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from the per-minute-rates-for-a-captive-audience dept.
More jails replace in-person visits with awful video chat products
After April 15, inmates at the Adult Detention Center in Lowndes County, Mississippi will no longer be allowed to visit with family members face to face. Newton County, Missouri, implemented an in-person visitor ban last month. The Allen County Jail in Indiana phased out in-person visits earlier this year.
All three changes are part of a nationwide trend toward "video visitation" services. Instead of seeing their loved ones face to face, inmates are increasingly limited to talking to them through video terminals. Most jails give family members a choice between using video terminals at the jail—which are free—or paying fees to make calls from home using a PC or mobile device.
Even some advocates of the change admit that it has downsides for inmates and their families. Ryan Rickert, jail administrator at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, acknowledged to The Commercial Dispatch that inmates were disappointed they wouldn't get to see family members anymore. Advocates of this approach point to an upside for families: they can now make video calls to loved ones from home instead of having to physically travel to the jail.
These services are ludicrously expensive. Video calls cost 40¢ per minute in Newton County, 50¢ per minute in Lowndes County, and $10 per call in Allen County. Outside of prison, of course, video calls on Skype or FaceTime are free.
A previous story on Ars Technica noted "grainy and jerky" video quality that periodically froze up altogether.
Related: Company That Handles Prison Phone Calls is Surveilling People Who Aren't in Prison
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:18PM (3 children)
I meant that the cost of internet access for multiple video calls is nothing compared to the cost of paying guards to vet and escort visitors.
Why charge when using the internet from home is better from all parties?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Freeman on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:21PM (2 children)
Prisons have a history of charging exorbitant prices for calls. Why should video calls be any different? Other than that pesky part about not being able to see someone in person, for free.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:52PM (1 child)
You could have saved your keyboard:
"because they can"
alternative:
"because money"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @11:33AM
Yeah! Because those keystrokes (and the bits associated with them) are so dear.