While the Safer at Home Order is no longer in effect, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) will continue to follow the guidance of the Centers of Disease Control and the Department of Health Services (DHS) to restrict all non-essential visitation at state correctional institutions. This decision is being made in the interest of the health and safety of our staff, persons in our care, and the public as part of the ongoing effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. All professional and legal visits will continue at this time with enhanced accommodations for phone calls and video conferences, or non-contact visits,
whenever possible.
The DOC will continue to enforce several preventative measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 including limiting who enters our facilities, enforcing employee screenings to include a passive screening (a series of questions), an active screening (a temperature check), increased testing of persons in our care and staff, enhanced cleaning and sanitation protocols, and encouraging individuals to practice proper hygiene and social distancing wherever possible. Due to the confined spaces and layouts of correctional institutions, these decisions are necessary in an effort to prevent the type of outbreaks some other states have experienced in correctional institutions. We will continue to maintain these practices and protocols, along with many others, and will review all decisions on regular basis.
The DOC understands the significant impact these decisions have on persons in our care and their loved ones, and continues to look for ways for those in our care to maintain contact. At this time the DOC continues to provide:
Adults in our care with two (2) free fifteen-minute phone calls and youth in our care with
unlimited phone calls each week
One (1) free pre-embossed stamped envelope every two weeks to send letters or other written messages
A $0.50 credit each week for those in our care with an active Corrlinks kiosk account that will allow them to send up to five free messages.
We continue to explore additional methods of communication to help families stay connected during this
time.
