Today I spent $20 to buy an hour of “video visitation” time with an incarcerated friend. I can’t visit him in person even though he’s only 30 minutes away, because the jail only allows in-person visits by lawyers and clergy. No partners, no kids, no parents, no friends.
A few years ago Durham activists campaigned against video visitation at the Durham jail for fear it would completely replace in-person visitation. That’s exactly what’s happened there. Even if you COME TO THE JAIL, you only get to talk to your loved one on a video screen.
Unsurprisingly this is a huge and growing industry, along with outsourced phone calls, medical care, commissary, laundry, food service, etc etc. I remember my education about the prison-industrial complex at a critical resistance conference almost 20 years ago. It hasn’t changed.
My friend has a short sentence and he’ll be fine. There are people in there who are being held for a year or more with no in-person visits from family or friends at all. I’m pretty sure this has no positive impact on public safety, but of course, the cruelty is the point.
Oh, and just to add insult to injury, the software for the video calls absolutely sucks.
Since you’re here, please consider a donation to the National Bail Out to get Black women out of places like this. Learn: nationalbailout.org Donate: secure.actblue.com/donate/nationa…
Oh and a clarification: this is not the Durham jail. Durham allows in-person visits as well as video.
