Inmate Visits to Go Virtual in County Jail

CREST HAVEN — Sheriff Gary Schaffer watched his wife “virtually” visit their grandbaby using Skype, a software application that permits audio and video via the Internet. That got him thinking, “There’s got to be some type of system to work like that at the correctional center.”
Mrs. Schaffer’s grandmotherly chat time led to the sheriff researching companies that provide such a service to inmates’ families. Convinced, Schaffer pitched freeholders on the idea. He cited the likely revenue stream and increased security, as well as ease of visitations.
The board voted unanimously, Tue. Feb. 8, to award a $67,145 contract to iWebVisit.com LLC of Reno, Nev. for providing video inmate visitation on-site or via Web browser.
Installation of data and electric lines in the correctional center will be done “in-house by Facilities and Services and MIS (Management Information Services),” said the sheriff. The work is expected to be done in March or April, he said.
Included in the package will be 27 stations that will be located inside the day rooms of cellblocks. There, inmates will have the ability to visit with loved ones.
Regardless of visitation method, whether relatives go to the jail or use Internet, they will see their loved ones on a computer screen, since no personal visits are allowed, Schaffer said.
“We will be the first in the country to kick this (Internet visits) off,” said Schaffer. He cited a beta, or test site, in Washoe County, Nev., which has been operational for about eight months. Schaffer talked with Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley and his captains about that program and was reassured. “They love it,” he said.
“They have 27 casinos in that county,” he noted. Because they worked with the program, that jail offered the provider suggestions on improvements that will make Cape May County’s better, he said.
“This is going to be the future of visitations at correctional centers,” said the sheriff.
Visits to the Cape May County Correctional Center are popular. Over 8,000 took place last year. Many of those involved children tagging along with a parent to visit an incarcerated parent or relative.
Such 20-minute visits take corrections officers’ time, said Schaffer. “We won’t have to move prisoners through the facility,” he added. Less movement of inmates translates to fewer opportunities for problems to arise.
Inmates’ families will pay $10 for a 20-minute Internet visit with those incarcerated loved ones. The sum equal or less, Schaffer noted, than travel, either in a private vehicle including gas and tolls, or bus.
If Internet visits pay off as did collect telephone calls from the jail, which totaled about $120,000 last year, the county’s 46 percent share of the profit could be considerable, he said. The provider will get 54 percent, a fee negotiated, “Because they will also handle problems of technology,” Schaffer said.
Attorneys, too, are expected to use the system, but that facet has yet to be “firmed up,” with members of Cape May and Atlantic county Bar Associations, which will likely make up the bulk of those using the service, Schaffer said.
While family members’ visits with inmates will be monitored and recorded, those with attorneys will remain private and unrecorded, to preserve attorney-client privilege, said Schaffer.
An officer will monitor the visits. In the event any obscene or offensive gestures take place, the visit will be ended.
He expected attorneys to embrace the service, since it will reduce travel time, which will translate into more billable time for them.
“Even if they are doing a pro bono case, it will still be worth the fee,” Schaffer said.
Visits will allow up to 10 persons to participate, meaning family members, perhaps with handicaps or in distant states, can join in a visit.
Schaffer knows it will take time before the public comes to understand the procedure, and use it to its full capability. Brochures are planned to inform the visiting public of the new method of seeing their loved ones.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com