Online Approval to Go See Family in Prisons

Prison house and Jail Visitation Tweet this

Sections: Major victories; News and editorials; Research; FCC briefings

Incarceration separates families — and non simply by putting people backside bars. All too often, prisons, jails, and individual companies impose policies that make it needlessly difficult to maintain family ties.

Our research has revealed that when families must travel cracking distances to visit loved ones in prison house, visitation declines. We've likewise uncovered how sheriffs and private companies utilise video calling to eliminate human contact and have worked to protect in-person jail visits nationwide. Meanwhile, prisons continue to notice other ways of making visitation difficult and degrading, such as strip-searching visitors and curtailing visiting hours.

Screening Out Family Time:
The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails
by Bernadette Rabuy and Peter Wagner
January 2015
Our collaboration with NYC comedians to claiming the industry's offensive claim that video calling is "merely like Skype" with 4 brusque videos:
Separation by Confined and Miles:
Visitation in state prisons
by Bernadette Rabuy and Dan Kopf
October 2015

Report
Press Release
Leer en español

Major victories

In Apr 2018, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed S.2371 into law, which requires Massachusetts jails to provide people in jails with at least 2 in-person visits per week and prohibits jails from replacing in-person visits with video calls.
In June 2017, California Governor Jerry Dark-brown signed the 2017-2018 California budget, including AB 103, which statutorily requires jails to provide in-person visits rather than video calls. AB 103 permits jails that had already replaced in-person visits with video calls every bit of January one, 2017 to continue to ban in-person visits. Merely these jails must provide all facility-based video calls and the first hour of remote video calls to visitors at no cost. The Board of State and Community Corrections' regulations, approved shortly after AB 103, likewise exempt jails that, as of January 1, 2017, had submitted initial architectural planning to the Lath of State and Community Corrections that did not include in-person visitation space. Governor Brown previously vetoed SB 1157, which would have prohibited jails from using video calls to supplant in-person visits, stating that SB 1157 didn't provide enough flexibility.
See more of our victories
In August 2016, the Illinois legislature approved HB2738: Protect Prison Visits Nib, which prohibits Illinois prisons from replacing in-person visits with video calls and charging high rates for video calls.
In August 2016, the American Correctional Association unanimously ratified a policy declaring that emerging technologies like video calls should only be used to supplement existing in-person visitation.
In May 2015, Securus announced it would no longer explicitly crave county jails and country prisons to replace in-person visits with video calls in its contracts with correctional facilities.
Travis County, TX legislators voted to bring back in-person visits in September 2015. In-person visits became available once more in April 2016. According to this certificate, it likely cost effectually $1.2 1000000 to bring back in-person visits.
TX legislation that clarifies that the Texas Commission on Jail Standard's requirement of at to the lowest degree two visits per week refers to in-person visits, not video calls, went into effect in September 2015, merely included a grandfathering clause for counties that incurred pregnant expense replacing in-person visits with video calls.
Starting June 22, 2015, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Eastward. Bowser restored in-person visits for those who have (1) been incarcerated for at least lx days and (ii) non incurred a sustained disciplinary violation for at least 30 days.
In January 2015, prompted by Street Roots' reporting, the Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriff reversed his ban on in-person visits in Portland jails.
In November 2014, Dallas County rejected a Securus video phone call contract that would have required the County to ban on in-person visits. One county commissioner even mentioned that the event received more attention than whatsoever other issue ever had.

