Kentucky law allows an inmate at least one visit per week by a minister, priest, or rabbi of the inmate’s choice. But, a person cannot be on the list of more than one death row inmate.

Gerald Otahal arrived at death row early on a recent Thursday morning, ready for his regular visit to counsel and pray with condemned inmate Gregory Wilson. What happened next left Otahal puzzled – guards turned him away at the door with instructions to go home as the Kentucky Department of Corrections cracks down on pastoral visits at the Kentucky State Penitentiary.

“He has no outlet now. He has no one to pray with. No one to talk to him about the hereafter,” said Otahal, a part-time pastor from Owensboro who ministers to death row inmates. “Good grief. I’m just astounded they took this away.”

What has changed is viewed by inmates as a lifeline snatched away and by the Department of Corrections an oft-ignored rule put back into place.

The policy limits access to inmates by pastors. Under the policy change, instead of notifying the prison ahead of time of plans to visit multiple inmates, pastors must now have one of three slots on an inmate’s visitation list to meet with them one-on-one…

“You have a right over their life,” said Otahal, an ordained Southern Baptist minister. “You don’t have a right over their soul…”

Pastoral visits take on an outsized importance to prisoners, particularly for death row inmates.