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Florida Department Of Corrections Suspends Visitations Statewide
March 13, 2020
The Florida Department of Corrections has suspending visitations at all correctional institutions across the state.
FDC has no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 at this time.
“Every month FDC is fortunate to have more than 30,000 visitors from across the country enter our correctional institutions to visit their loved ones,” said FDC Secretary Mark Inch. “During this State of Emergency, it’s critical we take all precautions necessary to minimize the potential risk to the inmate population and staff charged with their care and custody. This decision has been made in close consultation with our partners at the Florida Department of Health and with correctional best practices being reviewed nationwide. We look forward to resuming normal visitation as soon as possible.”
The visitation suspension will be in effect through April 5. The decision to reinstate the normal visitation schedule will be evaluated in consultation with the Floridda Department of Health.
Inmates will continue to have access to their loved ones through mail, phone calls and video visitation. Legal visits will not be impacted.
FDC is closely monitoring developments associated with the spread of this disease. FDC’s Office of Health Services, institutional medical staff and institutional operations staff work hand-in-hand with the Florida Department of Health (DOH) to quickly engage and resolve infectious disease outbreaks as soon as they occur. FDC said the agency is fully prepared to handle any potential cases of COVID-19 within the state operated correctional institutions in Florida.
- FDC has a plan in place and dedicated staff members trained in the prevention and containment of infectious diseases.
- FDC’s Office of Health Services coordinates with the Florida DOH for guidance on any type of outbreak and is closely monitoring new information as it is disseminated from Florida DOH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- FDC initiated its Incident Command System in response to this potential threat.
- Precautions are in place at facilities to protect inmates and staff from exposure to flu or any other respiratory illness; preventative measures are being followed per CDC recommendations.
Pictured: Inside Century Correctional Institution. NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Comments
One Response to “Florida Department Of Corrections Suspends Visitations Statewide”
To quote the Florida DOC Homepage concerning suspending visitations, it clearly states ” Inmates will continue to have access to their loved ones through mail, phone calls and video visitation “. I can only speak for ‘U’ Dorm at Lowell Correctional. There are 95 inmates in that dorm. There are 2 phones WHICH ONLY ONE OF THOSE ARE WORKING. There is also video visitation monitors, WHICH ARE NON-OPERATIONAL, aka. BROKEN. How are these inmates supposed to contact family when equipment is not operational? How can DOC make such a false claim that inmates are given this opportunity when in fact they don’t due to broken equipment?