Web-Based Remote Video Visitation System
Installed at County Detention Center
February 7, 2013
A new state-of-the-art remote video
visitation system has been installed
at the Sweetwater County Detention
Center that will permit people to visit
inmates via the Internet without
leaving their homes.
The web-based visitation system,
called Telmate, went online February
4, according to Sheriff Rich Haskell.
Video visitation stations, known as
“t-phones” have been installed in the
most of the detention center’s cell
pods, with a portable unit available
on a rotating basis for the remaining
pods.
Each t-phone is essentially a touchscreen computer monitor equipped with a phone and a web camera. Those who
wish to have video visitations with a inmate, such as family members, must set
up a visitation account online at www.visit.telmate.com or at a special kiosk
located in the Detention Center lobby at the Detention Center. (Officials noted
that this kiosk is not available for video visitations.)
Cost is $19.80 for a 30-minute visit.
The Detention Center lobby kiosk features other services that benefit inmates
and their families. With cash or a valid credit card, for instance, funds may be
placed in an inmate’s trust account, which may be used for telephone calls,
video visitations, or commissary. In the near future, it will be possible to post
an inmate’s bond at the kiosk after regular court hours, which are Monday
through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Haskell said a special announcement will
be made when this feature becomes available.
There are special fees, including convenience fees, associated with use of the
lobby kiosk. Haskell pointed out that these fees are assessed and collected by
Telmate, and do not go to the county.
For example, if cash is added to an inmate’s trust account, a $2.95 transaction
fee is charged, plus a convenience fee of 2.95% of the deposit amount. If a credit
card is used at the kiosk to add to the inmate’s trust account, the transaction
fee is $5.95 and the additional convenience fee is 9% of the deposit amount.
If the kiosk is used to post bond after hours, the transaction fee for cash is $3.95
and the convenience fee is an additional 3.95% of the bond amount. If a credit
card is used, the transaction fee is $5.95 and the additional convenience fee is
8.95% of the bond amount.
There are other Telmate fees and services, Haskell said, but the transactions
described above tend to be the most common. Credit card deposits to inmate
trust accounts may also be made online.
Visits must be scheduled through the visitation account. Inmates may also
schedule visits, but only with those who have established online accounts.
Remote visitation hours run from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, Mountain Standard
Time, except for inmate count and lockdown periods.
All social visitation sessions are subject to monitoring and recording, Haskell
said, and a number of rules apply and will be enforced. Video visitors wearing
clothing with messages, holding up signs, displaying nudity, or behaving
sexually, is prohibited, as is drug use, threatening language, gang symbols, or
other behavior proscribed by the Sweetwater County Detention Center. In
addition, inmates will not be allowed video visitations with “prohibited
persons;” that is, people that, by court direction, they are not permitted to
contact.
Haskell emphasized that the remote video visitation resource is a privilege and
may be denied to an inmate for disciplinary reasons or due to operational
necessity.
In order to use the system, the visitor’s laptop or personal computer must have
a webcam, microphone, and speaker, a supported Internet browser (IE 7, 8, or 9,
Firefox 7, 8, or 9, or Safari 4 or 5), the current Adobe Flash, and a high-speed
Internet connection, such as DSL, cable, or Wifi. Dial-up and satellite are not
supported by Telmate, nor, at present, are smart phones and tablet devices.
Inmates also have limited Internet access at the rate of 10 cents per minute.
Access is restricted to a list of specific sites featuring education, news, sports,
religion, finance, health and wellness, and employment. Any links that appear
on the approved sites that would take the inmate to sites not on the list do not
work, and no Internet contact with other inmates is permitted.
Telmate also handles the Detention Center’s inmate telephone system. Only
inmates may initiate phone calls. (If someone wishes to contact an inmate, their
options are to call and leave the inmate a voice mail, write a letter or visit the
inmate during official visiting hours.) To place a call, an inmate dials the phone
number. When people being contacted receive the call, they first hear an
automated announcement identifying the caller as an inmate, at which time
they may opt to accept the call. If the inmate has no calling funds and is calling
that person for the first time, the call will be free for a brief period of time often less than a minute. This provides the inmate the opportunity to explain
how the call system works. When this short call is complete, the inmate is
placed on hold, giving the person called the opportunity to pay via credit card to
continue the current call or deposit funds in the inmate’s account to continue
the call. (If there is money remaining afterward, the inmate may use the funds
to call any number or, if the funds are deposited to the number of the person
called, to that phone only.)
“The system was installed and operates at virtually no expense to the county,”
Haskell said. “We pay Telmate nothing; they derive their revenue from the
inmates’ and visitors’ user fees.”
The Telmate system is presently in use at nearly 175 jails and correction facilities
in the United States and Canada, including the Campbell , Albany, and Sheridan
County Detention Centers, the Montana Department of Corrections, and the
Oregon Department of Corrections.
Questions about using the system should be directed to Telmate’s customer
service line at 1-866-516-0115.