…..3 days after “Another rock is turned over!” was posted on January 27, Christine Anderson, Deputy Warden at Millhaven Institution did respond:-

I am writing in response to your letter dated January 16, 2019 to the Visitor Review Board (VRB).

I would like to address the statement the board was dismissive of what Mr. Guigue presented to the board and inform that all information was reviewed at the VRB, including the in person rebuttal presented by Brennan Guigue to conclude a decision on his visiting status.

During processing into any institution there are a number of security tools in place and utilized by CSC staff to ensure a safe and secure environment for staff, inmates and visitors/public. Your visit on November 9, 2018 staff completed their routine processing duties and one of our drug screening security tools indicated that you had come into contact with a prohibited substance. As a result a Threat Risk Assessment was completed by the Correctional Manager. Police are only called if a substance is located on a person or their property.

It is our goal to assist with keeping the institution safe and secure while assisting those who reside in our custody to continue their family supports and community relationships. I can assure you that there is not an agenda to keep you from continuing your relationship with your son.

Respectfully,

……it wasn’t until a month later, on February 28, that an equally respectful response was sent in answer:-

Dear Deputy Warden Anderson:

I do appreciate your taking the time to respond to my January 16th letter to the VRB concerning a November attempt to visit my son, Brennan Guigue. Further, I’ll concede to the sincerity of your argument in countering my criticism and complaint.

All the same, I have been advocating for prisoners, for the reform of institutional oversight, for unfiltered transparency at CSC as part of my activism for thirty years or so. I played around the edges of involved support for these and other causes for perhaps another twenty years before that. It’s a coincidence I have an adopted son in the system, and that has underscored the importance I attach to my work.

At this point in my life, and with my experience and education over the years, I have a high degree of confidence in how I expressed my position in the January letter. There’s been just too much water under that proverbial bridge for a different perspective.

Yours truly,

This “respectful” exchange says another effort to visit is a remote possibility looking for a path forward. This is akin to crossing a “no man’s land” on a World War I battlefield.