By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
DRAPER, Utah — They walked into the carpeted gymnasium here, looking a little nervous and unsure.
They chose a seat toward the end of the row, sat down quietly and looked around, only to see that everyone else in the audience had done pretty much the same thing.
Lt. Dale Whitney strode up the side of the gym and picked up the microphone, his voice booming overhead.
“You’re all happy to be here tonight, right?” Whitney asked them, trying to break the ice.
As the audience groaned and laughed nervously, Whitney launched into his presentation to the families of newly incarcerated inmates at the Utah State Prison.
On the first Tuesday of every month, the Utah Department of Corrections offers an orientation session here at the Fred House Academy for the families of inmates who have just arrived at the prison. Officials try to answer their questions and calm their fears about a loved one behind bars. Officials from the various prison divisions, including inmate accounting, health care, programming and the parole board, give them answers to the question that weighs heavily on these people’s minds: What happens next? Q & A
“There’s no question that’s off limits up here,” Whitney told the crowd. “This time is basically yours.”
The questions varied.
“My son came down on five third-degree felonies,” one woman said, raising her hand. “When I talked to him, he said he wouldn’t be going before the parole board until September. Is that because they’re third-degree felonies?”
“It should be just according to what crime they committed,” said Jim Hatch of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
A couple of people asked about sending books or a newspaper subscription to an inmate. Some wanted to know if letters were read or phone calls were monitored by corrections staff.
“These are the kinds of calls that we get all day,” said Beverly Petermann, who works in inmate accounting. “How can I put money on the books? How much can he spend in commissary?”
Throughout the seminar, corrections officials tried to show empathy for the families but also offered words of caution. When an inmate gets phone-call privileges, Whitney warned that they may start calling several times a day -- and the collect calls can get expensive.
“Visiting is important,” Whitney said. “They need visits.”
He ran down the list of rules of what to wear, what to bring and what to leave at home, and included a warning about the penalties for smuggling contraband into the prison. The rules are also in a guidebook handed out to the families who show up to the orientation.
“If you have any warrants -- don’t come!” Whitney said, eliciting some laughter from the crowd.
Midway through the orientation, a woman raised her hand.
“How safe are the inmates from each other?” she asked.
Using delicate terms, Whitney outlined the inmate classifications of predatory inmates, those who could be picked on and those who will stand up for themselves but won’t pick on others. He also said that corrections is careful in how they are housed and how they interact with each other.
“The classifications are designed to minimize the potential for violence,” Whitney said. “Does violence still happen? Yes it does.” Family support
Bob Feland, a chaplain at the prison, urged the families to be strong -- but to remember what put their son, father, brother, sister, mother, daughter, husband or wife in prison in the first place.
“I know all of you want your loved one back, but do you want them back the way they came in?” he asked. “Some of you feel like this is the end of the road. It isn’t.”
There is educational programming and jobs available to inmates. Corrections officials urged the families to encourage their inmates to get involved in programming, to get a degree, go to therapy and be successful when they are ultimately released.
“One of the most important things you can do is be a support. One of the saddest things is release day and there’s no one there,” Feland said. “You care, you’re here now.”
The orientation for inmates’ families came about four years ago as corrections officers were working with inmates who had just entered the prison.
“We were working with the inmates and trying to get them ready for it, and we realized we weren’t talking to the families,” said Capt. Russ Armstrong, who is over the prison’s receiving and orientation. “We thought it would be a failure, but it kept going. It’s gotten better.”
Big Brothers, Big Sisters had a table set up offering mentoring support for children whose parents are incarcerated.
Not everybody is happy with what’s being offered.
“I’ve actually had people leave who say, ‘This is ridiculous. I don’t believe what they say!’ and they stomp out,” said Lael Ehlers, an office manager in the prison’s intake facility who fields a lot of phone calls from family members.
One couple, who did not want their names used because their son is an inmate, said the seminar put a lot of their worries to rest.
“Hearing how they’re housing them, that helped a lot,” the inmate’s mother said. “It sounds like they’ve got a lot of good programs going that will help him.”
“He should know all this information, too, but we’ll reinforce him on it,” his father added. “There’s some classes, and he better take ‘em.”
Copyright 2008 The Deseret News Publishing Co.