STATE CONSIDERS MOVING INMATE VISITATIONS TO VIDEO

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- The state is considering a new program that may
one day allow families to visit with prison inmates on a television
screen instead of through glass partitions.

The Oregon Department of Corrections says tele-video visiting will cut
costs, improve safety and make it easier for inmates in Eastern Oregon
facilities to have contact with their families who may live elsewhere
in the state.

"Inmates aren't getting many visits out in Eastern Oregon," said
Perrin Damon, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman. "It will
increase the number of visits inmates can have because people wouldn't
have to travel so far."

Prison reform advocates, however, say video visiting is inhumane and
would take away inmates' rights.

"It can and will have some really bad psychological effects," said
Portland activist Jordana Sardo, who is helping organize local
opposition to video visiting. "There is a huge difference between
being able to actually see someone, even if it's through glass, and
see them on a television screen. It's a lot more isolating."

The program is at least a year away. A corrections department
committee on video visiting was formed in July to study policy issues,
and staff members are studying what technology will be used, Damon
said.

With video visiting, inmates communicate by speaking into a camera and
watching a live television image of their visitor broadcast from
another location. Inmates would sit in special video-visiting rooms,
or a mobile unit could be rolled to their cells.

Anne Rose-Pierce, who founded a Portland-based prison reform
organization, said corrections officials simply want more ways to
monitor what is said between inmates and their family and friends.

"This is just another case of the Corrections Department wanting to
control inmates and record what they say to their loved ones."

Damon confirmed that building the long-distance sites "is still quite
a ways off" and that the visits would be recorded for security
purposes, just as incoming mail is screened.

The Two Rivers Correctional Facility under construction in Umatilla
has been equipped with a room and electrical wiring needed for video
visits, although the policy change that would allow such visits has
not been written or approved.

Prison officials hope to have a pilot program operating in Umatilla
within a year. But even then, visitors still will have to drive to the
prison, Damon said. "Basically, it's so we can get experience before
we make a big dollar commitment to do another site," she said.

The goal, prison officials say, is that video visiting eventually will
replace all non-contact visits, including those conducted through
glass. Inmates on death row, in segregation or other special housing
units get only "through-glass" visits.

During visits at the Oregon State Penitentiary, two corrections
officers escort an inmate in disciplinary segregation to and from
visits. "If there were video visiting, they would roll the television
unit up to the cell," Damon said. "It would mean five minutes vs.
several hours of combined staff time."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry