WJI calls for peer video visitation for those in prison hospice care

In a letter dated Friday, Dec. 15, Wisconsin Justice Initiative asked Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin A. Carr to revise prison policy to allow peer video visitation for persons in DOC care who have terminal illness or are near death.
 
A terminal-illness diagnosis often results in an imprisoned individual’s transfer to Dodge Correctional Institution (DCI). While DCI principally serves as the reception center for men entering the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) system, it also serves as the central medical unit for the male DOC population.
 
But an incarcerated person’s removal to DCI for end-of-life care breaks bonds of friendship between incarcerated individuals that formed over years or even decades. And as WJI previously reported, DOC policy does not permit visitation, even by video conference, between two persons in DOC custody.
 
WJI wrote to Carr as follows:
 
Many individuals who die incarcerated have spent years if not decades of their life at another correctional facility. The friendship bonds developed in those institutions may be the most meaningful in their lives. It is inhumane to deprive people of these relationships at the end of life. While in-person visitation may be impractical and costly, video visitation is a satisfactory option available to DOC at little or no cost.
 
Of the 21,974 persons incarcerated in the DOC as of October 31, 2023, nearly 24% were older than 50, including 44 individuals age 80 or older. As of June 30, 2023, the oldest person incarcerated at DCI was 92 years old.
 
The incarcerated people in your care deserve dignity in death. A dignified death should include communication with one’s incarcerated peers—one’s lifelong friends.
 
Please consider modifying DAI Policy # 309.06.01 to permit incarcerated persons with terminal illness to include their incarcerated peers on their video visitation lists or to otherwise have occasional video visits with their incarcerated peers. 
 
Copies of the letter were sent to the governor, the DCI warden, several DOC officials, and heads of pertinent legislative committees.

WJI is committed to advocating for more humane conditions for those incarcerated in Wisconsin’s prisons and jails. Reducing the prevalence of lonely deaths is a low-cost way to achieve more humane outcomes for those who remain incarcerated at the end of their lives. 

DO YOU AGREE THAT THE POLICY SHOULD BE CHANGED? IF SO, PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO SECRETARY CARR:

SIGN THE PETITION TO CHANGE DOC POLICY