This is Spoon Jackson of Rabbits of Realness, and I’m calling today to talk about the state of visiting in Solano State Prison. I came here around seven years ago, and the visiting here was promoting the family friendly atmosphere out there in the visiting room. They had a cool sergeant who knew how to communicate and welcome visitors, taxpayers who pay the salaries of state employees, to the prison and the atmosphere was cordial, and, like I said, friendly. Now that sergeant that was out there, he’s retired, and the atmosphere has taken on different levels. And I had a friend who used to work for Prison Radio — I think she may still volunteer for it from time to time — she was coming here on a road trip she had planned and we had sent in the visiting form weeks earlier for it to get processed and approved. And so I was assuming that the form was approved. I kept inquiring about it, and they just said it’s pending and pending and pending and finally she came, and they wouldn’t allow her to visit me, and that was very disappointing. So, I ended up playing my flute in front of the education building which is about four fences away from the visitors parking lot, so she was able to hear me play the flute a consolation, something to console her after coming 1000s of miles and being denied a visit.
What’s sad about that is that in the 80s and 90s, it takes all of 10 minutes, at the most, to process a visiting application, and now here it is, 2025 and they wouldn’t process the visiting form and therefore she did not get to – we did not get to meet – and she went back to Washington. Anyway, I just wanted to say that, like I said, the visiting [before] was off the hook. It was pretty good as far as promoting family and promoting friends, and it has — statistics have proved, science has proved that visiting is one of the programs that cuts down on recidivism and cuts down on violence inside the prison, and it should be promoted at all times. And yet here, the atmosphere since the sergeant who was running it retired, has turned into chaos, and visitors are treated not as well, and prisoners, I’m a prisoner, so they can treat me however they want to, just don’t mess with my visitors and friends and family. And therefore, I just wanted to make that point that visiting had deteriorated up here at Solano State Prison, and I hope that it comes back and get better again. Thank you.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
