FLORIDA PRISON VISITATION

The Florida Department of Corrections is being criticized by family members of inmates because of their proposal to cut prison visitation in half at facilities under certain conditions. The department has been phasing in multimedia kiosks that would allow emails and video calling – at a significant cost to friends and families. J-Pay, a Florida-based company contracting with the department, offers prison banking and other services in 35 states. In the last year, the agency received about $3.5 million in commissions from inmates up from about $2.3 million four years ago. Critics say the department is looking for new revenue streams while exploiting prisoners and their families who have no other options for contacting each other.