FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 6, 2015<\/p>\n
Contact:
\nBernadette Rabuy
\n(413) 527-0845<\/p>\n
Easthampton, MA<\/b> — On Monday, Securus, the video visitation industry leader, announced that it will no longer explicitly require county jails and state prisons to replace traditional family visits with video visits<\/a>. Securus CEO Richard A. Smith stated that the billion-dollar phone and video visitation company \u201cfound that in \u2018a handful\u2019 of cases,\u201d Securus was including a clause that \u201ccould be perceived as restricting onsite and\/or person-to-person contact.\u201d<\/p>\n But Securus’s new policy is much more significant than Securus\u2019s announcement implies, says Bernadette Rabuy of the Prison Policy Initiative. \u201cThere is clear language banning in-person visits in 70% of the Securus contracts we examined for our report, Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails<\/a>.\u201d The contracts plainly read: \u201cFor non-professional visitors, Customer will eliminate all face to face visitation through glass or otherwise at the Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n This offensive clause was brilliantly challenged by comedians Ted Alexandro<\/a> and Ben Rosen<\/a>, arguing about whether video visitation lives up to the industry\u2019s claims that it\u2019s \u201cjust like Skype:\u201d<\/p>\n