Visits at SCI-chester

[spoonlike]

i know that every time my guy has been bounced from facility to facility (albion to camp hill to chester), one of the first things i do is pop onto these forums to see about visits, so i thought i'd make a post about my experiences with visiting chester, since there haven't been many threads about it.

visiting hours are 2:30-8:30 every day except for tuesdays & wednesdays, & on those days they're closed. now, since the weather's nice, they always have the doors open to the waiting room, but visitors aren't allowed to enter until someone comes outside & tells us we can come inside, usually stating that if you have a cell phone, come in & get a number, then march back to the car & get rid of that phone.

when you go inside, there are tags with numbers at the front desk. everyone takes a number, & then you wait a while. the numbers are called in order, at which point you go to the front desk, give your guy's inmate number, & sign in.

the lockers use quarters. i believe that each time you open the locker, you have to put in a new quarter. i only take my car key, my ID, & my bag of tokens/money, & the CO has kept my car key for me in the desk so i wouldn't have to spend a quarter on it for a locker.

there are two machines at the back of the waiting room--one that exchanges your money for tokens, which are used in the vending machines of the visiting room, & one that is for picture tickets. this has been the most frustrating part for me, because the first visit i was unaware of it being there & thought i could pay for tickets for pictures in the visiting area. the second time i thought i could use my tokens to get the tickets--wrong. so, tokens for vending machines & actual real-world money for picture tickets. (when i go this friday, i WILL get this right, & i WILL be able to get us picture tickets. i am bound & determined. )

this may depend on CO to CO, but the dress code for visitors seems very lax (much moreso than at camp hill, that's for sure). i've seen women wearing tank tops (no spaghetti straps), capris, shorts (that are at least fingertip length), dresses with two-inch straps, etc.
inside the actual visiting area, though, they have the AC blasting. i get cold very easily, so the visit when i wore shorts, flip-flops, & a little half-sleeved shirt, i was frozen by the end of the visit (so it was really nice to hug my bonito at the end of the visit & let him warm me up ).

so far, i have visited only on fridays. each time i have been inside & with my guy by at least 3:00 (3:15 at the latest). after getting inside the actual visiting room, i give my visitor's sheet to the CO at the side of the room & wait for my baby to come bopping out a door at the back of the room near the vending machines. usually i can see him pacing around back there a few minutes before he comes out.
monday i start a new job & will have to start seeing him on saturdays, so i am hoping that they will run much the same as our friday visits have, & that i will be able to stay with him for the full visit.

it usually gets very busy as the visit goes on, but many people just pop in for an hour or so & then leave so it has never been super overcrowded, though seating gets a little tight, & i have yet to see anyone's visit be terminated by a CO. i have been able to stay each time until the lights flicker at 8:30 & visits are officially over (thank goodness; after driving five hours to see him, it is lovely to be able to spend the whole five hours with him). after the inmates are ushered back to the door they come in, they sit down in their seats & wait for the strip searches to start, & usually B sits & talks to me in sign language or makes faces at me or blows kisses until they scan my hand for the stamp & i'm booted out.

unlike any of the facilities i've visited before, he is able to get up & walk around with me to the vending machines, & it has been interesting to see how terrible he's gotten at making decisions since he's been locked up (it usually takes him at least two minutes to decide what he wants to drink & even longer when it comes to actual food). this facility is really laidback, & the CO's, for the most part, are very friendly. if i'm walking inside the building in a group of them (the shift switches as visiting starts, so it's inevitable), at least one of them says hello to me, & every time that i've left the building at the end of a visit, the guy in the parking lot patrol car tells me goodnight & have a good evening.

all in all, i've had nothing but good experiences with my visits at chester, & i hope this thread will be of use to someone, either now or in the future.

[Sunshinesgirl]

thanks my man end up there and I was hoping for info

[msonlydabest]

This is great info, I am glad people are posting up there info on the different jails it helps everyone to get to know the prison. Chester sounds pretty lax....Where is chester????

[egs]

Just south of Philadelphia in a county called Delaware Co.

[Mittenz]

Thanks a million. I was just told my Mack that he is putting in a transfer to Chester to be closer to home. I know nothing about this prison and took a shot at seeign what my girls here did with personal experiences. this was right on time.

[spoonlike]

some tidbits i would have liked to have known before going to chester (it took me three visits to get this stuff all situated/figured out--pain in the neck!):
- the token machines don't take bills larger than a ten. it doesn't take change.
- in order to get pictures, you can't use the tokens; that machine requires actual money (i believe it's two tickets for $2.00, but i am probably wrong about this; it might be two for $4).

correction about the lockers:
- they do require a quarter, but when you open the locker back up, it spits the quarter out, so you don't actually spend money on this (unless you forget to take your quarter out of the slot).

drinks in the visiting room are $1.25 (the vending machines are pretty high-tech & cool to watch, though they feel out of place at a jail; the BF asks me every visit if, when we get our own place, we can get one). snack cakes are $1.00. candy (like starbursts, tootsie rolls) are seventy-five cents. a bag of popcorn is a buck. a bag of chips is fifty cents. as for the actual "food," i'm not sure; he & i are both vegetarians & there is nothing we can eat out of them, so he stuffs himself with all kinds of candy.

this weekend i just had my first saturday visit. it was pretty busy, but i got the full five hours (& maybe an extra fifteen, since the dingbat doing the sign-in/phone stuff wasn't quite as slow as she normally is).

i'm glad this stuff has been useful to some of you. overall, visiting at chester has been nothing but nice experiences, considering the circumstances, & the folks that work there are much more pleasant to be around than the ones at camp hill.

