A few hours with me
"It was a delightful visit ... [but] much too short." — Jane Austen 1775-1817
While reading bits and pieces of Jane Austen's work, the quote above impressed itself upon me. I agree with her; a visit is much too short. In most cases, that is as true for the visitor as it is for the prisoner.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those (past and present) who willingly endure the inconvenience and pain of pre-and post-visitation procedures here at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GD&CP). To those kind souls who want to visit, but do not know how to go about doing so, or what exactly will be required of them, I urge you to read the following very carefully — especially if you live outside of the United States.
A "special visit" will be approved for one day only and you must visit on that day and no other. If you do not plan to visit on a regular basis, the special visit is the way to go. The visit must take place on a weekend, not a weekday.
When you inform me of your desire to visit, I will send you a standard GD&CP "Information Release Form". You will be required to fill it out and then have it notarised. Be sure to have the notary sign and affix his or her seal to the form.
You will also be required to go and see your local police department and have it provide you with a signed police clearance indicating that you have no criminal record. This is required of you because most people who do not live in the US do not have a social security number, which is universally used in the US to investigate the bearer's past.
Once you have these documents filled out and appropriately signed, please make a copy of each. Keep them with you. Do not send them to me or anyone until I tell you to.
Write me a letter or email and let me know that you have the documentation process completed. In that letter or email, let me know the exact date that you wish to have our special visit. Upon receipt of your letter, I will write to the prison administration requesting a special visit with you on the date you have indicated.
I will also send you a signed copy of that request, and instructions for you to send my request and both documents to the appropriate GD&CP official, whose name and address I will provide you with.
Please use a postal service that requires the addressee, or his or her representative, to sign for the mailed documents. Be sure to send the original documents to the GD&CP official, and copies of the documents to me. You see, I need to know when the GD&CP official signs for the documents so that I can monitor the time frame of their approval or disapproval.
The documents must arrive here at least 50 days before the requested visiting date. If all goes well, within 10 days the GD&CP administration will send me a memorandum indicating that our visit has been approved or disapproved.
I will then send it to you via postal mail, or inform you via email, so that you have sufficient time to organise your travel plans and local accommodation (I will be happy to help you with the latter).
The same procedures (except for the signed police clearance document) are required of potential special visitors who live in the US.
For those people who wish to visit on a more regular basis, the same procedures are required, but a different information release form is needed. Of course, I can only request the addition of a regular visitor to my visitation list every six months (I can make special visit requests several times a year).
Regular visitors will be allowed to visit me once a week. You would be allowed to choose a Saturday or a Sunday for our visit, but not both days (unless a special visit approval is obtained in advance allowing a regular visitor to visit two days in a row).
Visiting hours begin at 9am and end at 3pm. I advise you to be at the prison, in line, at 8.40am. There is a bench you can sit and wait on, like the type often found in city parks.
Please try not to wear clothing that is provocative in any way, or clothing that has fasteners that might set off the metal detectors. I advise you to not wear anything that might cause the visitation officer to subject you to a strip search.
For regular visitors, under certain conditions three visits can take place in one week: a combination in one week of a regular visiting day plus a state, federal or "prison holiday", plus a special visit. However, this can happen only once or twice a year.
So there you have it. Thank you for caring enough to go through so much just to spend a few hours with me.
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email <BrandonAstorJones@hotmail.com>. You can visit the author's web site at <http://www.BrandonAstorJones.com>.]