Just in time for Valentine’s Day, prison visitations restarted

In-person inmate visitation at Delaware prisons will restart Monday, Feb. 14, a day commonly celebrated as Valentine’s Day. 

“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,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Monroe B. Hudson Jr. 

In-person visitation was suspended Jan. 1 for a third time amid the record rate of transmission of the illness in the community; it 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 doc.delaware.gov/views/visit_inmate.blade.shtml and on DOC social media channels.

Weekend furloughs from Level IV Community Corrections Centers will resume the week of Feb. 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 meetings next week.

The DOC offers 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 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.

As of Feb. 7, 19 inmates across Delaware’s correctional system have active COVID infection with none hospitalized. There are 13 asymptomatic and six with minor symptoms. To date, officials said, the DOC has administered 31,604 inmate COVID-19 tests, and DOC continues to provide all inmates with access to COVID-19 vaccination and booster shots. Among current inmates, 61 percent have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 57% of vaccinated inmates eligible for a booster shot have received one. More than 1,650 inmates have been released to the community after receiving COVID-19 vaccination while in DOC custody.