewide would have either “standard” or “modified” schedules for visitation, based on the safety and security needs of each institution. A standard schedule allows 6 hours of visitation on the weekends.
A modified schedule is based on these six factors:
- Institution Staffing
- The number of times visitors exceed 75% occupancy
- The number of canceled visits
- Reported Disturbances
- Incidents of Contraband Smuggling
- And the number of safety incidents before or after visitation.
In a statement sent to News4JAX, an FDC spokesperson writes in part:
Maintaining community and family ties is also an essential component for an inmate to successfully re-enter into society. FDC recently initiated a rule development process for modernizing and defining visitation procedures with the ultimate goal of ensuring the safety and security of all inmates, staff, and visitors.
State officials say modified visitation and visitation suspensions are clearly defined and will only be considered when absolutely necessary.
Dorothy Bing worries the new rules will lead to less quality time. ″Currently as we speak, if they’re overcapacity, you know what they’re doing. They ask people to leave they make people leave, when the rules right now allow them to make adjustments, or to make room to accommodate more people.”
Florida Department of Corrections officials say these are only proposals, and they are still in the process of revising the rules.
Advocates for inmate visitation -- including the Florida Cares Charity -- are requesting additional workshops with corrections officials to make sure their concerns are heard.