Federal Prisoners Able to Get Social Visits Again Next Month

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Bureau of Prisons is resuming social visits for more than 127,000 inmates, after suspending them over concerns about Covid-19.

Starting no later than Oct. 3, visitors to its 122 facilities will be allowed in after being screened for coronavirus symptoms and if they wear masks (“no bandanas,” the agency specified).

The bureau put restrictions in place in February, including halting all social visits, to contain the outbreak. It has also been granting more requests to let prisoners serve out their sentences at home, resulting in the release of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, and ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort -- but not Bernie Madoff or Martin Shkreli.

More than 10,000 federal inmates have tested positive for the disease, which has killed 118 prisoners and two staff members, according to the agency’s website.

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