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Life Inside
Visiting
a Polunsky Death Row Inmate
Inmates are allowed visitors from family and friends. Visitors, are governed by a strict prison code which includes disallowing revealing clothing (for example no skirts above the knee) and only allowing the carrying of small change (paper money is barred).
Arriving at the prison car park is a bit of an adventure. There is a guard post before entering the car park, permanantly manned, and all cars are checked along with the IDs of those arriving to visit. Visitors are instructed where to park (a good distance away from the entrance, presumably so that those going to work on a daily basis can park closer). There is no waiting room, so if visitors arrive a little before visiting time starts, they have to wait outside, although there is a canopy. There is a bench which seats no more than four people. Just inside the door there is a change machine, so that bills (currency notes) can be changed into coins, a maximum of $20. There is nowhere to leave anything. Sometimes the guards object to combs or sunglasses, and if the visitor arrived by taxi and does not have a car in which to leave things, they just have to put them on top of the change machine and hope they are still there when they come back!
Upon arriving at the Polunsky Unit visitors have to walk through a metal detector before passing their IDs to the guard at the desk and visitors' names are checked against the visitation list. In exchange for the ID the visitor is given a yellow plaque on a chain which has to be worn around the neck.
Instruction is given to walk through the first door which is opened electronically. Once inside a small corridor the visitor is faced by another door. This is only opened, again electronically, once the first door is closed and secured. An electronic gate then has to be negotiated before reaching an outdoor walkway that leads to the visitation building. There another duo of electronically-operated doors have to be opened and closed before entering the visitor room. A second guard checks the visitor's name against the visitation list and then directs to a chair in front of the window of a small cell, one of a row on both sides of the room. The procedure takes about 10 minutes.
Each cell is barely large enough to seat the inmate comfortably and is completely enclosed, with walls to each side, a sealed glass window to front and a door behind with a meshed window looking back out onto a corridor. There is a narrow green shelf on both sides of the glass which on the visitor's side is divided from the cells on either side by a slim partition. Visitor and inmate communicate using an old-fashioned telephone receiver but are prevented from passing anything or from physical contact by the reinforced glass screen. Each booth has two phones on the visitor's side.
When the visitor is seated at the booth there is a wait whilst the prisoner is escorted from his cell. Heavily handcuffed the prisoner is escorted to the booth by three officers, ushered inside and once the door is locked behind him his handcuffs are removed by him presenting his hands through a narrow slot in the door.
Visitors have access to a vending machine which provides a choice of food and drink. However upon insertion of change, the product selected has to be removed from the machine by an officer to prevent the possibility of contraband or weapons being concealed or collected. If the visitor wishes to gift this to the prisoner the officer places it in a paper bag and passes it to a guard on the secure side of the room from where it is delivered to the prisoner's side of the glass.
In the summer the visitors' room is very cold. It is air conditioned and even though the air conditioning is turned way down low visitors need to remember to take jackets or jumpers.
"Walking into Polunsky unit is something of a confusing experience for most people first time around. They already have their own ideas of what it will be like. Then they arrive and see these huge concrete buildings, coil after coil of flesh tearing razor wire and fences within fences within more fences – then there are the flowers right outside the front door looking so pretty… How do you process the contradictions?"
Inmate Tony Medina February 2008
Swiss friend Nathalie (left)
and sister Crystel
visiting Karl October 2007
"Amnesty International opposes the death penalty without reservation as a violation of the right to life. Amnesty International argues that every execution is a violation of basic human rights. Any potential increase in executions or lobbying for the death penalty as a result of the use of lethal injection is of serious concern. The increased pressure on medical professionals to participate in executions also raises serious ethical and human rights issues."
Amnesty International October 2007