PHILADELPHIA  – The Philadelphia Department of Prisons announced today that in-person visits for fully vaccinated incarcerated people at its facilities will resume beginning Monday, March 7, 2022. The visits will require forty-eight (48) hours advance notice to facilitate. Accordingly, the visitation scheduling platform will re-open virtually beginning on Friday, March 4, 2022, to allow visitors to schedule on the incarcerated person’s scheduled visiting day.

The PDP will continue its mitigation strategy to stop the spread of COVID-19 within its facilities by approving one adult and one child (aged 5 to 17) per visit to ensure social distancing. Visitation privileges for children aged 4 and under will be revisited as the implementation of vaccination is rolled out.

Visitors will be required to arrive at the facility no more than 10 minutes before their previously scheduled time to begin the visitation process. Visitors must agree to a temperature screening. If the temperature reading is above 100.4 degrees, visitors will not be permitted and will need to reschedule. All visitors will be required to wear a mask for the entire visit.

“We understand the importance of allowing the family and friends of incarcerated people to interact with their loved ones. With positivity rates and hospitalization rates continuing to decline locally, the PDP has determined that we can safely resume in-person visitation at our facilities,” Commissioner Blanche Carney said. “Over the last two years, the PDP has been relentless in its strategy to lessen the spread of COVID-19 inside our facilities to keep both incarcerated people and staff safe. As a result, we are in position to resume visits.”

To visit incarcerated people, guests must register online in advance at visitpdp.org/app. Walk-ins will not be permitted. Visits will be limited to one hour per week and will be rotated to ensure equitable visitation for vaccinated inmates and to ensure no inmate is scheduled for all available visitation slots.

This information will be shared with the incarcerated population via PDP’s close-circuit TV system and on the incarcerated people’s tablets in advance of Monday, March 7, 2022.

The PDP will continue to offer free phone calls and virtual visits via tablets to all incarcerated people regardless of vaccination status.