[kbellk26]

Originally Posted by spoonlike

i know that every time my guy has been bounced from facility to facility (albion to camp hill to chester), one of the first things i do is pop onto these forums to see about visits, so i thought i'd make a post about my experiences with visiting chester, since there haven't been many threads about it.

visiting hours are 2:30-8:30 every day except for tuesdays & wednesdays, & on those days they're closed. now, since the weather's nice, they always have the doors open to the waiting room, but visitors aren't allowed to enter until someone comes outside & tells us we can come inside, usually stating that if you have a cell phone, come in & get a number, then march back to the car & get rid of that phone.

when you go inside, there are tags with numbers at the front desk. everyone takes a number, & then you wait a while. the numbers are called in order, at which point you go to the front desk, give your guy's inmate number, & sign in.

the lockers use quarters. i believe that each time you open the locker, you have to put in a new quarter. i only take my car key, my ID, & my bag of tokens/money, & the CO has kept my car key for me in the desk so i wouldn't have to spend a quarter on it for a locker.

there are two machines at the back of the waiting room--one that exchanges your money for tokens, which are used in the vending machines of the visiting room, & one that is for picture tickets. this has been the most frustrating part for me, because the first visit i was unaware of it being there & thought i could pay for tickets for pictures in the visiting area. the second time i thought i could use my tokens to get the tickets--wrong. so, tokens for vending machines & actual real-world money for picture tickets. (when i go this friday, i WILL get this right, & i WILL be able to get us picture tickets. i am bound & determined. )

this may depend on CO to CO, but the dress code for visitors seems very lax (much moreso than at camp hill, that's for sure). i've seen women wearing tank tops (no spaghetti straps), capris, shorts (that are at least fingertip length), dresses with two-inch straps, etc.
inside the actual visiting area, though, they have the AC blasting. i get cold very easily, so the visit when i wore shorts, flip-flops, & a little half-sleeved shirt, i was frozen by the end of the visit (so it was really nice to hug my bonito at the end of the visit & let him warm me up ).

so far, i have visited only on fridays. each time i have been inside & with my guy by at least 3:00 (3:15 at the latest). after getting inside the actual visiting room, i give my visitor's sheet to the CO at the side of the room & wait for my baby to come bopping out a door at the back of the room near the vending machines. usually i can see him pacing around back there a few minutes before he comes out.
monday i start a new job & will have to start seeing him on saturdays, so i am hoping that they will run much the same as our friday visits have, & that i will be able to stay with him for the full visit.

it usually gets very busy as the visit goes on, but many people just pop in for an hour or so & then leave so it has never been super overcrowded, though seating gets a little tight, & i have yet to see anyone's visit be terminated by a CO. i have been able to stay each time until the lights flicker at 8:30 & visits are officially over (thank goodness; after driving five hours to see him, it is lovely to be able to spend the whole five hours with him). after the inmates are ushered back to the door they come in, they sit down in their seats & wait for the strip searches to start, & usually B sits & talks to me in sign language or makes faces at me or blows kisses until they scan my hand for the stamp & i'm booted out.

unlike any of the facilities i've visited before, he is able to get up & walk around with me to the vending machines, & it has been interesting to see how terrible he's gotten at making decisions since he's been locked up (it usually takes him at least two minutes to decide what he wants to drink & even longer when it comes to actual food). this facility is really laidback, & the CO's, for the most part, are very friendly. if i'm walking inside the building in a group of them (the shift switches as visiting starts, so it's inevitable), at least one of them says hello to me, & every time that i've left the building at the end of a visit, the guy in the parking lot patrol car tells me goodnight & have a good evening.

all in all, i've had nothing but good experiences with my visits at chester, & i hope this thread will be of use to someone, either now or in the future.

Thank you for the detailed info. My son was just tranfered this past week and this info will help for our first visit.

[nikki1216]

Originally Posted by kbellk26

Thank you for the detailed info. My son was just tranfered this past week and this info will help for our first visit.

Can I sit on his lap lol u made me feel 100% I hate Graterford can't wait til he's at Chester

Joeysboo

[nikki1216]

Originally Posted by msonlydabest

This is great info, I am glad people are posting up there info on the different jails it helps everyone to get to know the prison. Chester sounds pretty lax....Where is chester????

In Chester near harrahs casino

Joeysboo

[Tykeyz]

Hello my name is (personal info deleted per PTO policy) .I writing this letter to u cause i need ur help...Help on going to Sci fayette....If u hav any seats can u please call me at (Personal info deleted per PTO policy. Please PM member.) thank u!!!!