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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:12 am
Time: 2:12 am
Results for video visitation
2 results foundAuthor: Rabuy, Bernadette Title: Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails Summary: Video technology like Skype or FaceTime can be a great way to stay together for people who are far apart. It is not the same as being there in person, but it is better than a phone call or sending a letter. Given that there are 2.2 million people who are incarcerated, often many hundreds of miles from their homes, it should be no surprise that prison and jail video visitation is quietly sweeping the nation. But video visitation is not like Skype or FaceTime. For one, these well-known technologies are a high-quality, free supplement to time spent together, in-person. The video visitation that is sweeping through U.S. jails is almost the exact opposite. In order to stimulate demand for their low-quality product, jails and video visitation companies work together to shut down the traditional in-person visitation rooms and instead require families to pay up to $1.50 per minute for visits via computer screen. In this report, we collect the contracts and the experiences of the facilities, the families, and the companies. We: -Determine how this industry works, and explain the key differences between video visitation in jails (where it is most common and most commonly implemented in explicitly exploitative ways) and video visitation in prisons (where there is a proven need for the service and where prices are more reasonable yet the service is actually pretty rare). -Hold the industry's fantastic promises up against the hard evidence of experience, including the industry's own commission reports. -Give hard data showing just how unpopular this service is. We analyze the usage data, and then walk through exactly why families consider this unreliable and poorly designed technology a serious step backwards. -Identify the patterns behind the worst practices in this industry, finding that the most harmful practices are concentrated in facilities that contract with particular companies. -Analyze why the authors of correctional best practices have already condemned the industry's preferred approach to video visitation. -Review the unanimous opposition of major editorial boards to business models that try to profit off the backs of poor families, when we should be rewarding families for trying to stay together. -Identify how video visitation could be implemented in a more family-friendly way and highlight two small companies who have taken some of these steps. Finally, we make 23 recommendations for federal and state regulators, legislators, correctional facilities, and the video visitation companies on how they could ensure that video visitation brings families together and makes our communities stronger instead of weaker. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2015. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2015 at: http://static.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/ScreeningOutFamilyTime_January2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://static.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/ScreeningOutFamilyTime_January2015.pdf Shelf Number: 134559 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrison VisitsPrivatizationVideo VisitationVisitation |
Author: Murdoch, Danielle Title: Boise State University - Ada County Sheriff's Office Inmate Video Visitation Program Evaluation Summary: Visitation has been an integral component of correctional facilities for decades, as an inmate's ability to maintain ties with their family and friends has been shown to improve their behavior while incarcerated, as well as upon release. While historically occurring in-person, visitation has fairly recently begun to be offered viavideo, which offers several advantages over in-person visitation, though there are some disadvantages as well. This report outlines the results of an evaluation of the inmate video visitation system (IVVS) at the Ada County Jail (ACJ) in Boise, Idaho. First implemented in 2010, ACJ was a pioneer in the use of remote video visitation in correctional facilities. Through a partnership between Ada County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) and researchers at Boise State University, the evaluation began in July of 2015 and included interviews with nine key stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of IVVS, 10 Sheriff's deputies, and 12 inmates who regularly use the system. In addition, a survey assessing use of, and perceptions about, IVVS was completed by a sample of 58 inmates and a secondary data analysis was conducted with visitation and disciplinary violation records that were shared with the researchers.According to the key stakeholders, the goals of IVVS were to: prevent the desensitization of kids to the jail; increase jail security and order; promote public safety; reduce resource and space requirements; and increase access to, and frequency of, visitation. Additional themes that emerged through interviews with key stakeholders and Sheriff's deputies included difficulties and successes with the implementation of IVVS; technological issues and training; improvements in jail security and a shift in resources; concerns about the cost of additional visits and access to the required technology for visitors; perceived benefits of the elimination of wait time for visitors, removal of children from the jail environment, and increased frequency of visits; belief in the positive impact of IVVS on institutional behavior; and doubts about the impact of IVVS on recidivism. Some suggestions for improvement offered by these participants included additional training opportunities and installing a kiosk outside of thesecure part of thejail for visitor use.The interviews conducted with inmates revealed a number of strengths ofIVVS, though some weaknesses