Research

A best practices guide for counties writing video calling RFPs, February 4, 2020
When jails supervene upon in-person visits with video, what happens when the technology fails?, past Sarah Watson, June 18, 2019
Who's really bringing contraband into jails? Our 2018 survey confirms it'southward staff, non visitors, by Jorge Renaud, December 6, 2018
Every Second: The Impact of the Incarceration Crunch on America's Families, FWD.us, December 2018
Comment letter: Florida'south Department of Corrections should not reduce visitation, by Lucius Couloute, May 31, 2018
To What End?: Assessing the Impact of the Knox Canton Jail's Ban on In-Person Visits, Face to Face Knox, January 2018
- Our blog mail service highlighting the study's central findings
A few thoughts on legislative compromises, by Bernadette Rabuy, November xx, 2017
Durham County Detention Facility Video Visitation Survey Results, Durham County Sheriff's Function, November 2017
Comment alphabetic character: Maine's Department of Corrections should non allow correctional facilities to eliminate in-person visitation., by Lucius Couloute, September 7, 2017
Closing the Altitude: The Touch on of Video Visits in Washington Country Prisons, Vera Establish of Justice, August 2017
For families of incarcerated dads, Father's day comes at a premium, by Lucius Couloute, June 13, 2017
Phone Tag to Computer Hack: Securus puts privacy at take a chance, by Stephen Raher, April 24, 2017
Travis County, Texas: A Case Report on Video Visitation, past Emily Widra, Apr 18, 2016
Seeing middle to middle: understanding the limits of video visitation, by Emily Widra, April 11, 2016
A New Role for Technology? Implementing Video Visitation in Prison, Vera Found of Justice, March 2016
Video Visiting in Corrections: Benefits, Limitations, and Implementation Considerations, by The Osborne Association, National Institute of Corrections, December 2014
Video Visitation: How Private Companies Push for Visits by Video and Families Pay the Cost, past Jorge Renaud, Grassroots Leadership and Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, October 2014
Breaches in the Wall: Imprisonment, Social Back up, and Backsliding, past Joshua C. Cochran, Journal of Research in Crime and Malversation, March 2014
Prison Visitation Policies: A L State Survey, by Chesa Boudin, Trevor Stutz, and Aaron Littman, Yale Law & Policy Review, 2013
The Double Edged Sword of Prison Video Visitation: Challenge to Go along Families Together While Furthering the Aims of the Prison Industrial Circuitous, by Patrice A. Fulcher, Florida A&M University Law Review, Fall 2013
Video Visits for Children Whose Parents Are Incarcerated: In Whose Best Involvement?, by Susan D. Phillips, Ph.D., The Sentencing Projection, October 2012
The ties that bind or the ties that suspension: Examining the human relationship between visitation and prisoner misconduct, by Joshua C. Cochran, Journal of Criminal Justice, September 2012
An Overview of Research Findings in the Visitation, Offender Beliefs Connection, by Gary C. Mohr, Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 2012
The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism, Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2011
Connecting Children with Incarcerated Parents, Kid Protection All-time Practices Bulletin, 2011
Prison Visitation and Backsliding, by Daniel P. Mears, Joshua C. Cochran, Sonja E. Siennick, and William D. Bales, Justice Quarterly, June 2011
Prison Video Conferencing, by Patrick Doyle, Camille Fordy, and Aaron Haight, The University of Vermont James Thou. Jeffords Center'southward Vermont Legislative Research Service, May 2011

Federal Communications Committee briefings

For years, we have been encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to bring fairness to the predatory video call industry and answering the FCC's questions well-nigh the engineering science and industry:

