State prisons to allow visitors
Restrictions — including no physical contact — will be in place
Immediate family of Florida prisoners will be allowed to visit state prisons starting next weekend, though visits must be scheduled and physical contact will be prohibited, among other safety protocols, the Florida Department of Corrections announced Friday.
Visitation at Florida prisons has been suspended since early March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which spread widely through the prison system, but corrections Secretary Mark Inch announced two weeks ago the facilities would begin re-opening for visitors Oct. 2.
Only two immediate family members, who must be older than 11, will be allowed to request a visit with their loved one starting next weekend, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Visitors must go through a health screening that includes a temperature check as well as questions about symptoms or exposure, and will be required to wear a mask provided by the FDC. Michelle Glady, a spokeswoman for FDC, said the masks will be surgical masks.
They will be required to maintain six feet from other visitors and sit on the opposite side of a table from their family member, with a plastic divider in between, the new guidelines said. No touching will be allowed between visitors and inmates.
Families must schedule their visits based on their loved one’s corrections number — if it ends in an odd number, visits will be allowed Saturdays, even numbers on Sundays — and will be scheduled for one of two three-hour periods for that day.
Glady could not say how many visitor slots will be available each day, explaining that “capacity is determined individually, depending on the size of each visitor park.”
According to the visit FAQs, if a visit request is not accommodated, the request form “will be placed on the waiting list for the next available timeslot.” The visit request form will be available online Monday morning
More than 200 prisoners and 200 staff have tested positive since last Thursday, Aug. 17, according to FDC’s COVID dashboard. A dozen prisoners have died since then. The new prisoner cases were spread across more than 20 state prisons, though no outbreaks exceeded more than 30 cases.
But at the prisons with new cases in the double digits, the positivity rate was extremely high. At Hamilton Correctional Institution near the Georgia border, 80% of the new inmate coronavirus tests came back positive since last Thursday, with 28 new positive cases and six negative. Seven tests are pending there.
At Suwannee Correctional Institution, near Lake City, 90% of tests came back positive since last Thursday, with 27 positive and three negative, according to FDC data. Eleven staff there have also tested positive since last Thursday.
More than 16,000 inmates and 3,100 corrections staff have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic, but FDC reports that about 96% of inmates and 82% of staff have since been medically cleared. More than 130 inmates have died after testing positive for the virus.
Inmates who are in dorms still under a medical quarantine or medical isolation, designations FDC makes after someone in that dorm comes into contact with someone who has COVID-19 or related symptoms, will not be eligible to meet with visitors, FDC said.
Prisoner advocates have questioned the new restrictions for visits, especially the prohibitions of physical contact and children, noting how important this time is to people who are incarcerated, especially after almost seven months without it.
Denise Rock, the executive director of Florida Cares prisoner advocacy nonprofit, called it an “impudent decision” that visitors at state prisons will not be allowed to.hug or hold hands with their loved one, while certain visitors are allowed physical contact at nursing homes — facilities that saw many more cases and deaths from coronavirus.