Security threat leads Fla. to cancel prison visitation

Officials said the cancellation is in response to “credible intelligence indicating that small groups of inmates at several institutions may attempt to disrupt operations”

August 17, 2017 01:58 PM

Wire on the top of fencing at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center in Lecanto, Fla., in a December 3, 2004, file image.

By Gal Tziperman Lotan
Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Corrections canceled visitation at all 149 of its facilities this Saturday, Aug. 19, and Sunday, Aug. 20, citing a security threat.

The cancellation is a response to “credible intelligence indicating that small groups of inmates at several institutions may attempt to disrupt (Florida Department of Corrections) operations and impact safety and security,” a department official said in a statement. “FDC looks forward to resuming normal visitation as soon as possible.”

Department officials announced the cancellation on Wednesday, and declined to answer questions about what the issue is or which correctional institutions it came from.

The department canceled visitation at the Jackson Correctional Institution in Malone — about 65 miles northeast of Panama City — for the last two weekends.

Three other institutions have had visitation canceled this year: Jefferson Correctional Institution, about 30 miles east of Tallahassee, on Aug. 5 and 6; Everglades Correctional Institution on July 29 and 30; and the Wakulla Annex, about 15 miles south-southeast of Tallahassee, on July 22 and 23.

Department officials last canceled visitation for a large group of facilities as Hurricane Matthew approached Florida last fall, department records show, though some facilities outside the storm’s path were unaffected.

A department spokeswoman said she did not immediately know when statewide visitation was last canceled Wednesday afternoon.