Prison Visits Are a Right

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/opinion/prison-visits-are-a-right.html

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To the Editor:

Re “A Virtual Visit to a Relative in Jail,” by Maya Schenwar (Op-Ed, Sept. 29):

I was shocked to read that personal visits by family members have been abolished in some prisons in America. Virtual visits are fine as an alternative, but not as a replacement for in-person visits. Such a policy is not only inhumane and counterproductive, but it also seems like a denial of a basic human right.

What other civilized country in the world does not allow prison visits? This is yet one more example of how our criminal justice system needs to be fundamentally reformed.

JOHN MASON

Santa Rosa, Calif.