Visiting a Prison

You know, I have been visiting my son in various prisons for 17 years now. It seems like forever, but it is only half of his life. The other half was spent with me and the rest of the family at home.

Some things never change.

Visiting at a prison is one of those things. Firstly, you had better make sure your booking for the visit was properly recorded, otherwise, you will not get in no matter how far you have come.

When we were still living in Victoria, I made an appointment to visit Derik at Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford. The visiting time started at 1 pm for a Saturday visit. At the same time, I booked for my then 72 year old mother to come with me.

I was up at 5:30 am to ensure I would be on the first ferry from Victoria, at 7 am. I had left my car at the Boundary Bay Airport and taken the bus back to the ferry last time, so I did not have the additional cost of the parking or of the fare for bringing the car both ways on the ferry. I arrived at my car around 9:30 am by bus and a nice walk. Then I went into Vancouver to pick up my mother. We could only visit for about a half hour in order to get out to Abbotsford in time for the visit.

1:00 pm. We arrived at the prison. We had to wait outside for 15 minutes while the guards got ready to process visitors, an inconvenience that usually took 10 to 15 minutes away from our visit. Then, while being processed (sounds like cattle) I was told that I could go in, but not my mother as she had to make a separate phone call to book her own visit even though without me she would not have gotten there!

What a surprise. We had only been doing this same procedure for two and a half years. Policy change. No notification, no warning, suddenly we had to make two separate long distance calls to be able to visit Derik together.

My mother was quite a woman. She told me to go visit as I had come so far. She would keep herself amused watching the front entry guards play card games on their computers. She thought it was quite funny that they could not find anything else to do to us, so they split us up. I was angry, and so was Derik.

He put in a grievance about it and within 3 months, quick by Canadian Government standards, I had a letter giving me permission to book visits for my mother

Sounds like the end of the issue doesn't it? Now, he is at William Head Institution near Victoria, a minimum security institution, and we have had to make 3 phone calls for 3 visitors to visit him last weekend. Some things never change.

http://www.canadianinjustice.com

Coach Elouise
604-794-3218
Skype coach_elouise
Email: lordelouise@gmail.com
rascal60@shaw.ca