Behind screens: video visitation in jails and prisons

Over the last decade, video chat technology has changed the ways we connect with the people in our lives. And more recently, videoconferencing has also had an impact on a very specific type of connection -- visiting inmates in prisons and jails.

More and more correctional facilities in North America are moving to video visitation, and that's raised some concerns in the United States. Screening Out Family Time: The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry, is a recent report examines the issue. One of the co-authors is Bernadette Rabuy, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative.

The report points out that, "Since the video visitation terminals were designed and set up with the camera a couple of inches above the monitor, the loved one on the outside will never be looking into the incarcerated person's eyes. Families have repeatedly complained that the lack of eye contact makes visits feel impersonal." 

This video demonstrates the importance of eye contact for human communication.

Could replacing traditional visiting rooms speak to the failings of prison design?

Video visitation has also caught the attention of another, maybe surprising, group of people -- architects. Raphael Sperry is an architect and the president of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility. He recently wrote an opinion piece about a new jail with no visiting room, in San Mateo County, California. That jail is just one example where video visitation is being used to replace traditional in-person visits.

Buildings should be here to protect people, and it's really unacceptable to make buildings that you know are going to hurt people.- Raphael Sperry

Raphael believes it says something about the way we design jails and prisons, but he also thinks the answer won't be found in designing new and better facilities at all. "Architecture is licensed as a public profession to serve the public good and protect health, safety and welfare," he says. "The American Institute of Architects already directs its members to uphold human rights in all of their professional endeavours...Buildings should be here to protect people, and it's really unacceptable to make buildings that you know are going to hurt people."

Video visitation in Canadian correctional facilities 

Right now video visitation is not very widely used in the Canadian Correctional system. But there are a few examples.

Take The Edmonton Remand Centre, which opened in April 2013. Most people in remand centres are awaiting court appearances. And the Edmonton Remand Centre was the first correctional institution in Canada to use video visitation. There is no cost to use their video visitation system, but there is a time limit of 25 minutes. In-person visits are only granted in exceptional or special circumstances and must be pre-approved.

Another example is Child Link, a video visitation program offered by Correctional Service Canada. It's part of their Mother-Child Program and allows female inmates to communicate with children through video, and is supplementary to in-person visits.

CSC also told us it can be difficult for Inuit and Aboriginal inmates to maintain meaningful contact with their families because of the isolated geographical locations of their home communities.  As a result regional offices have been encouraged to use video technology. There is no cost to users of these Correctional Service Canada video visiting programs.