DOC to Restart Inmate Visitation Feb 14
The Delaware Department of Correction (DOC) announced today that in-person inmate visitation will restart on Monday, February 14.
“Thanks to the success of our comprehensive COVID-19 screening, testing, and mitigation measures along with the significant reduction in community spread of the virus we are able to restart in-person inmate visitation on Monday, February 14,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Monroe B. Hudson Jr. “We greatly appreciate the ongoing efforts of our DOC staff, healthcare and program providers, the cooperation of inmates, and the understanding of inmate families as we continue to navigate the risks of this highly infectious global pandemic to Delaware’s correctional system.”
In-person visitation was suspended January 1 amid the record rate of transmission of the illness in the community and was part of ongoing efforts to minimize the risk of community spread of the virus to DOC facilities. Prison facilities will begin taking registrations for in-person visitation this week. Updated visitation procedures and instructions will be posted on the inmate visitation webpage at https://doc.delaware.gov/views/visit_inmate.blade.shtml and on DOC social media channels.
Weekend furloughs from Level IV Community Corrections Centers will also be restarted beginning the week of February 14.
Inmate programming transitioned in late December to a virtual format across many Level V prison facilities. Prison programming will begin the transition back to in-person next week.
COVID-19 testing and vaccination highlights:
- 19 inmates across Delaware’s correctional system have active COVID infection as of February 7, including 13 who are asymptomatic, 6 who are displaying only minor symptoms, and zero COVID-related inmate hospitalizations.
- To-date the DOC has administered 31,604 inmate COVID-19 tests. The DOC has continued to aggressively employ COVID-19 testing among the inmate population.
- DOC continues to provide all inmates with access to COVID-19 vaccination and booster shots and inmates receive regular COVID vaccination education and information. 61% of current inmates have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 57% of vaccinated inmates eligible for a booster shot have received a booster. Additionally, more than 1,650 inmates have been released to the community after receiving COVID-19 vaccination while in DOC custody.
The DOC offers a variety of phone and video visitation to inmates in order to facilitate family and community support that is important to their well-being. During the COVID-19 pandemic the DOC sped up and completed a multi-year technology project to expand video visitation to all Level V prison facilities. Work is currently underway to further expand video visitation to Level IV work release and violation of probation facilities.
This represented the third time during the COVID-19 pandemic that in-person visitation was temporarily suspended, all amid high rates of community transmission outside of DOC facilities.
