Alva Review-Courier -

OKLAHOMA CITY – Starting immediately, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) is suspending visitation across all state-run facilities. This unfortunate, albeit necessary, action quells a potential source for viral infection and spread.

Early in the pandemic, ODOC suspended visitation as part of a comprehensive plan to keep inmates and staff insulated from the virus. Understanding the importance of inmates’ contact with family, the agency initiated a scaled-back visitation model this summer when infections decreased across the state. However, ODOC recently declared numerous facilities “hot spots” for COVID-19, once again necessitating the suspension of visitation.

To help reduce inmates’ stress from the lack of contact with loved ones, ODOC and its inmate telephone vendor provides all inmates two free 10-minute calls each week.

ODOC will resume visitation as soon as possible.