Inmates at Dodds Prison will get to see their families and loved ones face to face this Christmas after being unable to do so for the past two years.
From Monday, December 12, face-to-face visits by family, friends and attorneys to inmates at the St. Philip penal institution resumed, but with special conditions.
This was announced by Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, and acting Superintendent of Prisons, DeCarlo Payne, during a press conference at the Ministry’s Wildey, St. Michael office, today.
Acting Superintendent of the Prison, Mr. Payne, explained that face-to-face visits would be facilitated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while virtual visits would be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Persons seeking to make appointments for visits may do so by calling 535-7302, 535-7303, or 535-7439.
He added that persons visiting Dodds Prison would be expected to comply with protocols, which were developed by prison officials and approved by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Under those protocols, 11 groups of 15 visitors each will be accommodated daily, with each visit lasting 30 minutes.
The Visiting Room will be sanitised before the start of each visit, and visitors are required to arrive 30 minutes ahead of their scheduled time. In addition, on arrival at the Prison, visitors will be sanitised at the Sentry and Main Gates before proceeding to the Visiting Room. Persons entering the Prison will be required to wear a mask at all times.
Each visit will be conducted as a cohort, that is, from one housing unit rather than from all over the prison, to limit any potential exposure to COVID-19.
Inmates who are in quarantine or isolation will not be allowed to have in-person visits. At the end of each group of visits, the Visiting Room will be sanitised. Persons who are physically challenged will also be facilitated. And, there will be no physical contact between visitors and inmates.
Mr. Payne further explained that attorneys and counsellors would also be facilitated in seeing their clients face-to-face, by appointment. However, he said those visits would be done in a room with the inmate and attorney in one room, but without any physical contact.
Minister Abrahams said the return to face-to-face visits at the facility follows a near two-year shutdown due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“This Government has put a focus on the rehabilitation of offenders. We have put a focus on trying to reintegrate those who leave the prison back into society in a seamless way, and one of those means of promoting reintegration has to do with allowing persons to interact with other people who are not a part of the prison population,” he said, noting that this included seeing their families and knowing what was happening in their households in preparation for their eventual release.
However, he maintained that while efforts were being made to work with the public and attorneys, the safety and security of inmates remained the paramount concern.
“If at any point in time we have an outbreak of COVID in the prison, we are going to shut it back down again,” he cautioned, urging the public to adhere to the rules of the prison when visiting. There are presently no COVID-19 cases among the inmate population or staff at Dodds Prison, which currently has a roll of 743, representing 718 males and 25 females.