Okaloosa County is considering a high-tech approach to visitation for local jail inmates.
County commissioners have approved soliciting proposals from companies to install a new web-based visitation system at the jail in Crestview.
Chief Correctional Officer Paul Lawson briefed commissioners on the system last week,
“We already have in place a telephone system since the early ’90s, and it’s very profitable,” he said. “What we want to do … is add a web-based video visitation system.”
The county’s Prisoner Benefit Fund receives about $72,000 a year from inmates using the telephone system. The county’s general fund receives about $309,000 annually from the friends and families of inmates who use the system.
A web-based system would allow families and friends to visit with inmates “from home or wherever they are,” Lawson said.
Visitors and inmates would pay to use the system, which would require the installation of detention-grade equipment in inmate housing areas.
“There will be a fee associated with that, and we anticipate that might be profitable to the county,” Lawson told commissioners.
Commission Chairman Don Amunds asked Lawson if other counties are using the system successfully.
“I’d rather learn off their mistakes rather than make our own,” Amunds said.
Lawson said similar systems are in place in Marion and Alachua counties as well as Washoe County, Nev.
Florida jail regulations require that all inmates be allowed two hours of visitation a week.
Lawson said video visitation would allow visitors to schedule visits via the Internet from a variety of locations. They would not have to go to the jail.
Lawson said the system would reduce inmate movement in the jail and the amount of staffing time needed to accommodate in-person visits.
Commissioners approved a selection committee to review proposals that are submitted and make a recommendation to the board.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.