A Year Into The Pandemic CA Prisons Will Resume Visitation

CALIFORNIA — California's prisons — like many congregate living facilities in the state — became some of the most vulnerable places for the coronavirus to run amok last year. But prisons will soon resume limited in-person visits with inmates more than a year after the coronavirus hit the West Coast.

Visitations will resume April 10 at some facilities, with precautions, officials said Tuesday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation "recognizes the value of visitation for the incarcerated population and the importance of maintaining family and community ties, which is why we have worked hard to be able to bring it back as quickly and as safely as possible," department Secretary Kathleen Allison said in a statement.

More than 49,196 inmate coronavirus cases have been reported within California's prisons. Outbreaks killed at least 216 inmates and 26 employees, according to state data.

Officials said leaders of each prison will determine whether facilities are safe to resume in-person visits. When a facility reopens for visitors will depend on the number of active cases among staff and inmates at each facility, officials said.

Visitors to some prisons will be required to undergo a temperature check and testing. All will be required to wear a face covering.

"This is an important step forward, and we will work with the incarcerated population, families and staff to ensure a smooth transition into this new normal," Allison said.

Many of California's facilities suffered dire spikes in the winter along with the rest of California. But cases seem to be leveling off as infections plummet and vaccinations rise statewide.

Just 32 active cases were recorded among inmates and 331 among staff as of Wednesday, according to the department of corrections. There have also been 48,336 recoveries within correctional facilities, and 612 inmates were released with active cases, corrections officials said.

Avenal State Prison in northeastern California was particularly affected by the pandemic and suffered a major winter surge in cases. To date, there have been 3,030 coronavirus recoveries, but eight deaths were reported within the facility, according to state data.

A year into the pandemic, 94 percent of Avenal's incarcerated men have contracted the virus.

Avenal inmate Ed Welker told KQED that panic set in last year when news broke that the coronavirus had arrived in California.

"We were, like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to come in here, and it’s going to spread like wildfire, and we’re all going to get it,'" he told KQED. "And that’s exactly what happened."

At the height of California's winter COVID-19 surge, a Los Angeles County family demanded that the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation do more to protect inmates after a relative died just before his release at the High Desert State Prison, ABC 7 reported in December.

"They are locked away in a building, and they are supposed to be safe, but they're not safe," Swekeda Ellis told the station.

Ellis' brother, Tramond Thomas, died after falling ill in November while incarcerated at High Desert State Prison, Ellis said.

The worst outbreak befell San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco. A wave of cases came after a botched transfer of inadequately tested inmates in late May. The surge killed more than two dozen inmates and one correctional officer.

Months later, after finding that San Quentin officials exhibited "deliberate indifference" to the health of prisoners, California's 1st District Court of Appeal ordered half of its inmates be released or transferred in October.

"By all accounts, the COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin has been the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history," the Tuesday ruling said. "And there is no assurance San Quentin will not experience a second or even third spike."

But as vaccinations rise in California residents, inmates are also being inoculated. As of March 1, more than 40 percent of prisoners and employees in the state's correctional system had been vaccinated, according to multiple reports.

SEE ALSO: San Quentin Must Cut Inmate Population In Half Amid Outbreak