Pennsylvania State Prison suspends in-person visits through February – CBS Pittsburgh

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Penn State prisons on Monday announced they will not allow in-person visits for the next month because their staff members have been emaciated by the coronavirus infection.

Face-to-face visits will be stopped, at all state correctional facilities, beginning Thursday and running through February 28. Free video visits will be expanded and propagated. Cable TV in prisoners’ cells will be free in February.

READ MORE: Free Nurse Support Training Fund

Acting Adjustment Secretary George Little said quarantine requirements increasingly entail voluntary and mandatory overtime, which he considers unsustainable.

The prison system implemented statewide quarantine in March 2020, and in-person visits began to resume in May 2021.

READ MORE: Lawmaker proposes constitutional amendment to privatize liquor stores

The Department of Corrections said recreational, educational and programming opportunities would not be affected by the visitation policy but could be modified at individual prisons.

There have been more than 14,000 incarcerated COVID-19 cases and 155 deaths in the system that currently holds approximately 36,000 prisoners. About 90% of prisoners are fully vaccinated.

Of the state’s prison staff, only half are fully vaccinated.

MORE NEWS: Part II: Billions of dollars in unemployment aid stolen from the state likely won’t be recovered

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.)