Webcam service allows more inmate visits

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Pinal County Adult Detention Center inmates are the first in Arizona to use a new visitation technology that allows their visitors to access them through an online program for a minimal fee.

Inmates have been using the system, which is run by iWebVisit.com, since April 15, said James Kimble, chief deputy of adult detention.

“We’re in jails coast to coast from California to New Jersey,” Vice President of Technology and cofounder for iWebVisit.com Robert Avery said Thursday during a media tour. “At the time nobody was offering a service like this.”

With this new technology, visitors do not have to physically go to the detention center to see inmates. Visits are scheduled online and visitors pay $15 for a 30-minute visit, Kimble said.

“They can set up up to three visits with the same inmate or detainee in the course of the day, but if they come here on site, they can only visit one time,” Kimble said. “They can schedule it at home and block out an hour and 30-minute visit.”

Users do not have to download any programs to use iWebVisit.com; all that is needed is an Internet browser and a webcam, Avery said. If visitors choose to go down to the facility, they do not have to pay a fee to use iWebVisit.com to communicate with their inmate. There are two stations in the detention center.

The agreement set up through Pinal County for the installation of the new technology came at no cost to tax payers, Kimble, the detention chief, said.

“What we’ve done, we’ve come in and we’re able to provide the investment of the equipment based on the fact that it’s going to get used enough where we’re able to recoup our investments,” Avery said.

The communication system is being used to better serve inmates’ visitors and to allow inmates with out-of-state family to keep in contact with them without costly trips to the detention center, Avery said.

Also set up are private rooms so attorneys and their clients can maintain confidentiality and their visits are not recorded as they are in normal visits, Avery said.

The detention center staff and iWebVisit.com monitor all other visits, Kimble pointed out.