
Since then, inmates have made 140 video calls with Securus.įive Securus video screens are set up inside the facility, located in each of the inmates' common areas and one in the booking room. The Carver County jail in Chaska started its video visitation program in 2013. John Eastham, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. Ramsey County also recently enabled visits via mobile devices, said Sgt. All of the center's visitations are done via video.
#Jpay video visits professional
The Ramsey County Adult Detention Center ended face-to-face visits except for professional visits in 2003. Video visiting will not replace in-person visiting at prisons, Latuseck said. Skeptics, however, question whether they replace interpersonal contact that could reduce recidivism. Video visits reduce security risks and cut down on traveling costs for families, supporters say. prisons use video visitation technology, said Bernadette Rabuy, a spokeswoman for Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that advocates against mass incarceration. Inmates will not have access to the Internet. Starting in November, JPay will offer JP5 mini-tablets for purchase that will allow them to write and send e-mail, listen to music and store pictures. JPay will gather intelligence related to violations of facility rules, video visiting rules of conduct or state and federal laws by video users, according to the JPay contract with the Department of Corrections. JPay and the department will monitor the video calls, and recordings of the chats will be archived for at least nine months. Inmates and their visitors won't be the only ones looking at the screen. "All commissions are held in a separate account that can only be used to fund offender programs and activities," she said in an e-mail. The department receives $1 of the $9.95, said Sarah Latuseck, a DOC spokeswoman. Inmates themselves cannot make or pay for calls. Once added to the inmate's approved list, visitors pay $9.95 to speak to an inmate for 30 minutes.

To use it, inmates and their loved ones schedule appointments online for a fee. At the Oak Park Heights prison, video visitation began Thursday.
