TWIN FALLS, IDAHO (KMVT-TV) The Twin Falls County Jail is using new technology to accommodate both visitors and prisoners.
And eventually it may save family a trip to town.
Soon, if anyone wants to visit someone here at the jail.
They may not need to even leave their home.
Thanks to a new system that's been in place for about two months. It used to be that family and friends who wanted to visit a inmate at the had to go in here. A small room with telephones and a wall of windows. Capt. Doug Hughes Jail Commander of Twin Falls Sheriff's Office says, "you get two or three visitors per person in there and it was very, very crowded and sometimes hard to hear."
Plus jail staff would have to schedule separate days for male and female visits.
However, now it's a lot different.
He says "we can allow visits everyday of the week."
A couple months ago the jail started using these kiosks equipped with a phone and video camera.
Hughes goes on to say "which means that when a visitor comes in they'll come to the front lobby and they'll sit at a kiosk that allows them to see their person."
Visitors get an hour free every week and have to schedule times to visit with an inmate. Ultimately it makes it much safer.
And he says, "the biggest part of the safety is we're not having to move inmates from the cell block to the visiting area."
The old visiting area is being used for attorney and clergy visits. The county and the company that provides the equipment is moving towards visitors not even needing to leave their home.
"Eventually they wont even have to come down here to visit, they can visit from home...go on–line sign in with your user name and password and then you'll be able to get set up you visit from home and do it from home."
Provided they have the right equipment to do it. If not they could still visit the jail.
Twin Falls County didn't pay anything for the new system. The company completely provided the system that cost around $180,000..