Tearful, angry and resentful family members of Florida inmates pleaded with state corrections officials to abandon proposed changes to visitation rules that could cut in half the amount of time they are able to spend with locked-up loved ones.

The Department of Corrections is proposing a change that would allow the agency to limit prison visits, which can now take place on Saturday and Sunday, in addition to holidays, to every other weekend. Under the proposed rule, changes to the “standard” visitation schedule would be implemented on a prison-by-prison basis and would be based on a variety of factors, such as staffing shortages and the amount of contraband being sneaked into the institutions.