February 8, 2016 comment letter, emphasizing the features that make some video call systems amend than others, such as charging per minute. Moreover, we shared the failure of the video call system in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania with the FCC to highlight the problems with the technology.
- Exhibits
  - Lemhi County, Idaho TurnKey Contract
  - News articles almost video calls in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
  - News commodity near video calls in Clark County, Nevada
  - Editorials criticizing video calls
Show older briefings
January 19, 2016 comment letter, highlighting the major trends in the video calling manufacture in the year later on our report and recommending specific FCC regulatory reforms.
- Exhibits
  - Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation manufacture in prisons and jails
  - New York Times Oct 2015 editorial
  - Solano Canton, California iWebVisit.com Contract
  - Arkansas Doc to implement Securus video calls
  - Securus ends its ban on in-person visits, shifts responsibility to sheriffs
  - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article almost Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
  - Racine Canton, Wisconsin Securus Contract and Screenshot of Current Price
July two, 2015 comment letter of the alphabet, updating the FCC on the video calling industry in the six months since our report. For example, we learned that like Securus, another private company, iWebVisit.com, was requiring jails to ban in-person visits. We likewise provided the FCC with the demographics of computer ownership and high-speed internet access in the U.Southward. as ane explanation for the unpopularity of video calls.
- Exhibits
  - Solano County, California iWebVisit.com Video Calls Contract
  - The demographics of computer ownership and high-speed net access
  - Video calls editorials and news articles
  - Securus ends its ban on in-person visits, shifts responsibility to sheriffs
December xx, 2013 comment letter, alerting the FCC to the need to regulate new technologies similar video calls and electronic messaging and the alarming trends in the video calling industry.
- Exhibits
  - Selected news stories about video calls
  - Maricopa County, Arizona video calls contract
  - Shawnee Canton, Kansas video calls contract

