MICHIGAN, USA — On Monday, Oct. 12, Parnell Correctional Facilities' scheduled portal opened up to try out their new virtual visitation equipment, according to Christopher Gautz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Virtual visitation has been a discussion in the works for months, before the global pandemic, in the prison industry. The sudden need to isolate prisoners from their families due to health concerns just helped making the discussions a reality.
“Obviously, right when the pandemic hit, Director Washington knew that, you know we're gonna have to stop visits because that was obviously a way that we're bringing people in into a congregate setting. And so, one of the first things she did is before we closed or before we suspended in person visits back in March, Director Washington got on the phone with the leaders of the vendors for our phone and email servers for prisoners and negotiated with them to get them some free phone calls each week and some free stamps, to be able to send electronic messages to the families each week. So we started there," Gautz said.
Grand Rapids Community College student, Chayka McIntosh, got a call from her father letting her know she had a free 5 minutes to talk after the visits stopped.
McIntosh says not only was she worried that she couldn't see him, she was worried that she couldn't take care of him because he was one of the prisoners that contracted COVID-19 while at the Lakeland Correctional Facility.
"We couldn't go visit, they just shut the whole thing down. He got sick with COVID-19 and it was just really discouraging. Because there's like, no space in prison, you know. He just didn't want to really be around other people. But he had to, he didn't have any choice, you know, he's locked up." McIntosh said. "And he didn't want any of our family members to know, because he didn't want like my grandma to worry, but he didn't want her to worry about him being sick, or him dying, or anything like that, which, you know, some people in there did die. “
While the family was learning about the new accommodations, a committee was being formed to discuss the future of visitation.
“What the committee came up with was going to video visitation. It was a lot of work over the course of the summer, a lot of technical pieces went into this a lot of our staff working with the vendors, and then the director, you know, pushing them along each step of the way, to try and make this happen as soon as possible. And that, that's how we got to where we are today. We're now this week we're going to have two sites, online and ready to go with video visits,” Gautz said.
Months into the pandemic and McIntosh is still communicating with her father through JPay, an app that lets you text an inmate just like a regular phone. It's supervised and monetized, and because of how much it cost to talk with her father, she only does it about three times a month.
“Sometimes you don't have money, you know that can be very hard. Or if I have other things to pay for, which I'm a single mom, and I have to take care of my son," McIntosh said. "So sometimes I have to wait a while, wait next month to put money on my JPay or whatever comes first. At the time, that's really just it, it's just really hard to communicate as is.”
The money another reason Gautz is excited to get to roll out virtual visits. He says it alleviates the gas, time, and extra expenses people gather when trying to plan a day trip to visit.
“We do expect to be able to keep video visits available even once we do get back to in person visiting because you know we have, you know, family members that may live in in Detroit or Grand Rapids, and maybe they don't have good access to transportation and their loved one is in Manistee or is up in the Upper Peninsula," Gautz said. “So you're talking about not only the visit, but then maybe having to stay over in a hotel and those can be those can be added cost that you have to think about. And for some that might be out of the realm of possibility, just given all that and so yes we do want to be able to maintain video visits. But let me be clear, we are absolutely are going to return to in person visiting, this is not a replacement.”
For the seven pilot testing facilities the process is outlined on the website on how to schedule a visit but here’s a briefing:
- Go to the website to schedule a time that works for you.
- Pay the fee, which is $3.20 for a 20 minute visit.
- The request goes to the prison and which will check the prisoner schedule, make sure the time works. The prison will makes sure inmates don't have class or a work assignment during that time.
- If everything works out, the family member would be alerted that the request has been approved.
- At the time you've scheduled, the inmate will appear on camera, and you'll be able to have your visit online.
McIntosh's father's facility is not on the pilot testing list. But, the department said it hopes to add all 29 of their state prisons soon.
“Around this time, October 16, some years back my mom passed so, without seeing my dad, that affects me, or when I'm not be able to talk to him. And it makes me feel like I have no parents at all, I have two awesome people that are in the community. That helped me a lot. One works at Calvin one works for the Grand Rapids Community. And without having people reaching out to me or helping me when I really need something, like it really helps. I can feel for kids that don't even have a parent at all, you feel lost. You don't have no direction. You're just going unless that mentor or that person within the community, comes and talks to you, and mentors you and give you direction, then you have a chance. But half the time. If somebody doesn’t have those type of people or that little somebody planting a little seed inside of them. Life is going to be hard."
The Michigan Department of Corrections is working with two different vendors, one for male prisons and the other for female prisons. Gautz advises that people get a strong internet connection and stay connected with the correctional website for updates.
"The pilot is to test out how it works in our operational format so that we can get rules and standardized procedures in place before we continue installing the equipment in other prisons," Gautz said
“I would really like it, they get the ball rolling, and I hope that they have it in cold water because that's where my father is stationed at. And that will really help me out to just have a face to face conversation instead of hearing them on the phone, and to look at him to see that he's alright," McIntosh said, "And he would like to look at me to see if I'm alright, you know, it's something about seeing someone face to face it’s good confirmation.”
The seven facilities getting virtual visitation equipment installed this month are listed below:
- Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility,
- G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility,
- Chippewa Correctional Facility,
- Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility,
- Ionia Correctional Facility,
- Newberry Correctional Facility
- Duane Waters Health Center.
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