SALT LAKE CITY The pandemic kept many Utahns away from loved ones, but that s especially true for families of men and women in the Utah State Prison.
Visits were canceled for more than a year as the state sought to limit the spread of COVID-19 at the prison s sites in Draper and Gunnison. Now, as Utah has loosened pandemic restrictions, the prison is allowing visits to take place in person, but from behind a plexiglass barrier, with masks on, and no more than once a month.
The rules are disheartening for inmates and family members who have longed to embrace loved ones as they feared for inmates health in the crowded settings where more than 3,000 were infected and 18 died.