News and editorials

As Utah jails comprehend video technology, in-person visits are existence eliminated, by Jessica Miller, The Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 2019
The benefits - and potential steep costs - of adding video visitation to Spokane County's jail facilities, by Josh Kelety, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, September 19, 2019
Backside Bars, and Pixels Too: How Technology Makes Jail Fifty-fifty Bleaker, by Wendy MacNaughton, The New York Times, August 29, 2019
Video visitation at canton jail praised by staff, decried past users, by Tracy Neal, The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, June 10, 2019
How Private Equity Is Turning Public Prisons into Big Profits, by Tim Requarth, The Nation, April xxx, 2019
How jails are replacing visits with video, by Teresa Mathews, The Appeal, April 22, 2019
The Ada Canton Jail routinely makes half a million dollars annually on inmate phone calls, by Tommy Simmons, Idaho Printing, April xx, 2019
More than jails supersede in-person visits with awful video chat products, by Timothy Lee, Ars Technica, April 8, 2019
Newton Canton Jail video-only visitation policy draws praise, criticism, past Rayna Karst, The Joplin Globe, Apr half-dozen, 2019
Sheriff to temporarily restore in-person visits at Mecklenburg County Jail for the holidays, by WBTV and Dedrick Russell, WBTV (Charlotte, NC), December 21, 2018
Offering a window into normalcy, community, past Anna Schuessler, San Mateo Daily Journal, Nov 29, 2018
Washington State: Jail Phone Rates Increase equally Video Replaces In-Person Visits, by Steve Horn and Iris Wagner, Prison Legal News, Oct 2018
McHenry County Jail now offer free on-site visitations, by Katie Smith, The Northwest Herald, Baronial 15, 2018
Arkansas jail'southward pay-to-visit program panned, by Tracy Neal, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 30, 2018
Florida prisons add for-profit services, consider visitation cuts, by Ben Conarck, The Orlando Sentinel, June ten, 2018
Pima County jail's visitation policies create hardship, some Tucson families say, by Patty Machelor, The Arizona Daily Star, May 26, 2018
Editorial: Video visits have a role, but should non replace in-person visits in Maine jails, by Editorial Board, Bangor Daily News, May 16, 2018
Jails are replacing visits with video calls—inmates and families detest it, by Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, May fourteen, 2018
Don't cut visits to prisoners, past Editorial Lath, The Florida Times-Union, April xix, 2018
New Massachusetts reform package aims to protect in-person jail visits, past Lucius Couloute, March 26, 2018
Senate nib targets recalcitrant FCC: revitalizes federal fight to lower the price of calling domicile, by Aleks Kajstura, March 12, 2018
Growing momentum in the fight to preserve in-person visits (New Jersey legislation and California juvenile facility regulations), past Lucius Couloute, March five, 2018
Coalition calls for stop to ban on in-person Knox Canton jail vsiits, past Bridgette Bjorlo, WATE, Jan 29, 2018
The Guardian and Colorado Public Radio heighten urgent questions most the video calling industry, past Lucius Couloute, December xiv, 2017
The end of American prison visits: jails end face-to-confront contact – and families suffer, past Shannon Sims, The Guardian, December 09, 2017
Denver Jails Reconsider In-Person Visitation After Watchdog Says Video-Only Is 'Inhumane', by Michael Sakas, Colorado Public Radio, December 7, 2017
Despite Suicides, Jails Replace In-Person Visitation With Video Screens, by Mike Ludwig, TruthOut, Oct 13, 2017
Prison Video Visits Are No Substitute for Face-to-Face, Especially at These Prices, past Victoria Law, Bloomberg, October 2, 2017
Video Conferencing Enthusiasts Slam Replacement of In-Person Jail Visits with Video Calls, past Bernadette Rabuy, September 26, 2017
California legislators continue fighting for in-person jail visits, by Bernadette Rabuy, September 6, 2017
Video Conversation Price-Gouging Costs Inmates More Than Money, by Issie Lapowsky, Wired, August 31, 2017
Voices that matter: Incarcerated people on video calling, by Lucius Couloute, August ix, 2017
Sheriff Hodgson strikes again, past Editorial Board, Boston World, August 05, 2017
Senator Tammy Duckworth introduces the Video Visitation and Inmate Calling in Prisons Human activity of 2017, by Lucius Couloute, July 24, 2017
Vice News Tonight examines the exploitive video visitation industry, by Lucius Couloute, June 28, 2017
Banning in-person jail visits is foolish and needlessly roughshod, by Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2017
In their ain words: The value of in-person visitation to families, by Emily Widra, May nine, 2017
American Correctional Association says that video visitation should not supersede in-person visits, by Lucius Couloute, April 24, 2017
