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Visitor Policy

Interview with Jason, Kat, Brian, keke, Teabag, Crystal, Edward, isaac, Lucky, Kathy, Lisa, Apache, Janet, Ron, Ryan, Laura, Fernando, Gail, George, Rich, Mark, John, Juan, Erik, Scott, Shawn, Dominic, James, Carl, Josh, Jose and Laydie

JM: How often could you receive visitors?
Jason: NA
Kat: Once a week
Brian: Not at all during processing.
keke: once a week for 15 min
Teabag: once weekly Thursdays from 9am - 9pm. No touch visits talking thru a screened glass booth
Crystal: Once a week.
Edward: once a week
isaac: once a week
Lucky: one day a week.
Kathy: Once a week.
Lisa: not at all because they had restrictions due to the swine flu
Apache: once a week 4 times a mon
Janet: ON YOUR REQUIRED VISITING DAY ONCE A WEEK ALL DAY.
Ron: didn't like visitors....made me miss home and was to hard to see them leave
Ryan: once a week
Laura: Once a week on Sundays. Visits were about a 1/2
Fernando: once a week visitors could come,they have a lot of restrictions tho,you have to ask guards lot of questions
Gail: I believe once a week.My spouse rarely visited me because he had his own prior obligations
George: I receives visitors every weekend.My family would come out and we would chat for 1 hour only.
Rich: VIVITS WERE ONE DAY A WEEK 7 only between designated hours ONLY NO EXCEPTIONS PERIOD.
Mark: you can receive visitors during the weekdays. i dont know if there was a limit to how many times a person can have visitors in a single day. each visitor can see and speak to you from behind a glass for approximately 2 minutes.
John: I could receive vists about two times a week unless it was somebody from out of town with a out of town id
Juan: twice a week but i had none...my family was back in michigan .but i believe there was at least on visiting day a week
Erik: I DIDN'T HAVE ANY, I TOLD NO ONE WHERE I WAS, SO NO ONE KNEW
Scott: two or three times a week, mostly on week-ends, and for one hour each visit.
Jason: YOU COULD GET VISITS 2 TIMES A WEEK. VISIT WAS ONLY FOR 15 MINUTES. THE CONDITIONS WAS HORRIBLE. YOU SPOKE THRU A GLASS AND COULD BARELY HEAR OVER THE YELLING TOO BE HEARD
Shawn: once a weekand sometimes they would lock you down and not get visitors at all
Dominic: Inmates were allowed to have visitors once a week, which was every Tuesday. Visits usually were 30 minutes.
James: you could get visitors twice a week. you could get as many visits as time allowed
Carl: i think it's twice a week for 30mins but a person that came to see you can recheck the visitation log and see the inmate again
Josh: Visiting was once a week. I forgot what day because every division has different days
Jose: I believe it was twice a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays possibly. The same visitor was not allowed to come twice in the same week.

