No visitations at Indiana prisons due to coronavirus concerns, state says

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wane.com on 3/11/2020

INDIANAPOLIS (WANE) — The Indiana Department of Correction has suspended visitations at all of its facilities around the state due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

The department said Wednesday that visitations would be suspended beginning Thursday and last “at least two weeks.”

The DOC said the decision to suspend visitations was “precautionary,” and made in the interest of the health and safety of staff and offenders. There are currently no known cases of COVID-19 among staff or offenders.

“The decision to extend suspension of visitations to all our correctional facilities was made with the primary concern over the health and safety of each offender and all of our staff,” said IDOC Commissioner Rob Carter. “While we recognize the importance of in-person visits by friends and family, we cannot afford the risk this poses to potentially introduce the COVID-19 virus into our facilities.

“We are working with our partners at the Indiana State Department of Health to monitor this ongoing threat, and when appropriate to do so, visitation restrictions will be lifted.”

Friends and family members can still visit offenders remotely, by video, the DOC said. Video visits must be scheduled in advance and are limited to 20 minutes.

DETAILS:

Prior to visiting an IDOC facility, friends and family members should visit the Indiana Department of Correction website and search the ‘Find A Facility’ to locate specific prison facilities. Once on the Facility website, click the ‘Visitation’ tab for current visitation information and see if visitor restrictions are in place.