You have permission!

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We live hours away from the prison and I had hung out for this visit. Being so far away we don’t get to visit often. After waiting in the queue at the reception desk I approached the counter, smiled and said my name and who I had come to see. The woman looked at the computer then back at me and said calmly, ‘You don’t have a visit booked in.’

I felt the stares of everyone in the room piercing my back. I knew they were uncomfortable. I could feel the tension in the room growing as I stood there.

I know I had a visit booked! I had spent ages on the phone trying to organise a special visit (meaning a double visit) due to living so far away. Three days ago the manager had phoned me back and said it was all organised. And now, my visit was no longer in the system! Frustration was putting it mildly after driving for hours that morning, and now knowing I wouldn’t be seeing my son again for a long time.

The woman at the desk tried to be helpful. She apologised and told that unfortunately nothing could be done. No visit was going to happen that day. I could make another appointment though.

Only someone who has had deal with the prison system knows the helplessness that you feel when things like this happen. it would have been easy to just accept the fact and walk away. Who has spare energy when faced with a system like Corrections.

But not having a visit would affect more than just me. It would also affect the person I was going to visit. You may call it stubborn, but I felt I had the right to ask for this to be fixed. I gave myself permission to remain there, with everyone watching on, and kindly asked to speak to the manager.,

Dealing with the Corrections system is difficult at the best of times. However you have a right to see wrongs that happen in the system addressed. When something doesn’t go as it should, I encourage you not to walk out that door and just say that is the prison system, nothing can work. Instead stand up! Know you have a right to good service. Use your voice for the sake of yourself and the person inside. Ask to speak to a superior!

After being firm about wanting to speak to a manager, one came. The man tried nicely to explain the challenges they had with letting me visit at this time. I told the person calmly and politely that I understood their challenges, however it was not my problem that one of his staff made a mistake in the visits system. The manager was generous enough to listen, and I offered a practical solution – the outcome, a visit was granted in a family interview room.

It may be a visit that wasn’t put in the system when you had booked it, or a document you sent in now gone missing.. Just because you have someone inside doesn’t mean you have no rights. You do have rights and you have permission to ask for resolution of issues, either at the time, or through avenues such as the Department of Corrections, or the Ombudsman where all else fails.

You may not always get what you should, but remember, mistakes will continue to be made, and there will be little change for the better unless we all support each other to stand strong and use our voice when we need to!

A visit cut short

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leaves

This week I saw it again.  A person taken away from the visiting room unexpectedly and their loved one left sitting.. crying.

I wanted to walk over and give her a hug. Before I could move, a kind hearted prison warden was by her side with their hand on her shoulder comforting her, handing her a tissue. Bless that prison warden!

I wanted to say to the woman ‘ You are not alone’. I too have been where you are and felt the shame. At the time it happened on my visit I knew that if the wardens saw and heard the threats and abuse, everyone else in the room did too. I felt so helpless and pathetic. I could see the others looking at me. I didn’t want their sympathy. I just wished that the floor would swallow me up!

I wanted to tell the woman that no-one in that room would have looked down on her in judgement. Instead, we sit with her in her grief. Many of us have visited someone who was responding out of anger, frustration, whatever had just happened in the unit, or was still unsaid from previous conversations.  It was not my fault nor that particular women that the other person decided to let it out on us in our visit.

I don’t think those inside realise sometimes how much it takes to walk inside a prison for a visit, the impact of sitting in court, dealing with questions let alone trying to manage what else life throws at you.  Many don’t understand how much energy it takes to hold the pain of everyone in the family outside alongside of the person inside too.  Don’t they say the loved ones get hurt the most!

I hope that when the time is safe, right and the pain has eased that this woman will feel able to come again and hold her head up. I know she will come again.. we often live with the expectation this is our role and we need to be there.  Sometimes, we need to take a break from visiting for our own sanity, and to show that although we can understand why it happens, that it isn’t healthy or appropriate.  It can highlight that we need to review those boundaries.

Next time you see that woman, or that man who had their visit cut short, take the opportunity to smile at them. Tell them to keep strong. Let them know that as a community with someone inside that we are with them.  Let’s show we care!

Check out an earlier post on this topic ‘Visiting room sabotage’.

 

Auckland South Corrections Facility (Kohuora) useful information

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Auckland South Corrections Facility is also known as Kohuora, or commonly called Wiri Prison.

You can find good information to help you when you have someone inside at Kohuora on the Auckland South Corrections Facility website.  This includes information on contacting a person, visiting, what it is like inside Kohuora, how to put money into a prisoners account, and a video clip on supporting a person in the facility.

An information booklet on Kohuora is also available here

Contact Details

Address:

Physical address:
21 Kiwi Tamaki Road (off Roscommon Road)
Wiri
Auckland 2104

To locate on google maps click here

Postal address:
Private Bag 94065
Auckland 2241

Phone:  +64 9 250 5900

Organisations that can support you in Auckland

Te Pa (used to be called PARS) provides practical assistance to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their whanau in Auckland

Pillars  (Pillars Ka Pou Whakahou) is a charity that actively supports the tamariki and whānau of people in prison or those serving a community-based sentence.

There are other New Zealand wide organisations that may also be able to provide support.  Click here to be taken to the New Zealand Support Organisations page.

Life Inside

See inside Wiri’s new prison

New prison opens in South Auckland

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