Research group conducting study on visitation in Oklahoma prisons
LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - This summer, a research group will conduct a study on visitation inside men’s prisons in Oklahoma including here in Lawton.
The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice reached out to the Department of Corrections to get started on it.
The Lawton Correctional Facility is one of about 15 prisons from across the state the research group plans to look at. Since the pandemic began, officials say family visitation in prisons has decreased, while staffing shortages and gang violence increased.
Executive Director of Oklahoma Appleseed Colleen McCarty said during COVID, when people were isolated from their families and other stress-releasing activities, they saw an increase in violence in facilities, which led to more routine lockdowns.
“We really understand that we have to keep people safe, but blocking people away from their loved ones because of one person in the system that is violent isn’t really fair to everybody and it really lowers morale of the entire facility,” McCarty said.
She conducted a study for the Oklahoma legislature last fall on the impact of incarceration on families.
“Increasing access to families reduces recidivism and allows people to more easily reintegrate back into their communities when they are released,” McCarty said.
Founder of Ignite Justice Emily Shelton has a loved one in the Lawton Correctional Facility.
She’s hoping to change how visitations are arranged, possibly online.
“When we call, we get an answering machine,” Shelton said. “We don’t get a call back. I know mothers who have been waiting two months and still can’t get a visit because they don’t get a call back.”
She said not only are those visits important for those in prison, but also for family members who need the connection.
“It’s better for their attitude,” Shelton said. “It’s better for their mental. It’s very good for their mental. They need that mental stimulation with their family. I mean, even if you only get to hug them for a second in the beginning and the end of the visit, but that hug is everything.”
The group will present its findings to the DOC at the end of the summer. The DOC will then decide what changes, if any, to make when it comes to policies in men’s prisons.
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