SUMTER, S.C. — Starting this week, visitation hours are back at the Sumter Lee Regional Detention Center after a nearly four month break.
"It was great to be able to see him," Sandra Myers said about visiting her son. "You want to put your arms around him but you can’t 'cuz you’re speaking through a glass, but it’s better than nothing."
Myers traveled almost two hours from Indian Land, South Carolina to see her son at the facility.
She’s just one of the many people now able to visit their loved ones at the facility for the first time since September.
Visitation hours were paused for months as the phone system in the visiting booths were getting worked on.
Starting this week, those hours are back.
"Physical visits, coming out to see someone, I think it’s very, very important," Jail Director Patricia Ray explained. "Once you come to jail, you know, being behind the door, you’re away from your family. So to keep that connection is very important."
Ray says visitation hours not only help with inmates’ mental health, but it also helps officers since she tells me visitation hours keep inmates on their best behavior.
"It’s a definite improvement when we have visitation," she said about the inmates' behavior.
Starting this week, that visitation time is even better now that new phones have been installed.
"It was kind of inconvenient to have to yell through a glass to have to talk to someone," Ray shared about the old system. "You may want to talk to someone about something private, but the person next to you shouldn’t have to be in your conversation."
The temporary pause was longer than expected, according to Ray. Certain equipment and technology needed for the system upgrade were delivered later than expected, which put the project on hold.
"We had one piece that took about three weeks to get here," Ray explained.
While visitation hours were paused, inmates were able to have video calls with loved ones and they could message on tablets.
While this was a temporary solution, Joan Franklin tells me it was difficult to go without seeing her son for so long.
"I missed him," Franklin said. "He hadn’t been to court yet, he’s just been sitting here, so kinda hard."
That hard wait is finally over.
Inmates are allowed one visitation per week on either Monday or Friday. Ray tells News 19 that expanding the availability into weekends is something the center might consider as it works to improve communication between inmates and loved ones.