Virtual Visits Keep Inmates Closer to Home

When 24-year-old Candace McCann was sent to an Indiana prison three years ago for theft and forgery, she probably never imagined she'd be able to talk to her daughter through video.

Now, almost every Saturday at 9:30 a.m., McCann sits down for a scheduled video conference with 7-year-old Kashmir, watching as Kashmir draws a picture or models off her jeans and a Hannah Montana T-shirt.

Video conferencing from jail, for real?  Yep.

McCann isn’t the only one using it.  In February, 1,200 inmates at the prison got the chance to sit down and chat with their loved ones through ATM-like kiosks.

JPay is the system's name, and video chatting … well, really isn’t a game, but it is giving inmates a chance to feel like they’re home once again.

Other prisons around the country offer video visits, but most of those families have to go to a church to use it.

At Indiana’s Rockville Correctional Facility, once visitors are on an approved list, they can go online from home or elsewhere.  They schedule and pay for their own visits, as a cost of $12.50 for 30 minutes -- less than the approximate $15 the prison charges for a 30-minute local call.

Although this system seems to give prisoners privileges many don’t think they should have, prison officials actually say the virtual visits can be beneficial to the prison.  

"When (prisoners) have that contact with the outside family they actually behave better here at the facility," said Richard Brown, Rockville's assistant superintendent.  

They do admit though, there have been a few problems with inmates exposing themselves during video visits.  It's not without consequences.  JPay can respond to this naughty behavior by banning a family member or an inmate from the video system.  Inmates can get the privileges back after six months if it was their first offense.

The prison watches all the visits either live, like a security video, or later, when the system archives them. 

JPay covers the cost of the kiosks and their installation, and the states pay nothing.  

Currently, in Indiana, only the Rockville facility is using the system, but all 28,000 Indiana inmates are expected to have access to the system within the next four years. 

McCann has only seen her daughter in person three times in the last year, but with JPay, she has watched her little girl grow without her daughter having to travel three hours and be exposed to the prison environment to see her.

"I feel like I'm at home, kind of," said McCann, 24, in a video conference interview. "It's good to see that kind of stuff."

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Chicago