SIFC Quarterly Visiting Workgroup – August 2019
SIFC Visiting Workgroup, August 2, 2019
Present
SIFC Attendees:
Mary Ann Ellis-Jammal, Chairperson
Christina Mendoza, Vice Chairperson
Allison Walters, Secretary
Maureen Mitchell, Member
Annette Flores, Member
Jacqueline Mulllins, Member
Beth Hall, Member (Submitted Notes)
CDCR Attendees:
Amy Miller, Associate Director
Kelly Medina, Associate Warden
Gordon Wong, Captain FOPS
Matthew Rustad, Lieutenant, CDCR HQ
Peggy Andre, Executive Assistant for AD Miller
Visitor
Carol Hinds, Visitor from California Men’s Colony IFC
Cash Allowance for Vending
A proposal is pending approval to increase the amount of money for visitors to bring into visiting. Adults will be allowed to bring in $70 and children will be allowed $30. A memo will follow to the institutions after the labor notice process is complete.
CDCR staff will also be meeting with Business Enterprise Programs (BEP) to discuss the cost of vending foods and machine operations.
Visiting Handbook
Changes to the handbook are still in process. SIFC has submitted recommended changes to the CDCR staff and requested to be part of any further meetings.
Visiting Staff Training
CDCR staff process approximately 700,000 visitors per year. In order to make the visiting process more consistent and family friendly on August 1, 2019, CDCR hosted visiting training for visiting staff supervisors and managers from each institution. There were approximately 120-125 participants present for the 8-hour day, including members of the ombudsman’s office and the office of the inspector general (OIG). The meeting was reported as productive with the focus being on state standardized expectations. On Saturday August 10, 2019 there will be no visiting at any of the state institutions to allow time for all visiting staff to be trained on Inmate Visiting-Processing and Communication. Clothing slides are part of the training to visually aide in determining appropriate and in-appropriate attire for visiting. In the near future Local Operating Procedures will also be changed to be in line with State policy.
Local IFC Contact Information
SIFC had requested contact information for local Inmate Family Council members in order to represent all institutions. CDCR presented a document with such information, some of which is not current. They agreed to follow up with the institutions for more current contacts. Knowing this is an ever-changing population SIFC will work with the current list to the best of our ability.
Increased Visiting Hours
CDCR acknowledges that there are excessive terminations at some facilities and they are in the very beginning talking stages to try and alleviate this problem. There are considerations for more visiting time for inmates with children and for an extra visiting day for the 7 top affected prisons and the 3 female prisons. There is no current funding for any extended visiting at this time.