How to visit a prisoner in an American prison

The peculiarities of a visit to prison are a rather specific topic, but one of its important features is that it can touch everyone, and it happens offensively suddenly. A man is not only suddenly mortal, much more often he is suddenly arrested. And this person may be your friend, acquaintance, relative: we always do not know much about each other. And then you will need to go to prison to see him in order to talk to him in order to deposit money on bail.

Фото: Depositphotos

Also by a man who must you can go to prison, because you are a journalist, and the person whose interview you require is a prisoner in a correctional institution.

If you are a friend or brother of a prisoner ...

... then you can not arrange a visit to the prison. This can only be done by the prisoner himself, provided that he wants to see you. Every prisoner has limit of visitors. And if he has brother Vadik and beloved Masha, and he loves Masha, and his brother is a little less, then he will spend the entire limit he has on Masha, and his brother may not get anything.

Note! In general, for all prisoners, for all their relatives and for all friends there is no common base and common rules. Everything and always depends on: a) the state; b) the articles of the prosecution; c) on who exactly you come to him, and d) on a million other data.

You can write a letter to the prisoner - paper, send by traditional mail. Most likely, it will come. In the letter you can ask him about the visit. Know that by satisfying your request, he will deprive someone else's visit.

If you are in the state of New York, then your prisoner may be either in a federal prison, and then non-relatives are not likely to visit him (although in each case you need to clarify the circumstances - it all depends on time, article, compartment and etc.), or be wards Department of Correction NY (Doc).

How to find out exactly where the person you are looking for is sitting?

On the government resource. There are two search options - by number and by name (see the paragraph that the name must match the ID), and the number, if you need one, you can find out here. This resource has all the data on the dates of arrest and on the courts that are planned. If you find information about the court sessions of a certain prisoner, you can subscribe, and for a day you will be sent information about each subsequent meeting.

If you know the name of the person and the place where he is sitting, you can go to the site of this place and find out there information about this person. For example, you go to the site DOC and enter the name and surname of the person you are looking for, but remember - these names are taken from his documents in due time, that is, you should know exactly how they are written in all his IDs. If it appears in the search that this person is not in this prison, you need to search either in the federal database or in the DOC database of the state where he was arrested.

You can transfer money to his account. Detailed instructions on how to do this are provided. here - provided that your prisoner is under the auspices of the DOC.

How the scheme of circulation of finance between prisoners, the correctional system and the visitor (or the person sending the money) is built: the prisoner has his own prison card account to which his relatives transfer money (or those who want to do it), and all the money goes to the same account earned by a prisoner on condition that he works. Money for work is paid to him extremely small (it was not possible to find out the exact amount), approximately: he can spend all his salary on a couple of cans of cola or shampoo. Therefore, usually friends or relatives help. All about the rights, duties and rules of conduct of the prisoner can be found here.

You can transfer money to his account so that he can call you. You don’t have to transfer money, but send him your phone number by traditional mail. If he knows your phone number, he can call you himself. How it will be - an automatic voice will tell you when you pick up the phone: an inmate of such and such a prison is talking to you, this conversation is at your expense. If you do not agree that this will be at your expense, you can hang up.

I want to say that on my mobile 5 calls were made from the New York prison Rikers island, but no bills for these calls have yet come. I can only share the version that this is done late, or I need to look for information in the general accounts from the mobile operator, and digging into the accounts is a long matter.

Фото: Depositphotos

If you are a journalist

... then everything is a bit more complicated with you

At first, without knowing the scheme, I tried, through the prisoner's lawyer, to get an opportunity to interview the suspect in the cruel murder in Russia, Victoria Nasyrova (interview already published on ForumDaily). She sits in the Rikers (Rikers island) is an island prison in the East River, which is considered the largest penal colony in the world. But, firstly, in the story with Nasyrova, already at the stage of deciding on the need for an interview, it was clear that the only way out to the so-called legal aid a lawyer is to meet him face to face in court, where he, smiling tenderly, will say that he does not give any comments. In the office, the answering machine is turned on around the clock, in the mail - also an “angler”, legal aid lawyers are usually a thousand such cases.

It turned out that everything is much simpler - and more complicated - at the same time. There is no need to sort anything out with a lawyer. The DOC press service asks the prisoner directly for consent to an interview, and he, if he wants, will ask for advice from a lawyer, and if he doesn’t want to, he is not obliged to do so.

