USA: video visitation system fails at Virginia Beach jail, preventing visits for more than a week

Other than making phone calls or mailing letters, the only way inmates at the city’s jail can communicate with loved ones is through a video visitation system installed more than 12 years ago.

At the time, it was considered more secure than face-to-face visits, and was quicker and easier for deputies to take inmates to video conference rooms located throughout the jail than to visiting booths limited to one part of the building, said Kathy Hieatt, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

The system has become increasingly unreliable. It’s been known to break down for hours – even a few days – at a time. The latest outage has lasted 10 days, and officials don’t know when it can be repaired.

“It’s a really outdated system, and the vendor who made it is no longer in business, so that makes it really hard to get replacement parts and get repairs done,” Hieatt said.

The sheriff’s office began asking the City Council for the approximately $500,000 needed for a new web-based system about five years ago, she said. It finally received approval last year and was in the process of picking a contractor when the current system went down March 31.

No visits have been allowed at the jail since then. The facility – which typically houses 1,300 inmates at any time – averages about 4,000 visits a month, Hieatt said.

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