BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As Brown County continues designing an expanded jail, it is looking at whether adding video visitation could help save taxpayers’ money.
“This would be a way to use technology, still providing visitation, but reducing the amount of actual square footage inside the facility needed to accomplish the same thing,” said Sheriff Todd Delain of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department.
Delain tells FOX 11 his department is assessing whether the jail’s Wi-Fi could handle a video system. He says a decision also needs to be made whether all visits would be done through video or if in-person visits would still be an option.
“I’m sure there are certain individuals who would rather have the visit through the glass, but often times we found it’s virtually the same. It’s just through the glass of a screen.”
Outagamie County’s jail is one of the few in the state that offers video visitation, but Delain says more counties are considering it.
According to a link on Outagamie County’s website, a 10-minute visit costs $5. A 25-minute visit costs $12.50.
Delain says Brown County’s video visits would also come with a fee, but free kiosks would be offered in the jail’s lobby.
“It’s been positive because it allows loved ones maybe to communicate with a person who is incarcerated remotely from maybe their residence if they’re having difficulty getting around, or the weather is bad, or it’s just much more convenient.”
Delain says he expects a decision on video visitations to be made relatively soon.
As for the jail expansion, there is no timeline for when construction might start. It is supposed to be paid for through the county’s half-percent sales tax.
When the plan was first pitched the jail expansion was projected to cost $20 million when the county board agreed in 2017 to restart the half-percent sales tax. It is one of several projects the money collected is supposed to pay for.
