Louisiana Prison System Is Prohibiting Outside Visitors And Family Again Because Of COVID-19

By Julie O'Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator

July 27, 2021

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections is barring visitors from entering state prisons through at least Aug. 16 as the state undergoes its fourth surge of COVID-19 cases.

The prison system has previously been shut down to outsiders. Family visits were completely prohibited for a year — from March of 2020 to March of 2021 — because of the pandemic. Attorneys for incarcerated people were only let back in for in-person meetings as of late June.

The prison system says it believes the suspension of visitation is necessary due to the threat of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus. Louisiana has seen great increases the in number of people who being hospitalized with COVID-19 over the past two weeks.

Even when the prisons opened back up to outside visitors in March, the meetings were more restricted than usual. The number of family members who could come in the prison was limited and the visits had to be shorter than prior to the pandemic. Incarcerated people who had not been vaccinated were also required to visit with family through a plastic barrier. All attorney visits had to take place through a plastic barrier.

The prison system said Tuesday that 68 percent of incarcerated people in state prisons had been vaccinated. No information was given on what percentage of the staff had been vaccinated.

The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians, particularly those who are poor or otherwise marginalized.