were noted as well. Identified strengths included appreciation for two free 30-minute visits per week and the perceived positive effect on behavior to avoid the loss of the privilege, the ability to maintain ties with family and friends, the convenience of visitors not having to travel to the facility, and improved visits with children,including protecting them from the jail environment. Some of the weaknesses mentioned by the participants included the lack of discretion to choose between in-person visitation or video visitation, the prohibitive cost of purchasing extra visits (nine dollars for 30 minutes), the lack of privacy given the location of kiosks in common areas, and technological issues with IVVS although many of these were believed to be due to issues on the visitors' ends. Last, some suggestions for improvement offered by the inmates interviewed included having the option to pick between in-person or video visits, implementing an incentive-based program to earn extra visits,and expanding the use of IVVS to include confidential visits with attorneys.The findings from the inmate surveys were similar in some ways to the inmate interviews, but different in many ways as well. In terms of usage, most indicated they use the two free video visits per week to visit with a variety of family and friends, though very few purchase additional visits due to the cost. Those who have not used IVVS cited scheduling and accessibility issues (i.e.,visitors not having the technology required tocomplete video visits) as the main reasons they have not used it. In terms of perceptions about IVVS, respondents clearly prefer in-person visitation over video visitation, believing in-person visits would better help them to maintain social ties. A largeproportion also noted some problems with the system and doubts about the positive impact of IVVS on their behavior in the jail or upon release. However, the majority of respondents agreed that video visitation is helpful for inmates. Some suggestions offered for improvement included having the option of in-person visits, installing kiosks outside the secure part of the jail for visitors, and reducing the cost of purchasing extra visits.The last portion of the evaluation was a secondary data analysis of official records provided by ACSO in regard to visitation, both in-person and video, and disciplinary violations. The results of the analysis suggested that the implementation of IVVS has increased the frequency of visits despite a relative stable average daily jail population. In addition, a demographic analysis of users suggested that IVVS has specifically increased visitation for female and older inmates, though there are other factors, such as the characteristics of inmates at ACJ, which could have accounted for the observed changes. Although one of the goals of video visitation is to improve institutional behavior, an analysis of disciplinary violations from 2009-2015 revealed an increase in the number of violations. However, the severity of violations appears to have decreased over time. Again, there are several factors that could have impacted the frequency and characteristics of disciplinary violations aside from the implementation of IVVS. Further research is needed to more closely examine the relationship between visitation and inmate behavior.Based on all of the data collected and analyzed for this evaluation of IVVS at ACJ, the following recommendations are offered: (1): Install kiosk(s) for visitor use.(2): Decrease the cost of purchasing additional video visits. prefer in-person visitation over video visitation, believing in-person visits would better help them to maintain social ties. A large proportion also noted some problems with the system and doubts about the positive impact of IVVS on their behavior in the jail or upon release. However, the majority of respondents agreed that video visitation is helpful for inmates. Some suggestions offered for improvement included having the option of in-person visits, installing kiosks outside the secure part of the jail for visitors, and reducing the cost of purchasing extra visits.The last portion of the evaluation was a secondary data analysis of official records provided by ACSO in regard to visitation, both in-person and video, and disciplinary violations. The results of the analysis suggested that the implementation of IVVS has increased the frequency of visits despite a relative stable average daily jail population. In addition, a demographic analysis of users suggested that IVVS has specifically increased visitation for female and older inmates, though there are other factors, such as the characteristics of inmates at ACJ, which could have accounted for the observed changes. Although one of the goals of video visitation is to improve institutional behavior, an analysis of disciplinary violations from 2009-2015 revealed an increase in the number of violations. However, the severity of violations appears to have decreased over time. Again, there are several factors that could have impacted the frequency and characteristics of disciplinary violations aside from the implementation of IVVS. Further research is needed to more closely examine the relationship between visitation and inmate behavior.Based on all of the data collected and analyzed for this evaluation of IVVS at ACJ, the following recommendations are offered: (1): Install kiosk(s) for visitor use.(2): Decrease the cost of purchasing additional video visits. Details: Boise, ID: Boise State University, Department of Criminal Justice, 2016. 166p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2016 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303818777_Ada_County_Sheriff%27s_Office_Inmate_Video_Visitation_Program_Evaluation Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303818777_Ada_County_Sheriff%27s_Office_Inmate_Video_Visitation_Program_Evaluation Shelf Number: 140106 Keywords: Prison Visitors Prison VisitsPrisoners Video Visitation |