DOC Visitation Restrictions to Change Sept 6
The Delaware Department of Corrections is lifting a restriction that allows one adult visitor per inmate, which has been in place since late May as Covid-19 transmission was increasing. Beginning on Tuesday, September 6 one adult visitor and one child visitor under age 18 will be permitted per inmate. Surgical masks will be made available to visitors for use while in DOC facilities.
The Department of Correction has continued to follow its comprehensive COVID-19 mitigation protocols which were introduced in March, 2020 and have been continually updated with the latest best practices and public health guidance. DOC’s COVID-19 protocols feature testing and quarantine of new arrivals to DOC facilities, testing and quarantine of inmates who exhibit symptoms of illness and inmates who have had sustained contact with COVID-positive individuals, ongoing cleaning and air purification of DOC facilities, and continual education and access to COVID vaccination and booster shots. Face masks have continued to being provided to inmates and staff and face masks have remained required in all areas where medical care is provided and in COVID isolation and quarantine units.
DOC COVID-19 inmate testing and vaccination highlights:
- The DOC continues to aggressively employ inmate COVID-19 testing and more than 39,600 inmate tests have been administered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- DOC’s inmate COVID-19 vaccinations began in January, 2021. 56% of current inmates in DOC custody have received at least partial COVID-19 vaccination and 1,521 current inmates who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster have received a booster shot. Meanwhile, 2,654 inmates have been released after receiving COVID-19 vaccination while in DOC custody.
The number of inmate and DOC staff cases of COVID-19, which remained at near zero for months, had ticked up in May, 2022 as transmission in the community significantly increased. Active COVID cases among the inmate population peaked at 31 in late May before falling and have remained at under 20 active cases across all DOC facilities for several weeks. As of August 26, 15 inmates across all DOC facilities statewide have known active cases of COVID-19, of whom only one has minor symptoms of illness.
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. DOC is completing the installation of equipment to expand video visitation to Level IV work release and violation of probation facilities this year.
Visitation guidelines and scheduling information is available on the DOC website at https://doc.delaware.gov/views/visit_inmate.blade.shtml.
