As of May 2013, the total population of prison inmates in the United States was estimated to be 218,171. For most of these inmates, one of the few things they have to look forward to while in prison, is seeing family and friends through prisoner visitation rights. In the past, the only way for family or friends to visit prisoners involved them making a trip to the prison to see them in person. With the advancement of technology, prisoner visitation rights can be granted through video visitation systems, a type of virtual visitation using webcams and monitors to connect each party.
Video visitation systems provide friends and families with a way to visit inmates from the comfort of their own homes, without the expense and time involved in traveling to the incarceration facility. Additionally, video conferences can provide high quality, two-way, secure visitation sessions between inmate and privileged individuals, such as attorney, clergy and judges. Over the years, as technology has advanced and the acceptance for video visitation has gained ground, systems begun to include management and scheduling software used to manage the video visitation environment. Privileged virtual visitation options simplify the process of communicating with an inmate, especially for attorneys working on case preparations. Refernce materials: www.edgeaccess.net