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Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton announced today that he's backing away from a change that would have replaced all in-person visits at Multnomah County jails with video visits through a contract with Texas-based Securus Technologies.
The decision comes on the heels of a Street Roots investigation of the Securus Technologies contract and two others that profit off inmates and their families.
Video visits were to have replaced all in-person visits by the end of the year, forcing inmates and families to communicate "through a box with an attached phone for audio and a small video screen for visual," Street Roots wrote Jan. 6.
Right now, in person visits allow families and inmates to communicate with only shatterproof glass between them.
Today's reversal doesn't do away with video visits entirely. The county is still moving toward that technology, which allows families to "visit" inmates remotely for a fee, but it will also continue to offer in-person visits as well.
WWeek 2015