SAN ANTONIO – For the first time in a year, inmates at Texas prisons are being allowed to have in-person visits after a ban was imposed when the pandemic began last spring. Busby’s husband has been at the Dominguez State Jail since November 2019 for a parole violation. AdVisits at the state jail are done through glass windows. Busby said as she awaits her scheduled visit, she applauds the removal of the ban. “TDCJ has done a remarkable job turning around this visitation opportunity,” she said.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Inmates in all Texas prisons and state jails will be allowed to resume in-person visits on Monday, March 15, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. All in-person visits were halted when the coronavirus pandemic swept the state last spring. All visits must be scheduled in advance, and inmates will be allowed only two visits per month. When asked whether inmates in the Bexar County Jail would be allowed in-person visits, Sheriff Javier Salazar said, “We haven’t really done in-person visits in several years.”Instead, he said, inmates will be allowed to continue remote video visits through a system upgraded during the pandemic. AdHe said the sheriff’s office has also provided just over 660,000 free phone calls from inmates during the pandemic.