JM: Was the check-in process lengthy for those who came to see you?
Jason: NA
Kat: Don't know
Brian: NA.
keke: about 1 hour
Teabag: yes 1 hour plus at times
Crystal: Yes hours.
Edward: extreamly
isaac: yes
Lucky: Not really
Laydie: yes painfully slow
Kathy: Yes
Lisa: n/a
Apache: yes
Janet: YES ITS JUST A LONG WAIT.IT SUCKS YOU ARE SEPERATED BY A GLASS WALL ITS FILTHY AND YOU HAVE TO SCREAM OVER EVERYONE IN ORDER TO HEAR EACH OTHER.VISITS ARE A HALF HOUR EACH.
Ron: yes
Ryan: no
Laura: About a half hour to an hour. My boyfriend came first thing, so it was fairly quick for him.
Fernando: yes very time consuming and filled with several check and rarely completed with in a hourly time frame,most visitors usually go back home because of that
Gail: Probably..I remember how long it used to take me to visit friends and there were many different checkpoints and criteria you had to supply or you were not allowed to visit.
George: It usually takes about 2-3 hours,so yes it was lengthy.They have to screen the visitors.The inmates has to screened also.It was very annoying to both parties.
Rich: YES THE VISITORS HAD TO BE PRE APPROVED AND SUBJECT TO SEARCH EACH & EVERY TIME THEY CAME IN OR OUT OF THE FACILITY WITHOUT A DOUBT.
Mark: yes, they said it took them round 8-9 hours before you get to see the persons coming to visit you. maybe at times it can take less time but my visitors always had a long wait.
John: the check in time Is lengthy for those who came to see me because they have them waiting like a hour or towo even before they see the inmaye
Juan: not sure n/a..but i did hear that it was limited in time and how close one could get...you talked to a visitor ( aloved one between glglass
Erik: I DO NOT KNOW, I HAD NO VISITORS, DURING THE TIME I WAS THERE, BUT I IMAGINE THAT IT IS A THROUGH PROCESS, BECAUSE IT'S A VERY BIG JAIL
Scott: Yes, their were always lines to get in and waits. People were in very welcoming in terms of the staff. The noise level was high so you could not even hear you visitors speak.
Jason: YES THERE IS A LONG WAIT TO GET IN. THEN AS SOON AS YOU IN ITS OVER. YOUR VISIT ARE FOR 15 MINUTES REGARDLESS OF HOW FAR YOU TRAVELED
Shawn: yes it was and very humiliating for th e people visiting you it was almost like they were locked up which is not the best thing to stsrrt off a visit
Dominic: The check-in process for family and friends who came to visit inmates was long and lengthy. Usually some kind of strip search was involved in the check-in process.
James: as i was tld yes. long line getting in and then going threw the process of getting out. no sleeveless shirts for women or shorts or skirts
Carl: yes it was always crowded and it took at least an hr just to get an 30min visit and if someone acted a fool no one went to the visitation room
Josh: From what I hear it wasn't to bad. Thay had to have an ID because if you were released in the last 6 months from the jail then you couldnt come to visit. About an hour
Jose: I was told it wasn't too lengthy, but they were searched and taken from room to room and made to wait a certain amount of time before they actually brought people into the room.