In-person visits return to jails in Travis County, Texas!, by Alison Walsh, April 19, 2016
Protecting incarcerated people and their loved ones from the video visitation manufacture (Illinois and New Jersey legislation), past Lucius Couloute, April 10, 2017
NJ jails doing away with family unit visitation. Critics argue why that's a bad idea, by David Matthau, NJ101.5, April 7, 2017
Groups Complain Video Visitation In Jail Frequently Ways Cease To In-Person Visits, past Laura Tsutsui, Valley Public Radio (NPR for Central California), Apr four, 2017
Editorial: A Bad Idea to Cut Prison Visitations, by The Editorial Board, The New York Times, March 28, 2017
Support for in-person visitation continues to grow (New Jersey and federal legislation), by Bernadette Rabuy, February 1, 2017
Our View: Video visits won't solve major challenges at Maine's county jails, past Editorial Board, Portland Press Herald, Jan 13, 2017
Editorial: Videoconferencing is no replacement for in-person visits for jail inmates, Bangor Daily News, Jan xiii, 2017
Prison visits crucial, but miles and money dissever families, The Times-Lilliputian, January 10, 2017
In Maine county jails, video visits deny vital connection between inmates and their families, by Joelle Bouchard, Bangor Daily News, January 9, 2017
Durham County jail moving to video visitation for inmates, by Virginia Bridges, The News & Observer, January half-dozen, 2017
New Jersey legislation aims to protect in-person visits from video visitation, by Bernadette Rabuy, December 22, 2016
With fate of program uncertain, BCSO defends video visitations (Bexar Canton, Texas), KSAT, December 22, 2016
In One N.H. Jail, Inmate Visits Don't Look How You Might Retrieve They Look, past Natasha Haverty, NHPR, December 5, 2016
Worlds Apart, by Sarah Beller, Real Life, Nov 14, 2016
A Virtual Visit to a Relative in Jail, by Maya Schenwar, New York Times, September 29, 2016
No Style to Call Habitation: Incarcerated Deaf People Are Locked in a Prison Within a Prison, by Mike Ludwig, Truthout, August 22, 2016
Banning existent jail visits punishes inmates' families, by Lynn Wu, The Sacramento Bee, August fifteen, 2016
Jail Video Visitation Falls Curt on Usage, Revenue Expectations, by Selah Maya Zighelboim, Texas Observer, June 1, 2016
Punishing Families: How the Prison house Communication Industry Weakens Family unit Ties, by Emily Pollom, Truthout, May xi, 2016
Raphael Sperry: San Mateo's new jail has no identify to visit inmates, by Raphael Sperry, The Mercury News, May 6, 2016
The End of Prison Visitation, by Jack Smith Four, Mic, May 5, 2016
Sheriff to discontinue video visitation at jail, by Vershal Hogan, The Natchez Democrat, Apr 22, 2016
Prison house visits helped prepare me for life after release. Why are they under threat?, by Chandra Bozelko, The Guardian, Apr 20, 2016
How Prison Phone Calls Became A Tax On The Poor, by Eric Markowtiz, International Business Times, March 30, 2016
As one jail'south video visitation technology breaks, a larger battle continues, by Max Lewontin, The Christian Science Monitor, March 16, 2016
Maine State Prison Catastrophe Most Night Visitation, Requiring Visitors to Call Alee, past Susan Sharon, MPBN News, February nine, 2016
Editorial: Video prison visits — done right, by YDR Editorial Board, York Daily Record, January 29, 2016
F.C.C. Makes Telephone Calls for Inmates Cheaper, past The Editorial Lath, The New York Times, October 26, 2015
In-person family unit visits will return to Austin, Texas, by Bernadette Rabuy, September 30, 2015
Ruling on county'south video-based jail visits questioned, by Sean Collins Walsh, Austin American-Statesman, September 21, 2015
New law forces two counties — Wood and Hays — to restart in-person jail visits, by Tom Benning, The Dallas Morning News, September 9, 2015
Legislation protecting in-person county jail visits goes into effect, Grassroots Leadership, September 1, 2015
Individual companies profit from pay-to-play phone calls in US prisons, Lindsay France, RT, Baronial 13, 2015
Westmoreland County libraries help inmates continue in bear upon with loved ones, by Renatta Signorini, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 11, 2015
Screen to Screen: Bexar County Jail, by Marker Reagan, San Antonio Current, July 28, 2015
Inside the Shadowy Business of Prison Phone Calls, by Eric Markowitz, International Concern Times, July two, 2015
D.C. Jail is bringing back intimacy – in a way, past Abigail Hauslohner, The Washington Mail service, June 24, 2015
Bernadette Rabuy on Marketplace Tech (4:20), Jailbreak serial, June 23, 2015
Canton Jail Visitation Nib Filed Without Signature, Becomes Law, Grassroots Leadership, June 18, 2015
Video jail visits / Technology has advantages, but keep the in-person option, by Press of Atlantic City Editorial Board, Press of Atlantic City, June 4, 2015
