With in-person visits halted, Luzerne County will offer video chats to inmates for a fee

Luzerne County’s prison system has started implementing a new program that allows inmates to virtually visit friends and family members through video using computer tablets.

The tablets were purchased by DSI-ITI Inc., which has a contract with the county to provide inmate telephone and enhanced services, according to the contract and county Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich. The company receives a fee paid by inmates to use the video chat, which is in the range of 25-cents per minute, he said. No taxpayer funds are involved in the project.

Rockovich said he decided to roll out the video visitation program sooner than planned to help compensate for the halting of in-person inmate visits throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The video program is still in the initial stages at the minimum offenders building on Reichard Street in Wilkes-Barre. Rockovich said he wants to complete more monitoring before it is expanded to the nearby prison on Water Street, which will likely occur in mid January.

According to Rockovich:

Inmates must retrieve the tablets from correctional officers. To enable video chat, the tablets must be placed at all times on a docking station set up in a public area on each block that does not have cells within view.

The technology requires a certain percentage of inmate facial features to remain in view for the chat to continue, which means it should shut off if inmates attempt to show other body parts or walk away.

Inmates must set up an account to participate.

The prison has authority to view all video calls live.

Text messages with photographs also can be sent and received through the tablets, with all content subject to advance monitoring by the prison.

Friends and family on the outside can use phones, tablets or computers to activate the video chat on their end.

“There are a lot of security features. This is something we’ve been working on about two years,” Rockovich said.

Rockovich said he received positive feedback about the video chat from several inmates at the minimum offenders building.

He has no idea when in-person visitations will resume and will weigh input from the state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before making a determination.

“Hopefully once we get the vaccine we can start to move on that,” Rockovich said.

At the current pace, state officials have said it will be months before most of the general population has access to a vaccine.

Eventually, inmates will be permitted to purchase time to play solitaire and other games on the tablets, he said. The devices also can be loaded with laws for legal research, an inmate handbook and educational information.

The video visits were among several 2020 prison highlights cited in county Manager C. David Pedri’s recent annual report.

In other report updates, the county prison system:

• Received approval from the state Department of Corrections as a certified basic training instruction facility, which means staffers won’t have to travel out of the county for instruction.

Within one year of their hire, correctional officers had to attend a one-month training at the state training academy in Elizabethtown that can now be provided in-house, Rockovich said. Obtaining state approval to serve as an instruction facility took about two years and required extensive submission of curriculum, tests and reports, he said.

• Obtained approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection Division of Radiation Control for licensing and activation of a fully body scanner to detect drugs, weapons and other contraband hidden by incoming inmates.

The prison is operating the scanner on a random basis now but will use it to screen all inmates when more employees receive training, Rockovich said.

• Established three new video court locations inside the prison.

• Expanded the mental health office area into space previously used for storage to accommodate additional staff and treatment services for inmates.

The county stepped up mental health services through an outsourced inmate health care contract, Rockovich said.