Investigative work done by the research group Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) was recently used by state and private organizations to pressure a county in Portland, Ore, to change a visiting policy in its jails.
“Thanks to pressure from the public and county legislators as well as persistent investigative reporting by Portland newspaper Street Roots that heavily cites our research, on Jan. 27 the Sheriff announced that he would overturn the ban (on contact visits), PPI reported.”
The sheriff of Multnomah County (Oregon) had signed a contract with Securus Technologies, one of the vendors that lead the industry in the video visiting and prison pay phone markets. The contract was to provide video visitation services in county jails which then banned in-person visits, according to PPI.
Families were then forced to choose between the time and expense to travel to jails to see loved ones through a computer screen visit, or pay $1 per minute to visit from home using a personal computer.
“While adding this technology can seem appealing at first glance, replacing in-person visits with video visits is shortsighted and counterproductive,” PPI reported.
According to PPI, the sheriff plans to amend the contract previously negotiated and signed with Securus. This will restore in-person visits.
“This is clear evidence that county jails, if they are committed to doing so, can successfully insist on changes to these harmful contracts,” PPI reported.
