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Weber County Jail inmates can now have extra visits from family and friends — for a $10 fee.
A recently added feature to the jail's video-visitation software allows inmates who have already had one to two free weeklyvisits to add more, if they or their visitors are willing to pay for them.
"This was simply an available feature of the video-visiting software ... provided by the service provider we already use ... so we opted to offer it," said Weber County Corrections chief deputyKevin Burton.
"We aren't responding to a specific demand from the public," Burton added. "We are simply providing the option for those who may want to visit more than allowed by current jail policies."
Depending on an inmate's classification, he or she can have up to two 25-minute free visits per week from friends and family. Visits from attorneys are treated separately.
The facility routinely houses about 750 inmates, averaging about 500 regular free visits per week.
Brian Peters, with Renovo Software, a Minnesota-based company that provides the video-visitation system, said that with the new feature, Weber County has the potential ofhosting as many as 3,500 additional visits per week.
In 2009, the jail switched from face-to-face visitation to the video system, which saves on labor because officers are not required to personally escort inmates or visitors.
With the video system, visitors register on the jail's website, http://visitation.co.weber.ut.us/app, to schedule visits with an inmate. They are designated a time slot to show up at the visitor's station in the jail's lobby, which is equipped with 25 videomonitors linked to another 25 inside the jail.
"Over the course of two years, Weber County actually got more efficient using the system," Peters said. "They found that there were times during the day that they were not very busy, so we reached out to them this year with the new feature."
The extra paid visits are handled using the same online method as for setting up a free visit. People can use debit and credit cards to pay for the extra visits.
Burton said the $10 fee amount was decided arbitrarily.
"It was meant to be implemented on a trial basis to see if it was deemed reasonable as demonstrated by the volume of paid visits that are generated," Burton said.
The opportunity for extra paid visits began in early November. There is no limit to the number of extra paid visits an inmate can receive. Initial figures show there have been about seven paid visits per day.
Peters said his company and the county will split any revenue generated by the extra visits. Burton said the county's portion of the money would go to the general fund.
Extra visits
Extra visits with Weber County Jail inmates can be scheduled by visiting http://visitation.co.weber.ut.us/app.
It costs $10 per visit, payable with a debit or credit card.