Jail Video Conferencing System
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Lawrence County inmates may soon participate in court proceedings without leaving the jail. The sheriff`s department in the southwest Missouri county plans to spend part of a 17-thousand-dollar grant to buy a video conferencing system. Officials say it will allow arraignments and other hearings to be conducted remotely. Sheriff Doug Seneker says safety and security are the two big reasons for installing the system. He anticipates it will reduce the number of times prisoners are walked from the jail -- across the street to the courthouse -- by about 80 percent. Several Missouri counties now have similar systems. Seneker says the rest of the grant, from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, will be used to improve the jail.
