Oklahoma Dept. Of Corrections Resumes Visitation Days After Inmate Vaccinations Begin

After pausing visits in September, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections announced Tuesday inmate visitation will resume in April. 

“We know how valuable family support is to our inmates, and I am very pleased we are able to resume visitation throughout all facilities,” said department director Scott Crow in a news release. 

Additional rules will be enforced by DOC staff to accommodate state health guidelines for COVID-19, such as masking and social distancing. 

Visitation will officially resume on April 1. Visitors and inmates will be required to wear masks, remain six feet apart throughout visits, and no physical contact is allowed. 

“Facility personnel will immediately end any session when a visitor is not adhering to these or other posted rules,” according to the DOC website. “The safety of our inmates and staff is our first priority.” 

Cathy Walker-Davis, a mother of an inmate at Mabel Basset Correctional Center, said the added rules will be difficult to follow. 

“I have to see her face. I can’t go there and not be able to hold her,” she said, adding she has not seen her daughter in more than a year. “I’d be in there for two seconds and they’d kick me out because there’s no way I can see her without giving her a hug.” 

Wanda Browning said she is eager to visit her husband at William S. Key Correction Center as soon as possible, no matter the rules. 

“I've been excited all day,” she said. “It’s going to be incredibly difficult not to want to embrace him. But with how long we’ve gone without seeing each other, at this point you take what you can get, you know?” 

The reopening of visitation comes as the state begins inoculating inmates with the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The first shots of a shipment of Moderna vaccines were administered on Thursday, according to DOC spokesperson Justin Wolf. 

Infection rates across DOC facilities have declined in recent months. To date, more than 7,000 inmates have tested positive, and 52 inmate deaths have been linked to the virus. 

“We're doing everything we can to ensure that those infection rates don't climb again,” Wolf said. 

Visitors and inmates will be required to follow visitation rules even if one or both parties are vaccinated, Wolf said. 

The first shipment of vaccine contained just over 3,000 doses, Wolf said, and will be sent to the four facilities with infirmaries to inoculate the most medically vulnerable inmates. Those facilities are Mabel Basset Correctional Center, Lexington Assessment & Reception Center, Dick Connor Correctional Center and the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. 

The department hopes to administer each dose in the first shipment by Friday.  

The Oklahoma State Health Department has allocated roughly 9,400 additional doses to DOC, according to Regional Director Mendy Spohn. The doses are a mix of the vaccines by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.