Use of Video Visits for Inmates Grows, Forth With Concerns, by Juan A. Lozano of The Associated Printing, The Detroit News, May 25, 2015
Lawmakers Could Wearisome Spread of Video-Just Jail Visitations, by Kelsey Jukam, Texas Observer, May thirteen, 2015
Securus ends its ban on in-person visits, shifts responsibleness to sheriffs, by Bernadette Rabuy, May vi, 2015
Prison-Tech Giant Securus Will No Longer Require Jails To Remove In-Person Visits, past Eric Markowitz, International Business organisation Times, May six, 2015
Why Prisons Should Have Video Visitation, by Kevin A. Wright, Slate, May half-dozen, 2015
Are video visits a smart innovation for jails — or still another way to exploit families?, by Hanna Kozlowska, Quartz, Apr 30, 2015
Phone rates for prison inmates exploitative, counterproductive, Editorial Board, The Boston Globe, Apr 28, 2015
Expensive 'Prison Skype' Is Squeezing Out In-Person Visitation, by Matt Stroud and Joshua Brustein, Bloomberg Businessweek, Apr 27, 2015
Organizations Fight the For-Turn a profit Video Visitation Industry, The Real News Network, April 19, 2015
Arkansas Doctor to implement Securus video visits, by Bernadette Rabuy, Apr 15, 2015
The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry Quietly Sweeps the Nation's Prisons and Jails, The Real News Network, April 13, 2015
Video Chats Are Replacing In-Person Jail Visits, While One Tech Company Profits (Texas), past Eric Markowitz, International Business concern Times, April eight, 2015
'Video visitation' expanding in Arkansas jails, past David Koon, Arkansas Times, April 2, 2015
Video visitation threatens to put more distance between inmates and family, by Tom Bartlett, Al Jazeera America, March ix, 2015
As Jail Visits Become High-Tech, Isolation Grows, past Lisa Riordan Seville, NBC News, February 27, 2015
Video chats replace in-person visits in US jails and prisons, by Tim Gaynor, Al Jazeera America, February 24, 2015
Desire to visit an inmate? Increasingly, yous'll accept to log on, by Hamed Aleaziz, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 22, 2015
New videos: Video visitation is non "merely like Skype", by Bernadette Rabuy, February 18, 2015
Is Video Visitation Sufficient For Inmates and Families?, Bernadette Rabuy on Oregon Public Radio's Recall Out Loud, February 5, 2015
Can technology and prisons go forth?, by Kevin Roose and Pendarvis Harshaw, Fusion, February 5, 2015
Multnomah Canton Sheriff reverses ban on in-person visits in Portland jails, by Bernadette Rabuy, January 29, 2015
Mult. Co. Sheriff to preserve in-person visitations, by Street Roots Staff, Street Roots, January 27, 2015
Sheriff Dan Staton Won't Do Abroad With Contiguous Inmate Visits, After All, past Dirk Vanderhart, Portland Mercury, Jan 27, 2015
Weather behind bars: Screening visitors, by Miranda Johnson, The Economist, January 24, 2015
Canton should preserve in-person visitation, by Street Roots editorial board, Street Roots, January 23, 2015
Technical difficulty: Sheriff Staton's motion to replace in-person visits at Multnomah County jails with video visiting raises questions, past Emily Green, Street Roots, January 21, 2015
Captive consumers: Corporations reap big profits on inmate finances, video visitations in Multnomah Canton, by Emily Light-green, Street Roots, January 6, 2015
Captive Audience: Counties and Private Businesses Cash in on Video Visits at Jails, by Amy Silverstein, Dallas Observer, November 26, 2014
In-person visitation should exist an option at Travis, Bastrop jails, by Editorial Board, Austin American-Statesman, November 13, 2014
Dallas Canton approves video visitation contract, by Peter Wagner, November 11, 2014
Editorial: A cost too high for calls from jail, by Editorial Board, The Dallas Morning News, November 10, 2014
Tarrant County sheriff speaks to for-profit companies taking advantage of inmates, families (Texas), past Dee Anderson, Star Telegram, September 27, 2014
Editorial: Idea coma, by Editorial Board, Houston Chronicle, September 15, 2014
Dallas County rejects Securus video visitation contract!, by Peter Wagner, September 9, 2014
Orangish Is the New Greenish: Is Knox County's New Video-Only Visitation Policy for Inmates Actually Virtually Safety — or Is it About Coin?, by Cari Wade Gervin, Metro Pulse (Knoxville, Tenn.), July 2, 2014
Video Visitation a Growing Trend, but Concerns Remain, Prison house Legal News, March 2014
Video Visitation Could Exploit Prisoners, or Help Families, past Peter Wagner, "Room for Debate" The New York Times, February 24, 2014
Unfair Phone Charges for Inmates, The New York Times editorial, January 6, 2014
D.C. prisoners deserve better than flawed video-only visitation policy, by Editorial Lath, The Washington Post, Baronial 12, 2013
Some Jails Turning to Video Visitation Only, by Matthew Clarke, Prison Legal News, July 2013
Prisoners and Families Connect with Video Visitation, for a Cost, Prison Legal News, September 2012