Formally, you need to write to the DOC in general email, after which you are redirected to the press service.

By the way, a prisoner can only be photographed with his permission. “Just like that” in Rikers island You can not take pictures anywhere - you can not use the phone at all. Like smoking, by the way. When using the camera with the permission of the prisoner and the DOC, you can not shoot everything. Do not remove door handles, grilles, etc.

(A list of all that can not be removed, is also here).

What not to wear and bring

The document for visitors, including the press, said that they should have another set of clothes - just in case. Well, I took it. He was not useful.

I specially put on earrings to see if they would ask me to take them off. No, they did not. A belt, a watch, a bag are checked on X-rays in the same way as at the airport, then you can put the belt and watch back on. You yourself pass through the metal detector, too, as in the airport. In my bag I had: a notebook, a pen, a voice recorder with a microphone and a tripod, clothes, a smartphone, wet wipes - they all considered it completely legitimate, they returned the bag to me, and I went with the bag to the interview, moreover, it was near with me during the interview, in the same space with the prisoner. Observation of the interview was conducted, however, none of the observing officers spoke Russian. For 10 minutes before the end of the time limit, I was warned: you have 10 minutes left. Only an hour is given for the interview.

There were no handsets and partitions (do not believe the TV series!). However, this is more specific Rikers Island, In other prisons, all this may be, plus everything again depends on the time, mode, sex of the prisoner, article, and the identity of the visitor - for lawyers and reporters, the rules are different.

My super-quality voice recorder of impressive size was considered for a long time. Because they needed to make sure that this is not a camera. If it turned out to be a camera carried to the meeting room without agreement with the prison administration and the prisoner - the story would be different.

Фото: Depositphotos

Books

In a telephone conversation, the prisoner complained to me that there were no books in Russian in prison - and mentioned that a private person can bring up to 4's paperback books or without a cover (hardcoverings are prohibited). Books should not be marked and handwritten. There should be no violence in books (that is, not a detective story, not a thriller, etc.). I wondered if these rules apply to journalists and how the service for delivering books to prison is generally organized if they are not brought by an individual.

It is necessary to explain that there was no volunteer impulse in my actions. Firstly, I had a professional interest in how the system works and how it works. In prison, there are 5 Russian-speaking women - and not a single book in Russian. The Russian-speaking community in New York is considered quite powerful - and at the same time things are somehow ... sluggish with books. Secondly, by giving such a detailed and frank exclusive, the prisoner provided a kind of service to the press - therefore, in response, it was necessary to be a man.

Well, it immediately turned out that the journalist has no right to bring any books on his own, the press service wrote to me honestly and promptly. However, in a dialogue with an employee of a Brooklyn library, it turned out that Outreach services, existing on the basis of the Brooklyn Library, are doing just that. However, not only this: they make donations in the form of books to various agencies.

Location and Login Rules

Google Maps they say that from Brooklyn to an island prison Rikers island can be reached in an hour and a half by bike - but it sounds somehow too encouraging. In any case, by bike you get there maximum to the parking lot. Rikers island - mainland point, anticipating the passage to prison. Then there is a drive over the bridge, but in order to pass through it, you need to present an ID in a special DOC booth.

Theoretically, a special bus goes to the prison, on which it is written Rikers island, and you can transfer to it from the Q or F metro lines, but it will still stop on that same continental lot, and then you just won't get anywhere without a pass, and with a pass you can drive or walk. That is, for everyone, on foot or on horseback, the option of a visitor's pass is absolutely necessary. He will be checked, even if you are sitting in the same car with the head of the press service, as was the case with me.

Неwhen (quite a long time ago) enthusiasts organized transportation to Rikers island on buses, collected visitors and delivered them there, but now this option, if it does, is reduced. Without a pass and prior approval, only a bus with prisoners can now get there: such buses do not even stop at the lot, but go straight across the bridge.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Revelations of a Russian woman suspected of cruel murder: an interview from an American prison

Three stories of our immigrants who were imprisoned in the USA for illegal immigrants

“I have nothing more to lose”: the revelations of the Russian nelegalka in the USA

Keeping a prisoner in a California prison costs more than a year of study at Harvard

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