© 2025 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Proposed FDOC Budget Cut Would Drop Visitation Days in Half

WFSU | By Kaleigh Wright
Published May 31, 2018 at 5:08 PM EDT
Nearly 100,000 incarcerated citizens had a voice today at the Florida Department of Corrections public hearing.
Flickr Creative Commons
Nearly 100,000 incarcerated citizens had a voice today at the Florida Department of Corrections public hearing.
Nearly 100,000 incarcerated citizens had a voice today at the Florida Department of Corrections public hearing.
Credit Flickr Creative Commons
Nearly 100,000 incarcerated citizens had a voice today at the Florida Department of Corrections public hearing.

Florida’s 98,000 incarcerated citizens had a voice today at the Florida Department of Corrections public hearing. Prisoner support groups gathered for three hours to implore the department to reconsider a proposed visitation policy change.

Mothers, fathers, family members, and inmate advocates took turns at the podium speaking against the new Visitation Schedule proposed by the DOC. Instead of every weekend, visitation would be reduced to every other weekend. The FDOC says this change is due to short staffing. Kyle Williford, Director of Incarcerated Relations at the Campaign for Prison Reform, argues the department seeks to make a profit.

“The bottom line is numbers; it’s not humanity.”

A $28 million DOC budget cut also means limiting re-entry, mental illness, and substance abuse programs.

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.

Tags
CorrectionsGovernmentLocal
Kaleigh Wright
Kaleigh Wright is a senior at Florida State University pursuing Studio Art, Film Studies, and English. Before her debut at WFSU, Kaleigh worked at Capitol News Service as a Production Assistant and Florida State University as Senior Photographer. Her ultimate goal post-college is to pursue a career in documentary film-making. When she is not behind the camera or in front of the microphone, you can find Kaleigh watching anything by Wes Anderson and drinking copious amounts of mocha frappuchinos.
See stories by Kaleigh Wright
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • FILE - Supporters of the LGBT wave their flag in front of the U.S. Supreme Cour, Oct. 8, 2019, in Washington.
    Government & Politics
    Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide
    The Associated Press
    The Supreme Court has rejected a call to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The justices on Monday turned away an appeal from a former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling. Clerk Kim Davis had been trying to get the justices to overturn a lower-court order that she pay $360,000 in damages and attorney's fees. Justice Clarence Thomas has urged his colleagues to overturn the Supreme Court's marriage decision, much as they did in 2022 when the high court overturned the right to abortion.
  • Weather
    Florida's arctic blast is on the way; here's your mid-autumn forecast
    Irene Sans
    Temperatures will be about 20 degrees below average for this time of year, and the wind will make it feel even colder! How long will it last?
  • Environment
    Gray Catbirds – “Skulkers” and Hunters in Dense Vegetation
    Dr. Jerry Jackson
    Gray Catbirds are in a bird family known as the “Mimidae” – because they mimic other birds, other animals, and even mechanical sounds. Other members of their family in Florida include the Brown Thrasher and the Northern Mockingbird – two excellent mimics that we often see and hear year-round as they feed, sing, and nest in relatively open vegetation. They often mimic the vocalizations of other bird species and it has been suggested that their mimicry may send the message that the area is crowded – and cause other birds to search for food elsewhere.