This petition has been created on behalf of the family and friends of all incarcerated individuals in Pennsylvania. We are seeking support in ending the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections' oppressive and discriminatory policies dictating how families must schedule visits to see their loved ones. These new policies were supposedly introduced due to the extreme reality of COVID-19, which specified that every family member over the age of 18 must have their own IVS Keystone inmate visiting account, and must schedule visits in advanced via this account through the D.O.C. website. These policies affected every, individual, prison in Pennsylvania negatively in many different ways. For example, at SCI Phoenix in Collegeville, the administration is only allowing 6 visits to take place during each contact visit slot a day and there are only three slots at a prison with over 3000 individuals. There's rarely more than 3 to 4 visits at each available time slot due to the many scheduling conflicts the average working citizen faces. Then, there's the issue of computer literacy, internet access, and the fact that both women and men who've been incarcerated for over 40-50 years whose only living relative have no idea what an e-mail address is, yet alone the internet.

The fact of the matter is that the policies now implemented for families to visit their loved ones is inhumane, unworkable and unacceptable. Visitation is beneficial to Correctional Institutions as well as the public. Visitation gives incarcerated individuals something to look forward to and to remain positive for, and visits provide adequate opportunities for incarcerated individuals to steer countless individuals, still in the public, clear of trouble on a path not to make the same mistakes they have.

Please sign our petition and join our efforts to change these policies.