Michigan Cancels Tuesday, Wednesday Prison Visits

JACKSON (AP) - The Michigan Department of Corrections has cut prisoner visitation on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a move officials say will save the department millions of dollars.

Opponents say cutting days further isolates prisoners from their families and disrupts the remaining visitation times.

"This is another big reduction in prisoner access to the family," Barbara Levine, executive director of Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending, told the Jackson Citizen Patriot. "They keep trying to save money on the backs of prisoners."

Corrections department spokesman John Cordell said Tuesdays and Wednesdays are low-volume visitation days. Most visits occur at the weekend.

The department came up with cutting the two days a few months ago, and the new visitation schedule went into effect June 13.

The move will eliminate the need to staff a visitation officer and an additional corrections officer for two days at facilities around the state, Cordell said.

"We know and realize that we will inconvenience people by stopping visitation on these days," he said.

Kay Perry, executive director of the Michigan chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, said the corrections department should have found ways to save money without keeping prisoners from their families. She said some people can visit prisoners only on those two days.

"Those people that have a social support network are going to do better when they're released," she said.

Levine said the cut to visitation days disrupts existing times. Having fewer days leads to more crowding in visitation rooms, causing visits to be shortened and less intimate, she said.

"People look at these as perks for prisoners somehow," Levine said. "This is not just about the prisoner. It is about kids separated from parent, and spouses living apart from their mates."

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