JM: What was the visiting environment like?
Jason: NA
Kat: Didn't stay long enough
Brian: NA.
keke: horriable you have to put your face up to a stankn a* glass that everybody nasty breath is on and it actually stinks
Teabag: the place was filthy (dirty glass, it smelled like a zoo) inmates would put on their clean D.O.C.'s meaning a newer Jail uniform (considered contriband by officers) that was usually stored under your sleeping mat on your bunk so the pants and top appeared to be pressed. these uniforms were also used for court. We were given clothing changes Bi-Monthly so you would wear the same DOC shirt and pants for 14 or more days without it being washed.
Crystal: Plexiglass with difficult to hear speaker like device in it. At Cermak small clean rooms.
Edward: i only had one visiter and the enviroment wasnt good.10 people yelling into a window and it was dirty and you have 10 min to say what you need to.
isaac: behind glass but well worth it
Lucky: glass and a phone
Laydie: behaved
Kathy: Filthy, Noisy, Crowded
Lisa: n/a
Apache: noisy
Janet: DIRTY CROWDED AND TO SHORT
Ron: horrible
Ryan: behind glass dividers
Laura: Dirty, disgusting. The bathroom was constantly smeared with feces and vomit.
Fernando: like plain drab,able to hear the visitors voice and the seating is correct,but have to look thru the glass type windows,thats the only inconvence,guards are posted up like everywhere,and always watching,they are so strict,far as cursing things like that,of course no breathable air,its always stuffy air environment in the area
Gail: Dark.Uncomfortable.Depressing.And that was actually only when people visited me.I was not allowed to see any of my 4 children.Sometimes it was better just to remain in solitude rather than have to hear negative news on what was going on outside in the outer world beyond the BRICKS!!!!JUST SAY NO! NO
George: Some times you could visit in the play room where you can touch but if we were on lock down it would be behind a glass window.We would have picnics at times but most of the time it was in the play room.The officers were nice to family visitors,thank GOD.
Rich: THERE WERE LITTLE BOOTHS WITH PHONE RECIVERS IN THEM SEPERATED BY THICK PLEXY GLASS. U SIT AND TALK ON THE PHONE & UR VISITORS TAKE TURNS IF U HAVE MUPLTIPLE ONES TO SPEAK TO YOU, THEY TO ARE SUBJECT TO MONITORING ESPECIALLY IF U WERE THOUGHT A HIGH RANKING MEMBER OF A MOB.
Mark: the visiting environment was just a 20 foot by 200 foot room with about 5 windows for 5 inmates. just a counter and a wall with glass windows diving each persons conversations for somewhat of privacy. the room smelled like shit just like the rest of the jail did. the guards there were disrespectful also.
John: the visting environment is bad at times because it be to many be in the visting room in it gets loud to the point where u can barley here the person your talking to the windows are dity the piece were uyou talik to at always smells like they never cleans it
Juan: n/a...not suretwice a week but i had none...my family was back in michigan .but i believe there was at least on visiting day a weeknot sure n/a..but i did hear that it was limited in time and how close one could get...you talked to a visitor ( aloved one between glglass
Erik: I DON'T KNOW, BUT THE REST OF THE JAIL IS BELOW STANDARDS, SO I IN MY MIND I WOULD THINK THAT THE VISITING AREA IS BELOW STANDARD, BECAUSE MOST OF COOK COUNTY IS FAR BELOW GOOD STANDARDS, AND I THINK WITH THE PEOPLE THAT COME THROUGH THEY SHOULD FIX THE PLACE UP
Scott: loud, noisy and crowded. It was complete ciaos and confusion. A lot of yelling, and crying and cussing. The one hour seem to fly by with nothing really being accomplished, People were rude to other people and staff was rude to everyone. I never seen so much confusion in one place at the same time.
Jason: THE VISITING ROOM IS HOT. POORLY VENTALLATED. YOU TALK THREW A GLASS THAT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR GOOD COMMUNICATION.THERE ARE ENOUGH CHAIRS IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ON VISITOR. AND THERE IS NOTHING SEPARATING YOU FROM THE NEXT PERSON ON A VISIT. THEY NEED TO MAKE IT EASIER TO HEAR ONE ANOTHER
Shawn: the visiting was a glass wall very loud and unable to carry oon a convo b/c you have 5 people getting visits and each one of them is screaming over the other one which is very frustraating to try aand make the visit is good as possible very very oor
Dominic: The visiting environment was joyous. Sometimes it got kind of loud. There was also a bit of competitiveness among inmates, as they liked to compare who had the better looking wife or girlfriend. Also, toward the end of visits, things got a bit sad when inmates had to say goodbye to their visitors.
James: visiting conditions was garbage. hot and funky. no seats for you visitors. everyone yelling threw a hole trying to be heard. then you visit was only for 15 minutes which is about all a person can stand in one sitting. no contact threw the glass. a phone call is a better visit to me by far
Carl: horrible we had to stay behind glass and the visits were to short and they would take us back to the div only to bring us back to the visitation room when the person that came to see you would go back to the guard desk to sign up for another vist
Josh: Loud. Everyone is screaming because half the phones don't work. Had to listen real closly. When your lawyer visits it's in a private room. Kids and girlfriends. Had to practically put my ear up to the bullet proof glass. Smelly and loud, had to wait an hour just to see them
Jose: You couldn't hear a thing through the glass. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs trying to hear their loved ones, but it was nearly impossible. There were phones you had to talk through, but combined with the level of noise within the visiting area, one could not hear a thing. It was a joke

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