By James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — Daviess County Jailer David Osborne said Tuesday that Daviess County Detention Center officials have changed their recently announced visitation policy that required people wanting to visit inmates to provide Social Security numbers for background checks.
The policy, which was scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, was adopted by the jail from the Department of Corrections. Inmates had been informed of the policy several weeks ago.
Major Bill Billings, chief deputy of the detention center, said previously that inmates would send forms to people they wanted on their visitation lists. Those people, in turn, would provide information to the jail, including their Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses. Potential visitors would also be required to answer questions about their backgrounds.
Information on an inmate’s visitors would be kept on file at the jail for two years after the inmate’s release, Billings said previously.
The state Department of Corrections has the same visitation policy, and requires Social Security numbers from people who want to visit prison inmates, according to a Detention Center release about the policy. Bullitt County’s detention center also uses the same policy as the Department of Corrections.
Osborne said Tuesday that he had only received one complaint from a person who did not want to provide a Social Security number. But he has reconsidered the policy and decided against requiring people to provide those numbers.
“Some people may be reluctant to give that out, and I don’t blame them,” Osborne said. “So we decided not to go there.”
Osborne said potential visitors will be checked against the state’s electronic warrant system; if a person has an active warrant, the information will be sent to law enforcement.
Lists of potential visitors will also be screened by the office of Probation and Parole to determine if there is any reason, such as a court order, that prohibits the inmate from seeing the visitor, Osborne said.
The jail shouldn’t have a policy of collecting Social Security numbers, Osborne said.
“I think people don’t like it,” Osborne said. “It (a Social Security number) needs to be protected and, to tell you the truth, I don’t want to take on a responsibility unnecessarily.”
The jail also won’t collect information on very young children, as jail officials announced previously. The goal of the visitation policy is to better manage visitation hours, which have been disrupted in the past by fights, people who are intoxicated and people attempting to bring in contraband, Osborne said.
“The intent is to decrease the number of people being in the lobby” during visitation hours, Osborne said. The jail has visitation from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and has limited visitation on Sunday.
“It would be ideal to have a deputy in the lobby (during visitation hours), but we can’t afford that,” Osborne said.
Osborne said the policy allows an inmate to receive visits from all family members and from any number of ministers and social workers. But the policy limits inmates to only three people outside of those categories.
“I saw a lady come in two weeks ago, and she checked five different names” of inmates she wanted to visit, Osborne said. “Her intent was to visit them all. You can have a person in the lobby all day long.”
Of the visitation policy, Osborne said, “I think you just have to use common sense and do what’s best for the facility and the community. We don’t want to come on too strong.
“My intent is to control the number of visitors, and not be ‘Big Brother’ about it,” Osborne said.