Call-in week to stop unjust visitation policy at SCI Greene

SCI Greene no visitorsDECARCERATE PA Immediate Action Alert

Call-In Week – September 21-25

Demand that Monday Visits Be Reinstated at SCI Greene

Prisoners at the State Correctional Institute at Greene, along with their families and loved ones are calling on you to help correct an injustice within the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. 

About a year ago, SCI Greene terminated all visits on Mondays, even though visits were already terminated at the facility on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The termination of Monday visits particularly hurts families and loved ones because they can no longer come see their loved ones at SCI Greene on a Monday holiday or take advantage of a day off of work or a three-day weekend to make the long trip across the state (SCI Greene is located in southwestern PA, just 45 minutes from Pittsburgh).

Out of the entire Pennsylvania prison system, only SCI-Greene has terminated Monday visits.

We are asking you to call: 

  • PA DOC Secretary John Wetzel at 717-728-4109 
  • PA DOC Executive Deputy Secretary Shirley Moore Smeal at 717-728-4110 
  • PA DOC Acting Deputy Secretary (Western Region) Steve Glunt at 717-728-4122 

Request that they require SCI-Greene to reinstate Monday visits. Explain that by doing so they will help to ease the burden on the families of prisoners, especially families from the Eastern region of the state who have to drive all the way across the state to visit their loved ones and cannot take advantage of Monday holidays such as Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc. If you have personal experience regarding the hardship and heartache that can come when visitation is made unnecessarily difficult, share that as well. Let them know how important it is that family and community ties are maintained. Let them know just how critical those ties are not only to the health and well-being of those inside, but also to their children and loved ones. We must not allow the prison system to foster isolation and broken relations, by creating additional barriers and unnecessary obstacles to the basic right of visitation. 

Your calls make a difference!

Keep calling all week and encourage others to do the same!