Street roots., January 30, 2015, Page 7, Image 7

oireet Roots • January 30-February 5, 2015
news
S h eriff reverses course on
plan to end in-person visits
P lan drew negative feedback from the public, county officials
BY E M IL Y GREEN
S T A F F W R IT E R
"TV /T ultnomah County Sheriff Dan
IV /1 Staton will not move forward with
▼ A plans to eliminate imperson
visitation at county jails, according to a
news release sent from his office Tuesday,
Staton's decision comes after Street
Roots broke the news about his plan to
eliminate in-person visitation by the end of
the year (“Captive Consumers,” Street
Roots, Jan. 2) and subsequent stories in
other media drew angry complaints from
readers.
The news also prompted Multnomah
County Chair Deborah Kafoury and
Commissioner Loretta Smith to approach
Staton on the matter, urging him t o ,
preserve in-person visitation.
“Sheriff Staton has listened to feedback
from the public regarding video visitation
throughout this process. Sheriff Staton
made the decision to maintain an in-person
“through the glass” visiting option for
visitors,” states the news release.
In 2013, Staton signed a contract with
Securus Technologies Inc., agreeing to
replace all family and friend in-person visits
at county jails with Securus video visiting.
In-person visits are conducted with a sheet
of plexiglass separating the inmate and
visitor. Securus requires the elimination of
in-person visitation in its contracts in order
to boost profits generated by video visits.
Before Tuesday’s announcement, by the
end of the year the only way to visit an
inmate in county jail would have been
through a video terminal, which has
attached phones for audio and a small
display screen for visual. Visits connecting
visitor terminals in the lobbies of
Multnomah’s two county jails to inmate
terminals within the jails are free, but there
is a charge for remote visits, which are
conducted with a visitor using a perspnal
computer on one end and an inmate using a
Securus terminal on the other.
But the sheriff’s office says now video
visiting will be an added option, not the only
option.
Remote visits currently cost $5 for a
30-minute visit, but the cost is expected to
increase once installation is complete.
“The contract amendment has been
verbally agreed to and will be completed by
the end of the week,” the announcement
states. “Sheriff Staton will continue to
review social visiting processes and video
visiting processes over the next six to eight
months to ensure all concerns are taken
into consideration.”
The Sheriff’s Office said the changes
resulted in no additional costs.
Studies conducted by Prison Policy
Initiative and the U.S. Department of
Justice found that, when used in addition to
in-person visitation, video visiting has many
benefits to inmates and their families. Now
inmates can conduct visits seven days a
week. In-person visitation is available only
two days a week. Its remote capability also
allows visitors living far from a facility the
option of visiting without having to travel.
As a result of the contract between
Securus and the county, two other out-of-
State corporations are also profiting off
inmates and their families — many of whom
are living in poverty.
TouchPay profits from charges on inmate
account deposits, and Numi Financial
profits from debit cards given to inmates
upon their release, The debit cards hold any
cash the inmate had on his or her person at
the time of arrest, and he or she has five
days to get the cash off the card or it begins
to incur fees.
PHOTO BY STEVE BRASE
A Securus video-visitation terminal sim ilar to the ones going into M ultnomah County jails.
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